Opera Mobile 9.7 beta 1 opens, adds 'Turbo' rendering

Last March the world got its first look at Opera Mobile 9.7, and its upgraded server-side optimization technology called Opera Turbo working in tandem with the Presto 2.2 rendering engine.

Today, the public beta of Opera Mobile 9.7 has been made available for download for touchscreen Windows Mobile devices.

With Opera Mobile's compression technology, server-aided rendering, and faster in-browser rendering engine, it can provide a much faster browsing experience for slower (non-3G) data connections. Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner said, "Not everyone owns a 3G phone and not everyone needs to. This is why Opera's focus is on improving our browser so that your EDGE network feels like you're surfing 3G style or better."

Additionally, this beta can hook up with the Opera Widgets manager, through which users can access the popular mini-apps that have been a part of the Opera landscape since 2006, when they were added to Opera 9.