Opera Mini 8 hits Apple App Store with the biggest update yet

First published: July 4, 2014

iPhone and iPad users can now enjoy the new Opera Mini 8 browser that has received it biggest update yet. It still doesn’t make the Mini as good looking as the Coast browser but you now have the option to choose between the two.

The new Mini 8 does not only have a brand new look to match iOS 7’s but will also make surfing faster and cheaper. Users can now surf the web using three different modes:

• Opera Mini mode: This is the one you’d want to use if you really want to save on data. It offers data compression rates of up to 90%, which also means that web pages load faster. In other words, if a website normally uses up 100kb of your data with a normal browser, this mode can bring it down to only 10 kb. Although this is good but it comes with a few issues of its own; some incompatible sites don’t load up properly, saving images from site might cause some issues and videos don’t load as they’re supposed to at times.
• Opera Turbo mode: It offers slightly less compression but better website compatibility. This mode has the best of both worlds.
• Data savings off: This mode turns the Mini 8 into just a regular browser but it does ensure maximum compatibility with websites.

You can just switch modes according to usage, or use Mini 8 for all websites with the Opera Mini mode turned on and use Safari for websites that don’t load properly.

The complete overhaul of the browser was necessary to make its design look completely at home with iOS 7. The browser’s new flat design uses transparency to visualise layers. The Mini 8 still maintains the user friendliness and offers familiar buttons but if you don’t like the way it looks, you can try changing the theme to suit your mood.

Here are the other option that can be found on the Opera Mini browser:

• Speed Dial: Opera practically invented this idea on the desktop browser and we’re glad that the option made it to mobile. You can save your frequently visited sites on this tab and they’ll be just a tap away after launching Mini 8.
• Discover: This tab resides right next to the speed dial and it brings up interesting topics/sites from around the region. Moreover, you can choose the content you want to see and tailor it to your preference.
• Tabs: The tab gallery at the bottom displays a miniature version of every tab that is open in a stacked view. Swipe left or right to move between the tabs in the gallery and swipe up on an open tab to close it.
• Privacy: You can now easily switch to a private tab from the menu. Just select ‘New Private Tab’ and you’re good to go. You can even swap between your private and non-private tabs easily from the tab gallery.
• The search and address bars have been combined to one single bar to make the url bar less cluttered. Addresses and search terms can also be easily edited using a slider to move between typed letter or characters instead of tapping until the cursor sits exactly where you want it to.
• Opera Mini has a number of search providers that you can switch to; IMDB, Amazon, eBay, Wikipedia and Google are just some of the options available to you.
• Opera has also added a new QR reader to make it that much easier to look things up with a QR code. You can even convert links to QR codes and share them.
• On websites that are displaying the desktop version of the page, you can double-tap on the page to zoom in or out. With the Mini 8, you can set the amount of zoom you’d like in the settings. There’s also a word wrap option if you don’t want to scroll sideways on a web page but this is a hit and miss.

Other intuitive features include the ability to highlight text/word on a web page and select ‘Search’ on the pop-up window, single swipe scrolling that runs through much more of the website, and the ‘pull to search’ functionality where a swipe down gesture gets your cursor right into the unified bar while in the Speed Dial without having to actually tap inside the bar.

All of these features that I’ve means nothing if you don’t like the experience of using Opera Mini. So, before you make up your mind, go ahead and download your free copy on your iPhone or iPad and try it out for yourself.

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