14 DAY TRIAL // Opera Mini 6 has just been released in the Apple App Store with enhanced support for iDevices that have a Retina display, as well as for the iPad’s big screen.
“Enjoy the fresh new look of Opera Mini 6 without compromise. Get all the speed benefits and data savings of Opera Mini, now optimized for all iOS devices,” the Norwegian software company said today.
Preliminary tests carried out by Softpedia can confirm that Opera Software’s claims of ‘lightning fast’ page loading hold water.
In fact, the app does everything faster, and better, tenfold: incredibly fast page loading (granted, we have a strong WiFi connection here); scrolling is nice and smooth; zooming in and out works just as you’d expect it to; no lag and fast refill of screen portions left blank following a zoom-out, etc.
Oh and, did we mention it’s actually faster than Apple’s own web browser, Safari?
It mostly has to do with Opera's servers compressing data by up to 90% before downloading, which makes page loading so fast. And if web pages load fast, everything just falls into place.
The new UI is now much friendlier. Opera decided not to clutter the screen with extra buttons (and actually removed some) but instead placed a Menu button to access all your features when you need them, and have them out of the way when you don’t.
A Share button, also found in the Opera menu, lets you "share the love for a site to your friends on My Opera, Facebook, Twitter or vKontakte right from the Opera Mini 6 browser," as the developers put it.
The official release notes follow below:
Updated features include: ► Updated design with a fresh new look and feel ► Super smooth pinch-to-zoom and panning ► Support for iPhone 4 retina display, iPad, and iPad 2 devices ► Direct share on Facebook, Twitter, and My Opera ► Open new page in background tab ► Improved international font support for Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other non-latin languages
Opera Mini 6 is free to download right now from Apple’s iOS App Store in the Productivity section.
We’re yet to give it a go on the iPhone, but going by the experience we’ve had with it on a first-generation iPad, Opera Mini 6 seems like a winner.