Android users spoke and Opera listened. Today, Opera announced that its Opera Mini 4.2 for Android software has graduated from beta status and is now a full build. Lots of new goodies are on board.Opera Mini 4.2 has been available in beta form for the Android platform for a while. During this beta period, Opera has listened closely to what Android users have had to say. In response, it is making a big set of improvements to the software.

Opera representative Thomas Ford said in an e-mail, "We focused on the top issues that Android users reported. The experience should be much better and we invite them to try it."

Major fixes include:

1. Added JSR-75 (File API) support which gives access to the SD card for uploading and downloading and also the possibility to save pages locally
2. Added support for video playback (Opera Mini hands over to the operating system video player)
3. Double tap works for zoom/unzoom
4. Use of inline url entry instead of native textbox
5. Fixed password text entry to show hidden characters
6. Fixed problems with exiting application when back button was pressed
7. Improved trackball speed.
8. Using Extra Large font in the built in pages.
9. Plus many small tweaks and fixes.

Most of these changes sound like they will improve the overall usability of Opera Mini on Android. I don't have an Android phone to test them out myself, but feel free to do so yourself.

Opera Mini 4.2 for Android is a free download.