Opera's New Power Saving Mode Can 'Extend Laptop Battery Life by 50 Percent'

Opera on Thursday introduced a new feature to its Windows and OS X browser that claims will help extend the laptop battery life by up to 50 percent compared to previous versions of the Opera browser as well as Google Chrome.

The new "Power Saving Mode" is available in the developer stream and works automatically. The company says once the laptop's power source has been unplugged, the battery icon will appear next to the search and address field in the Opera browser. Users can click the battery icon to activate the "Power Saving Mode" and flip on the switch. Opera browser will also detect laptop's battery and will suggest enabling power saving mode if it is running low on power.

Announcing the new feature, Krystian Kolondra, SVP of Engineering for Opera said, "It's extremely frustrating to run out of battery on your computer, whether you are out travelling, watching videos, or you have just left your charger behind. Our new power saving mode will nudge you when the laptop starts to consume battery, and, when enabled, it can increase the battery life by as much as 50%."

Opera in its tests said the latest developer version was able to allow users to run up to 50 percent longer than other browsers.

The company says that it uses optimisations to save Battery in Opera browser for computer including reducing background activity from tabs, adapting page-redrawing frequency, and tuning video-playback parameters.

The new developer version of Opera 39 is now available to download from the company's website. Opera adds that in the developer version it is also testing ways to manage memory.

Opera in recent weeks has released new features for its browser including an integrated ad-blocker while also released Opera VPN with built-in ad blocker for iOS.