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I’ve been a fan of Opera Mini for a while. It was the primary browser on my first smartphone, the Windows Mobile powered T-Mobile Dash; Mini blew the doors off the default browser, Pocket Internet Explorer.

While some pan Opera Mini for having a somewhat different user interface, its speed more than makes up for it – and the learning curve isn’t that bad.

I’ve used the Android version of Opera Mini 5 for a couple of weeks – and it’s the fastest web browser on my T-Mobile G1. While the standard issue Webkit-based Android web browser is no slouch, at times it chokes on certain web sites. And Opera Mini is noticeably faster than the other web browsers I’ve tried on my G1: Dolphin Browser and the alpha version of Skyfire.

Here are my raves about Opera Mini 5:
1) It starts up more quickly than the stock Android web browser.
2) Its server-side data compression makes web pages render the quickest of any browser on my G1, even on a slow data connection.
3) Its “Speed Dial” start page gives users a quick way to get to their most accessed web sites.
4) Opera Mini uses the “Opera Link” online bookmark storage: handy if one also uses the Opera desktop browser. It was VERY HANDY when I migrated from Windows Mobile to Android.

Here are my rants about Opera Mini 5:
1) It needs an “out of the box” way to be made a phone’s default browser. There’s a separate app to do this; but this is a glaring omission.
2) The app needs to be more multitasking friendly. Right now, Opera Mini relaunches every time a user switches to it from using another app: major annoyance.
3) Opera Mini needs the ability to share web pages just like the stock browser does. It needs to be able to seamlessly pass links to other apps such as SMS, Twitter and Facebook clients, and email programs.
4) In addition having Opera Link, it needs to be able to import or use the same bookmarks accessed by the stock browser (as Skyfire and Dolphin already do).

Opera Mini is a very promising alternative web browser for Android. It’s a few tweaks away from becoming my default browser. Its deficiencies primarily center around how it works with other apps.