HTML5 ARTICLE

September 04, 2014

Opera Mini Updated with Improved HTML5 Support


The Opera Mini Browser for Android (NewsAlert) and iOS has undergone its latest update, brining users a few new features as well as solving the usual mix of stability and performance issues. Opera is the fourth most popular browser for mobile devices in the world, after the Android and iOS default browsers and Google (News Alert) Chrome.

The most significant aspect of this latest update is the added ability to queue downloads until a Wi-Fi connection is found. The browser detects if a potential download is over 15 MB, in which case a popup message will appear asking if the user would like to download it anyway or wait for Wi-Fi. The next time Wi-Fi is connected the download will automatically begin and notify the user when it is complete. This substantially cuts back on mobile data usage as well as improves battery life.

Opera Mini now also features improved HTML5 support. HTML5 is the current Web standard for multimedia content, essentially replacing Adobe (NewsAlert) Flash, and so it vital that any browser wishing to be appealing on a consumer level can support it. The direct result of this update is that Opera Mini can now load much more video content.

Lastly, this update adds the Discover feature to the app on Android phones. Discover was already available for the main Opera browser on the Android and iOS platforms as well as the iOS Opera Mini browser. Discover brings global news and entertainment to the user right in their browser. However it is only currently available in several countries: India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, Turkey, the U.S., South Africa, Ukraine, Mexico, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

Opera announced a couple of other minor changes in this update: improvements to one of the installation screens as well as an option to opt out of Google Analytics.

In other news, the Opera Mini is currently undergoing a beta testing phase on the Windows Phone (NewsAlert), so expect all of these features to show up on that platform as well.




Edited by Alisen Downey





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