WebProNews

Opera has announced the release of the beta version of its latest mobile browser - Opera Mini 5. Opera Mini is the most popular mobile web browser in the world, the company claims.

In late August, when Opera released its State of the Mobile Web report, it found that in July, nearly 29.1 million people used Opera Mini, a 9.9% increase from June 2009 and more than 145% compared to July 2008. These numbers reflect only the Opera Mini users who have specifically chosen to install the browser on their phone.

Those 29.1 million people viewed more than 12 billion pages in July 2009, and from June until that report was released, page views had gone up 15.4%. Since July 2008, page views had increased 223%.

New versions of Opera Mini 5 that the company highlights include:

1. A new "intuitive and advanced" design

2. Tabbed browsing, a popular feature of the desktop version

3. Touchscreen or keypad browsing

4. Password manager, which saves all passwords for email, social networks, online banking, etc.

5. Speed dial, which is essentially a place to keep favorites sites on your homepage.

"In our own research, we have learned that the number-one reason people use Opera Mini is because it is easy — easy to use the Web you know. The idea of navigating the vastness of the Web from such a small screen can be a daunting leap, which is why we have long committed to make the browsing experience you are familiar with from your PC, easy to do on your mobile phone," says Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. "With new, sleek navigation buttons, tabbed browsing and Speed Dial bookmarks, you are never more than a click away from where you want to go on the Web."

Earlier this month, Opera released the final incarnation of the most recent version of its desktop browser as well - Opera 10. This made some headlines with its inclusion of Opera Turbo, a new compression technology for use with slow connections.