Opera Mobile

Difference between Opera Mobile 10 and Opera Mini 5

By Dag Olav Noremdagolav. Thursday, December 3, 2009 12:08:06 PM

We get quite a few questions about the difference between Opera Mobile 10 and Opera Mini 5. This post will attempt to clarify.

NB! Unless you have a Windows Mobile, Symbian/S60 or Android phone, Opera Mobile is not available for you to download to your phone. Enjoy Opera Mini!

First, here is what they have in common:

Both are based on the same core technology, the Opera Presto browser engine (just like Opera for desktop).
Both use the same cross-platform user interface, providing similar features and browsing experience.

And the difference:

In Opera Mini, the Opera Presto browser engine is located on a server. In Opera Mobile, it is installed on your phone.

When you enter a Web address in Opera Mobile, the Web page is fetched directly from the Web server to your phone. However, the Opera Mini client sends a request to the Opera Mini server, which downloads the page from the Internet. The server then transcodes the page before it is forwarded to the client in a lightweight mark-up language designed specifically for this purpose.

The advantage is that the Opera Mini client can be much smaller and work on more basic phones than the full Opera Mobile browser.

On the other hand, Opera Mini depends on a server while Opera Mobile does not. (Opera Turbo is an optional service for Opera Mobile that compresses Web pages and makes it cheaper to browse, but it is not required).

In practical terms, here is what that means for you:

Opera Mobile will render Web pages just like a desktop browser. In Opera Mini, there may be slight differences, and very complex Web pages may not work optimally.
Opera Mini will generally be faster. It downloads less content and requires less CPU to render pages.
Opera Mini works on almost any phone. Opera Mobile is only available for Windows Mobile, Symbian/S60 and Android phones.

Which product is best for you depends on your personal preferences and the sites you browse. Many advanced users will have both browsers installed and alternate depending on the situation. For example, they will use Opera Mobile when on Wi-Fi, Opera Mini when on a cellular network.

Another reason why Opera Software has both products in the portfolio is that many of our operator and handset manufacturer customers have very specific requirements. The differences between the products may be extremely important to them. For example, Opera Mobile is generally preferred by handset manufacturers for preinstallation on mobile phones.

Opera Mobile 10 Beta 2 for both Symbian/S60 and Windows MobileOpera Mobile 10 Beta 3 for both Symbian/S60 and Windows Mobile

Comments

1 2 Next »

Tamil # Thursday, December 3, 2009 12:28:01 PM

Opera Mini will consume less power, right?

endless lovepersianweblog # Thursday, December 3, 2009 12:28:15 PM

thobi # Thursday, December 3, 2009 12:48:55 PM

nice article & very useful

Rafael Luikrafaelluik # Thursday, December 3, 2009 3:36:22 PM

Mouseover menus doesn't works in Opera Mini. :/

Leoleo42 # Thursday, December 3, 2009 3:40:08 PM

What about JavaScript: is it executed on both ?

If not, is it planned ?

Taufiq Ahmedtareqf1 # Thursday, December 3, 2009 3:40:40 PM

the annoying thing is, when I start Opera Mini, everytime it needs to load which takes much time.

may b I need a windows/symbina phone. Or I can use the builtin browser of the phone.

Al Garciaalgarcia # Thursday, December 3, 2009 3:56:09 PM

"Many advanced users will have both browsers installed and alternate depending on the situation. For example, they will use Opera Mobile when on Wi-Fi, Opera Mini when on a cellular network."
I guess i'm an advance user then. While using my operator connection I tend to use Opera Mobile for mobile sites (m.facebook.com' m.twitter.com, dabr.co.uk...) and leave Opera Mini for more complex sites. It's not only that data isn't cheap (about US$ 0.50 per MB) but it's also very slow. I only have edge with a very limited bandwidth and my operator is still testing their 3G service.
Great applications, both of them.

Nyk EdingerNyk # Thursday, December 3, 2009 4:02:52 PM

Thank you! This clears up a lot. My question is, why is Opera Mobile only an option for those two types of smart phones and not Blackberry or Android?

Elvismurka3000 # Thursday, December 3, 2009 4:10:48 PM

"Unless you have a Windows Mobile or Symbian/S60 phone, Opera Mobile is not available for you"

So how i use Opera Mobile on my Acer n311 and Acer NeoTouch with WM?

