DJYSRV

After a stealth release in Europe, Opera rolled out the global release of Opera mini, a cell phone application that makes hundreds of millions of cell phones potentially able to run the Opera browser and surf the net from a wireless device.

Mobile phones must support Java in order to use the new browser. Opera Mini compresses Web pages by up to 80 percent and reformats them using what Opera calls small-screen rendering for easier browsing on mobile screens.

Opera said using the software will lead to significantly faster browsing and reduced phone bills for users who pay per kilobit of data traffic. Opera Mini's start page integrates a Google search box.

Opera will soon offer customized versions of Mini to mobile phone operators and handset manufacturers.

The browser is available in English, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish. More languages will be added in the coming months. Download and installation is no more complicated than downloading a ringtone.