Opera has released the beta preview of Opera Mini, the newest version of its browser that intended to be used on "almost every mobile phone," according to company officials.

 

Opera Mini 4.1 "improves the way Opera Mini interacts with the phone," Opera officials say, and is available to download for beta testing at http://www.operamini.com/beta/.

 

Company officials say Opera Mini 4.1 features speed improvements and is up to 50 percent faster than Opera Mini 4. It can automatically suggest URL completions, and save Web pages for later viewing.

 

There's also a "Find content in the page" feature searching words and phrases, and the browser can download images, ringtones and other content, or add attachments to e-mail.

 

Opera Mini now also includes Opera Link, a free service that synchronizes bookmarks, Speed Dial and personal bar between all Web browsers. Not all features may work on all phones or in all regions.

 

A couple weeks ago Opera, together with Helio (News - Alert), announced the first deployment of Opera Mini on a mobile service provider in the United States. Helio members can surf the Web with Opera Mini on their Ocean device with a specially-tailored version of the browser designed specifically for the handset.

 

Available as a downloadable application from Helio's Web portal, Opera Mini provides what company officials describe as a "desktop-like experience that lets the user dive into the page to access the content they want."

 

"We're excited to be the first service provider in the U.S. to make Opera Mini an on-deck option," said Doug Britt, Vice President of Service Management at Helio, calling the fact that Opera Mini is optimized for Ocean and running on a nationwide 3G network "a combination that's tough to match."

 

Opera officials claim more than 39 million "cumulative users." Opera Software (News - Alert) is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Helio is a joint venture between SK Telecom (News - Alert) and EarthLink.