Your feature phone is about to get a little smarter, and more social.
Opera Software today released its Opera Mini 7 mobile Web browser for basic phones and Blackberry, which makes it quicker and easier to stay connected with your social networks. The browser comes with a new feature called "Smart Page," which is a one-page summary of all the news from your Facebook and Twitter feeds.
In addition to showing your friends' status updates and tweets, Smart Page will offer up suggestions for news sites to follow, and let you add feeds of sites you browse to most often. This feature will ultimately save you the hassle of manually typing Web addresses into your mobile keyboard.
"I've spent hours typing Web addresses on my mobile phone, but now there's a super smart way to get most of your content at a glance," Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software, said in a statement. "With Smart Page, you just open the browser, and the content is right beside your Speed Dial shortcuts in the start screen for you to skim through — super practical, super time-saving and super smart."
The browser also provides access to full websites, even if you don't have a smartphone. Opera promises that Mini 7 is better than the stock browser on your phone, making it easier to navigate the Web.
Opera Mini 7 is available as a free download for Java-compatible (J2ME), Nokia S60, and Blackberry devices at m.opera.com.
Opera's increased focus on social integration comes as the Norwegian browser maker is reportedly in talks to be acquired by Facebook. The social network is apparently looking to buy Opera to expand into the browser space, where it would face competition from Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, and Yahoo.
Some industry experts are saying Opera is a perfect match for Facebook, but at least one analyst thinks such an acquisition would not be a smart move for the social network. Both Facebook and Opera have declined to comment about the rumored acquisition talks.
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