MisterNobody # Thursday, December 3, 2009 4:30:06 PM

Updated Opera Mini vs Mobile comparison table
http://opera.perm.ru/?set=opera&nm=omvsom

Haavardhaavard # Thursday, December 3, 2009 7:12:38 PM

The Acer N311 is a Windows Mobile phone.

Jacek JędrzejewskieXtremo # Thursday, December 3, 2009 8:01:34 PM

Hope to see Opera Mobile on Android

CesarCesaronizan # Thursday, December 3, 2009 8:12:00 PM

muy bueno lo unico que espero es que mejoren la version de flash player del nokia N97 para que sea como navegar en la pc

João EirasxErath # Friday, December 4, 2009 12:03:38 AM

Originally posted by operamobile:

In Opera Mini, the Opera Presto browser engine is located on a server. In Opera Mobile, it is installed on your phone.

This is already complicated for most people. You can' say the words browser engine or server. Most people will not understand it.

You should say something more along the lines of "Opera Mini renders the webpages in a way that works on really weak phones and requires very little data from the network, therefore you save on the network bill, while Mobile, although move heavy, allows to use more interactive websites, like gmail on your mobile phone."

asrialbaker # Friday, December 4, 2009 2:13:01 AM

i wrote about both apps differences in a more detailed perspectives with tons of screenshots. posted it on my blog on November 17th. you guys can take alook at:

http://www.i-symbian.com/2009/11/opera-mobile-10-beta-1-for-symbian-vs-opera-mini-5-beta-1-the-differences/

cheers! ;-)

darkcg # Friday, December 4, 2009 4:14:37 AM

My comment is disappeared. I asked if Opera Mobile 10 will support some sort of HTC Sense integration on the HTC HD2. We're basically asking for multitouch support, landscape mode with accelerometer and bookmark integration ala Opera Mobile 9.7 beta. On the HD2 Opera Mini has no ground, thanks to Opera Turbo in Mobile 10.

illiad # Friday, December 4, 2009 3:26:59 PM

could be OT?? try posting here...
http://my.opera.com/operamobile/blog/2009/12/02/opera-mobile-10-beta-2-for-both-symbian-s60-and-windows-mobile

dariusch zamanidchz # Friday, December 4, 2009 8:18:43 PM

You know why I use Opera mini in my HTC HD2?
because filtering can't pass Opera mini!!!
and I use Opera mobile, for all the sites non filtered by authority.

Jackjckhng # Saturday, December 5, 2009 1:40:16 PM

Nice update. Thanks!

JaredpieRr0Ur # Sunday, December 6, 2009 10:17:27 AM

Can't install 4.2 or 5.0 (BETA) to my phone!

I have a Motorola RAZR2 V8

It's built-in browser is Opera 8.5

The built-in sucks. Sorry. . .

illiad # Monday, December 7, 2009 11:55:11 PM

pieRr0Ur: thats not symbian or WM, you'll have to use Mini... :/
http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_razr2_v8-1991.php

- Do NOTE this is the Opera *mobile* blog....

go here...

http://my.opera.com/operamini/blog/

Juan Manuel Flores Gonzálezcajhon # Tuesday, December 8, 2009 1:54:29 PM

i love both they work great on my n85

Viditviditbhargava # Thursday, December 10, 2009 4:31:54 AM

another difference...Opera Mini 5 beta can be installed on UIQ devices but Opera Mobile 10 beta cannot be.

strashnuk # Sunday, December 13, 2009 10:24:31 AM

А мне Очень Плохо, Почему Опера Мини5.0 Не хочет Загружатся на Samsung E250i? если кто нибудь сделает ее пожалуйста, дайте мне ссылку.

:супер

MohamedMoh122 # Sunday, December 13, 2009 4:56:56 PM

I wish i cud install opera 10 onto my mobile,maybe it might just speed up the connection to www.capetownsites.com. I wonder if the pictures would appear more clearly?

QasimQasibr # Wednesday, December 23, 2009 8:45:46 AM

Alot of people with older S60v3 devices with low RAM seem to have problems running the new version. v10 seems to take atleast a dozen MB at startup, ver 8.65 probably took around 4 Megs.

In a perfect world, Opera could optimize the new app so much that it'd actually take less resources than older versions. Apple touts that each new version of their OS actually takes less resources & performs better, even on older hardware. Opera's got the engineering talent to make it happen.

People with newer devices are a very prominent and visible part of the userbase, but there many more orders of magnitudes of people out there, with older hardware. Also, since most top-end devices have relatively capable flash-enabled browsers that users seem content with(alot of inertia to overcome to move these users to Opera, even if Opera's better), so Opera's browser might have alot more penetration on older hardware, if the app worked well on them.

