Opera Mobile 10 walkthrough

Opera has been at the forefront of mobile browsing solutions and Mobile 10 is its best yet. The latest beta of the mobile browser, available from www.opera.com/mobile, boasts an impressive selection of features guaranteed to improve the mobile browsing experience. Opera has introduced a slick new interface that caters for touch-screen and keypad driven devices. The popular desktop feature tabbed browsing says hello, while adaptive zoom allows users to pan and zoom for a full page browsing experience. Read on to discover more about the features included in Opera Mobile 10.

Get Opera Mobile
The latest Opera Mobile browser can be downloaded from the website or directly to a device. To download the .cab file head over to www.opera.com/mobile and click the Download Opera Mobile link. Select the correct version, there is a choice of Nokia or Windows Mobile and click Download Opera. To download directly to a device visit m.opera.com/mobile using the default web browser. You can also grab it from the Android Market.

Faster browsing
The new version of Opera Mobile is now faster at rendering and loading pages. To get quick access to a website simply type in a URL in the address bar at the top of the page. By default, the home screen displays a selection of predefined URL which users can visit by simply tapping. To add a new site to the Speed Dial feature, tap one of the available spaces. Now add in a new address or select from the list of previously visited addresses and a thumbnail will be added to the screen.

Edit shortcuts
To remove or edit a shortcut from the Speed Dial screen, first tap and hold the Thumbnail image. This will produce a pop-up window with Clear and Edit. Tap Clear to remove the shortcut from the Speed Dial screen. Alternatively, tap Edit to bring up the Add to Speed Dial screen. Enter the modified URL in the Enter address field, or choose an address from the Select address list.

Searching
In the top right corner of the browser is the search field, currently occupied by Google. Tap the search field to open and simply enter a search term and tap Start to start searching. Tap the down arrow to change the default search engine to Wikipedia. To personalise the search engine option, select Manage Search Engines from the drop-down list. This will display Google and Wikipedia in the list. Google is the default and cannot be edited. Tap Wikipedia and enter the new search Title and Address and tap Save. Now click Back to return to the main screen.

Tabbed browsing
The Tabbed Browsing feature allows users to open a number of windows allowing users to switch between sites. First open a site and then tap the tabbed browsing option. This will display a thumbnail of the current page and an empty page. Tap the empty to add another site. Repeat this process to add more pages. To remove a page from those on display simply select and tap the big red close button in the corner. To switch between the sites simply tap the desired page. To hide the windows simply tap the tabbed browsing icon.

Add a bookmark
Bookmarks are essential for storing site favourites, allowing users to visit a favourite site with a single click. To bookmark a page first open a site, then tap the Settings icon (spanner) and select Bookmarks. This will display an add icon with the title of the selected page. Tap the displayed icon to view the web page Title and Address, change the title if desired. Now select a folder to add the link. By default, Bookmarks is selected, use the drop down list to select an alternative.

General Settings
Tap the spanner icon to reveal the list of Settings available for the browser. The majority of the settings are simply on or off. For example, Load Images will not load images when switched off, Opera Turbo compresses pages to reduce bandwidth so this should be switched on. Switching on Fullscreen mode hides the toolbar while Landscape mode will switch the screen to Landscape oriented viewing. By default the zoom level is set to 100%, tap Zoom and select from 60%-200% for a new default viewing size. Switching on Mobile View reformats web pages to better fit the Opera browser window.

Opera link
Opera Link is a new feature in Mobile that allows users to synchronize bookmarks and Speed Dial sites between a device and desktop. To use the feature the user must have an Opera account set up. To open an account go to http://my.opera.com/community and sign up. To activate Opera Link simply switch on via the mobile device the browser resides on. A pop-up message will appear, press OK, tap I have an account, enter the username and password for the My Opera account and Login. Opera Mobile will automatically synchronize browser data with My Opera.

Start and Exit
Opera Mobile does not boast a home button, to get back to the main screen tap the settings icon, far right on the toolbar, and select Start Page. To close down the browser tap the settings icon and select Exit. A message will appear asking Are you sure?, tap Yes to close down or No to continue.

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