With the ever-gaining popularity of Mozilla Firefox and the launch of Google Chrome, the desktop browser wars are getting more intense than ever. But also striking is a similar fight for browser dominance. The battlefield? Mobile handsets.

In October, Firefox announced its soon-to-be-released mobile browser Fennec, as Windows launched the Windows Mobile screenshots. Not to be outclassed, Opera Software, the leading mobile browser at the moment, has just unveiled Opera Mini 4.2 Beta, promising a faster mobile browsing experience.

Key features include 24 new languages, the “Accept” link at EULA's end (for BlackBerry users), and an improved feature that allows you to synchronize, edit, or delete notes through Opera Link. The mobile browser also has improved RTSP handling that offers better video support for mobile video services (such as YouTube). You can take it for a spin on if you have a new Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone. Opera Mini 4.2 has also reintroduced the attractive skins from Opera Mini 3, and you can customize it by choosing new colorful skins.

One of the most interesting features of Opera Mini 4.2 may not be found on the mobile phone itself, but on the ground: a server park located in the United States aimed at improving the performance of Opera Mini worldwide. According to the website:“Opera Mini 4.2 can use our newly established server park in the US. This means significantly faster page downloads for our users in the Americas and Asia-Pacific region. Users in the rest of the world will also experience faster page downloads since we've reduced the load on our other servers.”