Opera Mini has attracted millions of users for all sorts of reasons, but its appearance hasn't particularly been one of them. Frankly, the app has felt dated for years.

With version 8, that changes. The zippy little browser now has a look and feel that looks more at home on Android (which we've been able to experience for a few months now in beta). It's not #materialyolo, but it doesn't clash nearly as much with Lollipop as the prior release.

Left: Old, Right: New.

Version 8 still positions the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, keeping buttons where users have come to expect them. Speed Dial has received a facelift and now displays icons instead of thumbnails. Additionally, it and Discover have combined to form a new start page. Opera Mini also better adjusts to flagship displays thanks to high DPI support.

You can see much of the interface changes in Opera's very excited launch video.

The changes don't all concern looks. This release provides private browsing tabs, introduces a new data counter to show how much data you're saving (which is probably the reason you're using Opera Mini in the first place), and supports a few swipe gestures. Opera says this release should save 10% more data.

You can see more in the changelog.

What's new:

  • New skin, native look & feel
  • Swipe support: swipe bookmarks to delete, swipe downloads to abort or swipe tabs to close
  • High DPI support
  • Group favorites into folders by dragging
  • Combined omnibar: type URLs and get suggestions when typing.
  • New data counter shows your daily progress on saving
  • Visual tab gallery
  • Private tabs
  • Revamped bookmark manager. Save, sync & share
  • Swipe up or long press to search
  • Merged start page with speed dial and discover

Opera Mini now requires Android 2.3 or higher. If you're trying to save data on an older device, you will have to continue running a previous version of the browser.

Source: Opera blog