Alternative mobile browsers tested: Skyfire vs Opera Mobile vs Fennec vs Safari vs Internet Explorer vs BlackBerry

OS: Windows Mobile and Symbian S60
Version tested: 9.7 beta
JavaScript benchmark: 40,249.2ms
Acid3 result: 100/100 (Wow!)
Get it from: opera.com/mobile/download

Opera Mobile did an excellent job of rendering complex Web sites such as the BBC and CNET UK accurately and fast -- although there was no Flash at all, so we couldn't look at Flash elements or videos.

The user interface was innocuous and straightforward, and we particularly liked how Opera Mobile handled multiple pages. In our tests, it did a good job of loading multiple pages at once, and switching between them was simple. Opera Mobile calls this tabs, but there were no tabs visible when we had several pages open -- instead, an icon on the menu bar along the bottom shows how many pages you have on the go, and we could select the one we wanted from a menu.

Opera Mobile offers a Google search bar along with the address bar when you tap to enter text there, which was a clear and helpful way to give us the option to type an address or search.

Overall, Opera Mobile didn't have many bells and whistles, but it was a good, solid workhorse we'd be happy to recommend. And with a score of 100/100 on the Acid3 test, you can be confident that pages will display how they're meant to in this browser.