Close on the heels of its last week beta release of Opera Mini 5 browser for Windows Mobile 5 and 6, Opera software Thursday launched the beta release of the Android version of the Mini 5, which reportedly feels similar to its Windows’ counterpart.

The launch of the Mini 5 for the Android platform marks Opera’s successful move in launching a cross-platform browser which will basically offer a near identical experience across all the operating systems it runs on – the mobile browser is already available for the BlackBerry handsets from Research In Motion, and can run Java applications.

The users of Android phones can download the Mini 5 either by going on to the Opera mobile Website - m. opera. com/next – using their regular Android browser; or by downloading the Mini 5 via the Android Market.

Going by the hands-on review of the Opera Mini 5 by Eric Zeman, an InformationWeek blogger, the browser’s user interface is “clean, stark, and easy enough for any user to figure out after a few moments of fiddling around.”

Noting that speed is the “killer” feature of the Mini 5, Opera claims that the browser delivers a desktop-like Web experience that PC users are familiar with; along with boasting a host of notable features that all Mini 5 include – namely, speed dialing, bookmarks, tabbed browsing, and a password manager.