Ever wanted to see whether the fuss over Opera Mini – oft lauded as one of the best mobile web browsers – stacks up? Maybe you just want to see how your mobile site will displays to users on smaller screens.

Here’s how to take the ickle-browser for a spin without the need to go anywhere near a mobile phone…

Step one

This guide requires that you have the Java runtime environment installed.

Download the microemu @ microemu/downloads. This is pure java implementation of the Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME).

Extract the folder, enter the folder. then right click on the ‘microemulator.jar‘ file inside to give it permission to execute. You’ll also want to ensure that it will open with Java, so set Java as the default application to open .jar files.

Step two

Next up you’ll want to grab Opera Mini. Head over to operamini.com, select the version you wish to try and download both the .jar and .jad files, placing them somewhere memorable.

Step three

Now lets load OperaMini 5.1.

  1. Open up the emulator by double-clicking on it. You can resize the emulator to any size you wish, just extend as you would any other window.
  2. Click through to “File > Open MIDlet” choosing the Opera Mini .jad (yes, .jad not .jar) file you previously downloaded.
  3. “Opera Mini” will now be listed in the apps list. Click on the “Start” button to launch it
If you so wish you can easily create a menu launcher to the emulator. Likewise you can easily install plenty more Java-based mobile applications, games and utilities – getjar.com is a great place to poke around.