Opera Software today rolled out a native version of Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile 5- and 6-based handsets.

The beta version provides integration of Opera Mini with the Windows Mobile platform. “Opera is able to deliver an optimized version of the popular Opera Mini browser that dramatically improves performance and the overall user experience,’’ a company press release said.

The Opera Mini will work on any Windows Mobile phone, as it does not requires Java.

The Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile includes the same rich feature set as the Java-based version, the company said. Such features as tabbed browsing, password manager, bookmarks and Speed Dial, are built-in.

One of Opera Mini’s claimed benefits is that it compresses data traffic by up to 90 percent, resulting in significantly improved page-loading and speed. “This results in a dramatically reduced data load, which can translate to lower browsing costs when on a pay-per-MB data plan or when on expensive roaming,” the company said.

“Windows Mobile deserves a mobile browser that looks better, handles better and delivers better than the default browser,” said Dag Olav Norem, Vice President of Products, Opera Software. “Even though Opera has 50 million satisfied Opera Mini users, we always seek ways to improve our browser for each and every mobile phone user out there. Now, we are pleased to offer the world’s most popular mobile Web browser as a native Windows Mobile application.”

Download

Windows Mobile 5 and 6 users can download Opera Mini directly to their phone free from http://m.opera.com/next/ or read more at http://www.opera.com/mini/next/.