I know it's a beta app, and it is very impressive. I really hope Opera's S60 team really optimizes the app to death and really brings down it's mem usage. I've personally installed the app on alot of people's devices, and a bunch of people have complained about out-of-memory errors.

Purdi # Thursday, December 24, 2009 12:39:53 AM

Originally posted by Qasibr:

In a perfect world, Opera could optimize the new app so much that it'd actually take less resources than older versions. Apple touts that each new version of their OS actually takes less resources & performs better, even on older hardware. Opera's got the engineering talent to make it happen.

Source for the Apple claim?

Opera DOES run faster with every version, but adding support for web standards and all the crap on the web takes its toll.

QasimQasibr # Friday, December 25, 2009 7:33:42 AM

Jobs claims that at just about every new OSX release.. I know Opera definitely improves alot of stuff with every new version, I just hope this new version runs seamlessly on older hardware.

'Cos it'd be a huge opportunity, older phones have crappy browsers, and people would pay decent $ to get Opera's new ver on it.

Purdi # Monday, January 4, 2010 11:37:34 AM

Originally posted by Qasibr:

Jobs claims that at just about every new OSX release..

I call BS.

Onecar # Thursday, January 14, 2010 9:38:36 PM

When can we expect the final version? A lot of time has passed away and still no info about any progress :-(

Charles SchlossChas4 # Saturday, January 16, 2010 7:53:54 PM

S a msamfresco # Sunday, January 17, 2010 7:20:28 AM

It should be important to point that Opera Mini is free and Opera Mobile is not free.

Luckily some devices come with Opera Mobile pre-installed

(Tough, I will buy Opera Mobile someday no matter how much it costs!)

Purdi # Tuesday, January 19, 2010 11:47:19 AM

Originally posted by samfresco:

It should be important to point that Opera Mini is free and Opera Mobile is not free.

Says who? I didn't pay anything for Opera Mobile 10.

Charles SchlossChas4 # Tuesday, January 19, 2010 3:58:11 PM

Originally posted by Purdi:

Says who? I didn't pay anything for Opera Mobile 10.

Some phones come with it installed

Purdi # Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:43:27 AM

So you pay for Opera when it's installed on the phone?

leobox1 # Thursday, February 4, 2010 8:19:19 AM

is the opera m 10 turbo mode a nerfed version of mini's... using turbo, it is still rather slow and the image quality is far worst than mini.. furthermore, sometimes pages are blank and i have to move the pages around to get the site up..

Purdi # Thursday, February 4, 2010 11:42:58 AM

Turbo only compresses stuff. Opera Mini converts it to a different format.

leobox1 # Thursday, February 4, 2010 12:25:09 PM

i see.. thanks purdi.. any idea if i can make the image default a better quality?

Purdi # Friday, February 5, 2010 3:31:31 PM

Nope, doesn't look like that's possible at the moment!

leobox1 # Friday, February 5, 2010 3:59:31 PM

ok ty

Onecar # Tuesday, February 9, 2010 3:56:39 PM

When can we expect a final version? It's been too long, Beta 2 is OK but the lack of Flash is horrible for me :-(. I hope the final will have its support, it is a necessary thing when concerning SkyFire.

Purdi # Wednesday, February 10, 2010 12:41:03 PM

Originally posted by Onecar:

I hope the final will have its support, it is a necessary thing when concerning SkyFire.

The comparison is completely useless.

Skyfire only works on some specific high-end phones.

Opera Mini works on just about any phone.

They aren't even the same type of browser.

QasimQasibr # Thursday, February 11, 2010 9:01:31 AM

Hey prudi I think Onecar was comparing Opera MOBILE to Skyfire, I don't know where you brought Opera Mini into this... this is the Opera Mobile blog afterall, not the Mini one.

And to Onecar, I'm guessing beta 3 of Opera Mobile might be out soon, this press release from Opera says they showed beta 3 running on Symbian and WinMobile, to a bunch of journalists: http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2010/02/10/

Hartmut MeierUbetido # Thursday, February 18, 2010 4:25:19 PM

I love Opera 10 Beta 2, but can someone tell me how to get downloads to go to my Memory card, is it possible yet ?

felicia staleyfeliciastaley # Friday, March 5, 2010 11:04:31 AM

i have a complete touch tone phone the samsung instinct s60 and i have opra mini it works good but then i go on myspace and try to write an email and click but my key board never comes up.