Opera Mobile 9.5 beta adds widget support

Browser development firm Opera Software announced the addition of widget support to its Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, which heralds the browser's second release for Windows Mobile and its first for UIQ-based devices. T-Mobile USA previously announced it will offer Opera Mobile with Widgets as part of the operator's web'n'walk mobile Internet initiative--according to Opera, the release of the 9.5 beta enables rival operators to incorporate widgets as well, offering subscribers access to web content via homescreen icons. A number of Opera Widgets are already pre-installed in the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta builds, promising access to Twitter, shopping lists and weather reports--other downloadable widgets are available here.

In addition, Opera said it updated its Opera Widget Software Development Kit to include two new features: An Opera Dragonfly debugging tool (optimized for debugging JavaScript, inspecting Cascading Style Sheets and the Document Object Model) and a Widget Manager for on-device testing. Opera will celebrate the release of the revamped SDK with the X Widget Challenge, offering $10,000 in cash prizes for the best cross-device widget submissions. Details are available here.

For more on Opera Mobile 9.5's widget support:
- read this release

Related articles:
Opera Mobile 9.5 beta released
Opera 9.5 SDK for Devices released