Opera Mobile 8.6 for Pocket PC users is available on the two operating systems listed, and will be available on Windows Mobile 5 Smartphones at a later date. A free 30-day trial of the browser may be downloaded from Opera’s website.

Opera’s browser brings tabbed browsing to mobile phones. The browser can fit full size web pages to the mobile screen, and supports viewing in portrait or landscape mode. A zoom function brings items on the screen in for a closer look.

A pop-up blocker found in Opera’s other browser versions for the desktop also appears in Opera Mobile. Another security feature displays a lock icon when accessing a secure site, to help the visitor guard against phishing and other online scams.

Opera Mobile will be shipping from T-Mobile as part of the Web’n'Walk offering. Also, Japanese wireless operator Willcom has chosen to distribute Opera Mobile with its devices.

“Until now, Web browsing options on Pocket PCs have been decidedly limited, said Paul O’Brien, founder of MoDaCo.com – one of the world’s largest Windows Mobile communities with nearly 140,000 members. “For owners of Internet connected Pocket PC devices, Opera is a must-have.”

The Opera Mobile browser received a significant push forward when the company introduced Small-Screen Rendering in 2002. That technology takes a full-size web page and renders it for the smaller screen.

Reformatting performed by Small-Screen Rendering eliminates the need to scroll horizontally to view content on a mobile phone, clearing up a long-time complaint from mobile web users.

Opera also recently announced the availability of its Platform SDK. That software development kit may be downloaded from Opera and used to build AJAX applications that can be stored on the mobile.

Those applications work like their desktop PC browser equivalents, permitting XML communication with a web server. The benefit of AJAX, allowing content updates to be pushed to the screen without refreshing the whole window, works transparently with Opera Mobile.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.