Opera Launches Opera Next Chromium-Based Browser

Today Opera announced the release of it’s latest version of their browser Opera version 15 also known as Opera Next.  Earlier this year in February Opera had announced it’s switch from it’s own browser engine to Google’s chromium based Webkit.  What does this mean for webmasters?  Less testing and greater compatibility for their current sites and another step closer to a more standardized internet.

Opera Next 15 shows a 15 point improvement over their last browser according to HTML5test.com from an ironic score of 404 to 433.  Also using Google’s V8 JavaScript engine future results should closely mimic future version of Chrome.  Along with a more modern look, here are some of the improvements that were made:

Speed Dial

They have refreshed their shortcuts start page making access to content and your favorite sites smarter and easier.  You can now quickly filter all your shortcuts across all folders as well as drag and drop entries to create new folders, combined with the organization of the well known classic bookmark folder makes this a powerful tool.

Discover

Following in the footsteps of Google’s latest acquisition of Wavii, Opera Next includes a feature called “Discover”  Just select the category of choice and without even having to browse the web, it will feed content directly you based on any parameters that you set.

Stash

Want to compare items from different stores online?  No problem, Operas new feature called stash allows you to quickly flag a product by clicking on a heart icon and then comparing it with a similar product later on.

“Completely rethinking a browser in today’s competitive market is a big thing,” says Opera Software SVP of Desktop Products, Krystian Kolondra. “Our new browser is more beautiful and allows users to harness the massive amount of web content they are faced with today. Give it a try and discover something completely new.”

With lightweight and speed in mind, Opera also opted to remove it’s mail feature from within the browser making it a completely separate application on it’s own.  Although this is still only a beta release, Opera said it will be working quickly on bug releases  and fixes making for a quick release cycle based on it’s users feedback.

Will these changes make Opera a viable competitor or has Firefox, Chrome and IE locked up the PC browser?  Download the new Opera Next Here!