Preceding the general release, Opera Next 15 for Windows and Mac is now
available for trial. As the name suggests,
Opera Next is a sneak peek into the next release of Opera's desktop browser. The Norway based developer has moved its earlier existing Presto based browser onto the Chromium platform. With a host of things included and a few removed, this version of Opera Next looks both attractive and interactive. Majority of the additions seem to be in sync with the browser's Android version.
We try to sum up the major features for you.
The home page welcomes you with three tabs - Speed Dial, Stash and Discover.
Speed Dial - The long lived speed dial feature of Opera that went on to be inspire other browsers such as Firefox, continues to have a similar interface in the latest redesigned version. A search box has been added to the top and web pages can now also be categorized in folders. This feature that helps in staying organised has been already there on Opera's Android Browser.
Stash - This is a new feature that has been added and helps you save links you might want to come back to later. The feature can come in handy to save stuff for future reading.
Discover - The most significant addition to the browser is the discover tab that lets you 'discover' content and was seen in the Opera Browser for Android. With this feature, start your browser and get news according to your location and interest. Categories such as Top News, Business, Entertainment and Technology are present for browsing. In every category, the stories are presented in a neat tile like interface.
Besides these, the address bar now features search showing results from multiple search engines. Opera has labeled this feature as 'Smartbox'.
The Off-road mode (previously called Opera Turbo), which according to Opera is meant for 'rough times' (referring to slow connectivity) enables pages to load faster.
Another important change that came with the release was Opera moving its internal email client M2, into a separate product called Opera Mail. The first release of Opera Mail is also now
available for download.
After trying the browser, it is certain that the features and looks are definitely worthy. But speed and performance still needs to be improved. Without the off-road mode, the page load time is a bit laggy and needs to be worked on for Opera to gain momentum in the desktop browser domain.