Opera Rethinks the Web Browser

Opera announced today that the latest version of its flagship web browser is now available, offering key features from its Neon concept browser.

“It’s time to rethink the browser,” Opera’s Krystian Kolondra explains. “Now, the best parts of Neon are being brought to the new Opera browser, codenamed Reborn.”

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Opera 45, as the release is really called, offers the following new features:

The best of Neon. Opera’s Neon concept browser was released back in January as an experiment to predict the future of web browsers. Opera 45 incorporates key Neon features, including messaging integration and content discovery functionality.

Integrated chat. Opera 45 offers integrated support for the Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram messaging services. These services are available from a new sidebar and can work as overlays or side-by-side with the current tab.

UI improvements. Opera now provides two color themes, light and dark, and it comes with a variety of fun backgrounds. More important, Opera now ships with a “modern, simplified, refined and playful” new user interface with an updated layout, simpler, light and more efficient tabs, that new sidebar, new icons, high DPI support, animations, and more.

Ad blocking improvements. Building on its previous support for ad blocking, Opera 45 now auto-reloads a web page when you toggle ad blocking, and it includes various improvements to block list management.

Security improvements. Opera will now warn when sensitive form fields are not HTTPS.

Performance improvements. On Windows, Opera 45 now decodes videos using your PC’s GPU for improved performance. “This will allow for significantly higher framerates, higher resolutions, and lower battery usage for these videos,” Opera says.

Chromium 58. Because Opera is based on the Chromium 58 rendering engine, it includes a number of improvements related to that release. You can learn more here.

You can download Opera 45 for Windows from the Opera website.

 

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Conversation 20 comments

  • Kudupa

    10 May, 2017 - 12:36 pm

    <p>I like Opera. It's on my home and work PC as the default browser. </p>

  • Waethorn

    10 May, 2017 - 12:38 pm

    <p>Ad-blocking. Great. Can we get rid of the crap #fakenews/#fakead Taboola/Outbrain/Zergnet links, like those on sites like ZDnet? They're just like the "sponsored posts" that link to tech support scams that Facebook said they would do away with when the "fake news" trend started, before it became political issue.</p>

  • RonH

    Premium Member
    10 May, 2017 - 12:49 pm

    <p>Edge should look more like this…</p>

    • Vuppe

      10 May, 2017 - 3:23 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#115347"><em>In reply to RonH:</em></a></blockquote><p>Hmm, I actually like the appearance of Edge. I just wish it was…better.</p>

    • Ekim

      Premium Member
      10 May, 2017 - 8:41 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#115347"><em>In reply to RonH:</em></a></blockquote><p>Edge needs to be decoupled from the OS (coming soon) and cross platform (coming ???). Until then Edge is a non-starter no mater what it looks like. BTW, I also like the way it looks.</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    10 May, 2017 - 1:00 pm

    <p>MS should talk to the Opera guys to get this into the Store.</p>

  • brettscoast

    Premium Member
    10 May, 2017 - 4:00 pm

    <p>Never been able to get excited about Opera but this latest release looks impressive </p>

  • pepesilvia

    10 May, 2017 - 4:04 pm

    <p>Vivaldi has essentially the same thing (Web panels).</p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    10 May, 2017 - 4:15 pm

    <p>A browser called Rockmelt attempted this sort of integration as well a few years ago, it didn't work out. Facebook's backend is always changing and they're always shuffling around with Messenger's features, which often results in integrations like these breaking. If the changes add up, it will never get fixed.</p><p>When it comes to re-thinking the browser, I would say actually Edge has been leading the pack with stuff like Set my tabs aside and the note-taking stuff. Too bad it's marred by poor performance and stability.</p>

  • robinwilson16

    10 May, 2017 - 6:13 pm

    <p>It doesn't appear to support High DPI correctly as if I open the Facebook Messenger tab or WhatsApp tab the text is so small it is almost unreadable.</p>

  • Michael Rivers

    10 May, 2017 - 7:39 pm

    <p>I wonder if Opera has rethought whining to EU regulators about the ridiculous "browser ballot" Microsoft had to put into Windows. I guess I have a long memory for companies that do stupid stuff.</p>

    • Ekim

      Premium Member
      10 May, 2017 - 8:38 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#115522"><em>In reply to Michael Rivers:</em></a></blockquote><p>Wow, I completely forgot about that. Given how Windows can be sometimes I wonder if the code for that is still in the OS?</p><p><br></p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    11 May, 2017 - 1:14 am

    <p>Every 5 years or so I give Opera a try, then go back to Firefox. I suppose it's not unlike a Scotch drinker's aversion to Bourbon (or vice versa). I admit it looks nice, but I just want certain bits of the browser UI where I've had them for the last 20 years, and Firefox seems to be the only browser which lets me keep them there.</p>

  • bcalla

    11 May, 2017 - 1:27 am

    <p>I've been using Opera for about a year now after Chrome became too bloaty for me and It's been a great experience. Looking forward to trying these new features. </p>

  • Tony Barrett

    11 May, 2017 - 6:30 am

    <p>I guess Opera (and Google with ChromeOS) realised a while ago that the browser itself could be the central focus of the whole user experience. Rolling all the functionality they need into the browser itself, and providing a single interface seems like the future – everything is going web anyway, so why not. Could Opera try this with their own O/S based on their browser I wonder?</p><p>Mozilla tried it with FirefoxOS for mobile (which failed), but MS keep plodding on with Windows and Edge, which really isn't going anywhere by the looks of it.</p>

  • mruszczyk

    11 May, 2017 - 11:06 am

    <p>Didn't Opera Softwatre get purchased by a Chinese firm a year or so back? I was a diehard Opera user for years but backed away after the swap to Blink. I still keep it installed but use Firefox at this point.</p>

  • John Scott

    12 May, 2017 - 6:49 am

    <p>Sort of reminds me of the Maxthon cloud browser? I do sort of see the browser being central to what user focus on with a device. I think its why the browser is used far more then apps on a PC or Mac. Google saw this few years back when it created Chrome OS. Why have so many apps installed on your device when the browser can access them through the internet. But if that is true, then Microsoft has a real issue with 10S. Because Chrome is so popular and Edge is not. </p>

  • bsd107

    Premium Member
    12 May, 2017 - 4:10 pm

    <p>"Opera 45 offers integrated support for the Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram messaging services."</p><p><br></p><p>Who cares. Now, if that list had included "iMessage", there would instantly be a TON of new Opera users.</p><p><br></p><p>(Not that it will ever happen….)</p>

  • Lucas Plante

    25 November, 2017 - 2:02 am

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This web browser has been making all the participation for the citizens for the future goals. All the options of the browser and </span><a href="http://www.resumeplanets.org/&quot; target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">pro CV writing services</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> have been engaged with the full employment of the skills of the students of the computers.</span></p>

  • milanjoy

    28 December, 2017 - 12:06 am

    <p>Wow!! It was really glad to know that the latest version of Opera’s flagship web browser is now available for use. The major advantage is that it offers key features from its Neon concept browser. Good to see the details you have shared here. Keep updating more. <a href="https://www.woodpeckerscrafts.com/wooden-dowels-furniture-parts.html&quot; target="_blank">dowels</a></p><p><br></p>

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