It has been just under six months since Opera last released an update to Opera Mini, but they’ve finally got a new beta to share. Released today, the Opera Mini 4.2 beta adds in a few new features (and revives a few old ones) to help keep the browser competitive in the never ending battle for the free mobile browser crown.

The new stuff in the 4.2 beta:

• Skinning: It’s not quite new, but it’s been missing for a while. Last seen in Opera Mini 3, skinning allows users to make the browser as pink as they could possibly want.
• US Servers: A big chunk of Opera Mini’s appeal (or it’s biggest flaw, if you’re paranoid) is that all data passes through a optimization proxy, shrinking it down and knocking out a bunch of junk your mobile handset doesn’t need to parse. As anyone who’s ever dug for their IP in Opera Mini might know, everything was previously routed through Norway. With this release, they’ve added a few servers in the US, improving load times and performance for everyone.
• Note Syncing: Using Opera Link, you can sync notes from the Opera desktop browser to your mobile browser without a whole lot of fuss.
• Video: It’s no reason for Skyfire to start shaking in its boots, but the Opera Mini 4.2 beta now support m.youtube.com and other mobile video content on certain handsets. While I can’t track down exactly which content it supports, I’d assume 3GP/RTSP