Traditionally, Opera Mini has been available as a Java software intended to run on a large range of phones. However, Opera Software has also been working hard to port it to as many different platforms as possible. Opera Mini 5 already supports Blackberry and native Android and iPhone apps are under development. The only major mobile phone OS which Opera had been missing out on is Windows Mobile. However, that is no longer the case as Opera has just launched a native version of Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile 5- and 6-based handsets.

Opera Mini for Windows Mobile will include all the features we have come to expect from Opera Mini including tabbed browsing, visual speed dials, password manager, download manager, touchscreen support and synchronization. The biggest advantage of Opera Mini is speed. Each of the pages are compressed and rendered at Opera’s servers. Opera claims that it can reduce the size of webpages by upto 90%. This results in a significant speed boost and can even reduce your bandwidth bills.

By integrating Opera Mini with the Windows Mobile platform, Opera Software is hoping to deliver an optimized version of the popular browser that will dramatically improve performance and the overall user experience. “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.

You can download Opera Mini for Windows Mobile by browsing to m.opera.com/next from your mobile phone. Alternatively, you can download it to your computer from opera.com/mini/next/.