Using Opera Mini for Blackberry

Written by: Bill Fulks • Edited by: Christian Cawley
Published Jan 18, 2010 • Related Guides: Opera Mini | Blackberry | Web Browser

Opera Mini for Blackberry is the best Blackberry web browser. Here's an overview of the software, how it works, and where you can download it. Best of all - it's free!

Opera for Blackberry

click to enlarge

The web browser that comes built into the Blackberry is decent enough for finding information online, but it tends to strip out almost all the graphics and formatting on the sites you visit - often the site is nothing like what you are used to seeing on a PC. Sometimes, a lot of the content is missing and you don’t get the full experience on some websites when using a Blackberry. The solution is to download Opera Mini for Blackberry. It’s a free web browser for the Blackberry that functions more like a browser on a PC, so you won’t be missing out on so much.

Blackberry Web Browsing

click to enlarge

When you visit a website using Opera for Blackberry, it first displays a miniaturized version of the site, sort of like a screenshot. You can’t read the text unless it is large, but the layout looks just like it does on a PC. The way it works is you get a box that covers about 1/6 of the screen and you use the Blackberry rollerball to place the box over the area of the site where you wish to zoom in. You then just click the ball to zoom in, and you get nice big readable text on a screen that lets you scroll around in all directions.

The only downside to using the zoom in/out feature is that you sort of need to already be familiar with the layout of the site. The reason is that when zoomed out you cannot read the text, so you need to know what you’re looking for. Depending on the format of the site, you can pretty much figure out the difference between content and advertisements. For people whose eyes may not be so great, this might cause some headaches.

Bookmarks and Favorites

click to enlarge

Bookmarking pages in Opera Mini for Blackberry is as easy as pressing a button. Just go to the page you want to save as a favorite, press the Blackberry button with the seven dots, and choose ‘Add Bookmark’ from the menu that pops up. You can even assign a ‘Speed Dial’ number to the site so that when you open Opera Mini, you just press and hold that number to go straight to the site. This is a wonderful feature to save you many keystrokes while quickly checking on your usual sites each day.

Changing Settings

If you want to adjust the font size or image quality for the sites you view in Opera for Blackberry, just open any site and press the Blackberry button, then scroll down to ‘Settings’ and click the rollerball. From there you can make a few adjustments to the way your pages look, as well as clear out cookies and adjust your network settings, if needed. When finished, just press the press the Blackberry button again and select either Save, Cancel, or Exit from the menu. I like to set my font size to small so I can fit more on the screen, but it is very small and might make it hard to read for some people. It also helps keep others from looking at your screen.

Download Opera Mini for Blackberry

If you use the web a lot on your Blackberry, I strongly recommend you download Opera Mini for Blackberry instead of using the built-in browser. It makes your websites look more like the way they were designed, and is just as easy to use as any other web browser. To download Opera Mini, use your Blackberry to visit http://m.opera.com and follow the instructions on screen. It’s absolutely free!