After recently releasing an Opera Mini update (version 7.5), Opera Software now makes Opera Mobile 12.1 for Android-powered smartphones and tablets available for download from Google Play.

According to the Norwegian software firm, Opera Mobile 12.1 for Android has been optimised to run on four different chipsets, namely ARM v5 and v7, MIPS as well as X86. When a user downloads the free mobile browser from the Play market, they will only get the version best suited for the processor that powers their specific mobile device.

Although Opera Mobile 12.1 does feature the same Opera Turbo technology present within Opera Mini that enables webpages to be compressed by up to 90% to save data and boost download speeds, it also provides a much more fully featured browsing experience.

An example of this is the newly added fraud detection system, which informs users if a website has been marked as being suspicious or employed for illicit activities.

In addition, Opera Mobile for Android now supports webSockets that enhances two-way communications between your mobile device and a web server for applications, allowing for richer web content to be delivered. New support for CSS Animations and Flexbox further enables this browser to provide a web surfing experience closer to that found on PCs rather than a mobile browser.

Opera Software’s Mini and Mobile browsers are pretty popular amongst feature phone, smartphone and tablet users, currently ranking as the third most utilised mobile browser according to StatCounter.

As of September it holds a worldwide mobile browsing share of 19.27%, claiming a place on the mobile browser podium right next to Apple’s Safari mobile browser (iPhone users only) at 20.62% and the Android browser with its 25.1%. Locally though, Opera Software’s browsers are far more popular, dominating the mobile browsing landscape courtesy of its 57.97% stake.  

In other browsing related news, StatCounter recently provided its latest global desktop browser data, revealing that Chrome has now managed to build upon its lead over Internet Explorer as well as Firefox.