As expected, Opera released the first beta of its new Opera Mobile 9.5 browser today. A powerful foreshadowing of what is to come, this beta takes mobile browsing speed and features to a new level, complete with visual effects and a new look. The beta is currently available only for touchscreen devices running Windows Mobile 5 or 6.x.
As it is a beta release, there are a number of issues still being worked. Among those, you will find that ActiveX is disabled, only English is currently supported, installation on memory cards can cause problems, and a few others.
Among the new features offered by Opera Mobile 9.5, you will find:
- Improved performance over the current Opera Mobile 8.65 and other browsers
- A default full web page view that lets users pan and zoom to specific content
- A completely revamped user interface to make navigation simpler and more intuitive
- Improved support for standards
- The ability to save pages and images to your mobile device
Opera is promising that over the coming months Opera Mobile 9.5 will evolve into a tremendous consumer product. Future beta builds will add support for Opera Widgets, Gears, Symbian OS and more.