Tips: Opera Mobile customizations

Here are some customization that I use with Opera Mobile on Android devices.

[Access to Preference Editor window]
The Preference Editor window let you change Opera's advance settings. To go there, type this on the address bar:
opera:config


[Ads blocking]
This is a re-written of the instructions given by Tamil in his Opera blog. All works are credited to him. This method prevents the ads from loading.

1. Download the "urlfilter.zip" file (see attachment). Extract it to see the urlfilter.ini file, copy it to the internal storage of your Android tablet (/mnt/sdcard).
The urlfilter.ini contains blocking definition posted by Tamil up till 20110423, uploaded with his permission, please refer his blog for future updates.

2. In Opera Mobile, go to opera:config. You'll see a search box, type: urlfilter. You'll see the line URL Filter File which allows to choose location of the urlfilter.ini file.

3. Press on Choose button and you'll be present with Opera's file explorer. Press the "Back" until you are in the "/" directory (aka root directory).

4. Then navigate to "/mnt/sdcard/", locate and select the urlfilter.ini that you downloaded.

5. Press Save button located below the "URL Filter File" section. Restart Opera Mobile for changes to take effect.

WARNING: If Opera Mobile can not locate "urlfilter.ini" file, Opera will not load! Leave the "urlfilter.ini" where it is and makes sure not to delete it. If Opera can't find the urlfilter.ini file and fail to load, you'll have to go to "Manage applications" and clear Opera's data for it to load again, but you'll lose your browsing data, bookmarks, etc.

Optional for rooted users

You can put urlfilter.ini into Opera Mobile's settings folder where they'll be little chance of the file getting deleted. You'll need a file explorer with root access such as Root Explorer. Instruction below is for advance users, follow at your own risk!

6. Open Root Explorer, tap and hold on the urlfilter.ini file and select "Copy". (Don't select Cut or Move for now.)

7. Navigate to Opera's settings folder which is located at "/data/data/com.opera.browser/opera/". Paste the urlfilter.ini there.

8. Change the permission of urlfilter.ini or won't be accessible by Opera. Tap and hold on the "urlfilter.ini", choose Permission in the menu, then have these options checked: Root: Read/Write, Group: Read/Write, Others: None.

9. Open up Opera Mobile, go into opera:config and search for urlfilter.

10. At the URL Filter File line, just press the Default button. It'll automatically set the location to: "/data/data/com.opera.browser/opera/urlfilter.ini".
[End of Ads blocking section]


[Performance tweaks]
Go to opera:config and make changes to settings below as you see fit:

-Turbo mode
This is not the same thing as Opera Turbo. If I am correct, enabling turbo mode tells Opera to cache images in the RAM instead of internal storage which help documents load faster.

Go to opera:config, search for turbo mode. Check the box to enable it, press Save and exit Opera Mobile for changes to take effect.

-Disk Cache size
1. Go to opera:config, search for size. Find the line "Size" under the "Disk Cache" section.
2. How big you should set the cache size depends on how much free space your device has. The cache could help webpages load faster next time you access them. I set mine to "102400" which is 100mb.
3. Press Save.

-Max Connections settings
These settings are located in under the Performance section in opera:config, though Opera doesn't save the changes made in there. Therefor you'll have to edit the "opera.ini" file itself. So I can't prove it makes a difference because the opera:config doesn't shows the changes even though its saved in the opera.ini file, but I feel webpages load faster.

1. This required both a file explorer and text editor with root access. I use Root Explorer which has both. Proceed at your own risk!

2. In Root Explorer, navigate to "/data/data/com.opera.browser/opera/".

3. Tap and hold on the file opera.ini, in the Menu select Open in Text Editor.

4. In the opera.ini file, scroll down until you see [Performance] section.

5. Type in these lines exactly (case sensitive) under [Performance]:
Max Connections Server=16
Max Connections Total=16
Network Buffer Size=128
(This is the same setting as the Opera desktop version.)

6. Tap the "Menu" button of your phone and choose Save & Exit.
[End of Performance tweaks section]


[Other tweaks]

-Automatically empty cookies when Opera exit
In opera:config, search for cookie. You'll see "Accept Cookies Session Only" under the "User Prefs" section. Check the box, press Save.

-Font size
In opera:config, search for minimum. You'll see "Minimum Font Size" under the "User Prefs" section. Change the font size to what you like, then press Save.

Note: I like to set it as 12, but if the font size is too big the text might be hidden or out of place in certain websites. Size 16 might help some people read easier. Yes, obviously with mobile devices you can zoom, but some people prefer to view the entire page without zooming.

-Disable geolocation
Not that it'll help when you use a mobile phone which has high capability of tracking your location in many different ways. But if you want to do so, in opera:config, search for geo. Uncheck the "Enable geolocation" box, press Save.


Other tips
-Custom search engine
Most will know this, but if you tap and hold on an unselected search box, they'll be an option "Add Search Engine".

-Switch to Desktop agent
If you haven't already, go to "Settings -> Advanced -> User Agent" and select Desktop. This makes webpages appear in full desktop mode as on the PC.