Opera will be available for Android phones

Even though not a single phone equipped with the OS is available commercially as of yet, Opera said Thursday it had ported a version of its browser to Android.

Interested parties can download the technical preview from the company's website, and are being asked to submit feedback before Opera launches the product in beta.

The port is a version of Opera Mini specifically designed for Android, which allows for full Web browsing adapted to the smaller screens of mobile phones, with speeded loading times.

"Today we're glad to deliver our mass-market mobile browser to the Android development groups," CEO Jon von Tetzchner said in a statement.

Opera claims that Mini has about 40 million users worldwide. The faster loading of Web sites is achieved through sending data through Opera's servers, where it is compressed and then sent on to the user.

"When we first heard about Google Android, we were very excited about the possibilities it presents," Opera's Chris Mills said. He did disclose that there are some remaining issues, including a back button that isn't completely functional, and what Mills called "painting issues."

Opera Mini for Android can be downloaded from this link. A copy of the Android SDK is required.

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