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Norway's Opera Software has released an update to the Pocket PC edition of its browser for the Windows Mobile platform: a version for Windows Smartphones is expected shortly. The release of Opera Mobile 8.6 for Windows Mobile, which ends a beta period begun in January, offers tabbed browsing and surfing in horizontal landscape mode, among other features, and is compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 and 2003 Second Edition of the operating system.

Opera Mobile 8.6 ($24 after a 30-day trial period) should be welcome news to the many Windows Mobile users still unhappy with Pocket Internet Explorer; never one of the wireless platform's strong points. According to the company, the update, which is based on Opera's newest core code, supports all the major Web standards, including CSS2, DOM 2 and JavaScript, and offers a fast, secure and user-friendly Internet experience. It dynamically reformats Web pages to fit the width of any screen size too.

Tabs enable users to open multiple Web pages at the same time, and switch between them using the tabbed interface. And you can zoom or magnify text and images in Web pages better accessibility. Users may also browse pages in full size or with Opera's Small-Screen Rendering technology to avoid horizontal scrolling.

To Opera—one of the few companies to successfully challenge Microsoft's browser hegemony on the PC (until Mozilla Firefox came along)—it's all about bringing a desktop experience to the handheld. "Pocket PC owners are typically advanced users who expect the best and actively seek out better software for their devices," says Roger Carlhammar, EVP Mobile, Opera Software. "Opera's mission is to provide the best Internet experience on any device, and we are very happy to now offer this on Windows Mobile Pocket PCs."

Speaking of Mozilla, it has an open source (free) Windows Mobile browser out called Minimo. Now on version 0.015, it uses the same engine as Firefox with Google Maps support, an RSS reader, tabs, and an improved interface over earlier editions.