Following a short round of bug fixing, Opera has announced a beta release of their mobile browser, Opera Mini 4.2. There are lots of improvements in this version, such as the ability to customize the browser with skins, additional languages, improved video, up to 30 percent faster performance, and note syncing via Opera Link.

In addition, version 4.2 marks the browser’s debut on the Android platform, becoming the first alternative G1 users have to the phone’s built-in browser based on WebKit. It’ll be interesting to see if Opera’s mobile browser takes off among Android users, in what could be seen as a rebuke to Apple after it rejected the browser as a competitor to Safari on the iPhone. If you happen to be interested in this release, then you can go ahead and find your phone on the list of compatible devices, then download Opera Mini for free.