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Fresh off the heels of the release of Safari 5, Norwegian software company Opera is today launching version 10.60 of its desktop browser. And yes, they promise it’s faster. Much faster. Like ’50% faster than its predecessor on selected JavaScript tests’ faster.
Opera 10.60 (beta) also boasts a fresh UI, geolocation support and WebM support for HTML5 video, so it isn’t all about the need for speed. Although the company does place a lot of emphasis on the notion that it’s supposed to be lightning fast.
Which calls for some high-level speed testing, if anyone is up for it.
Performance aside, let’s look at the other features now integrated into the browser:
Geolocation
Opera can now detect your location based on your WiFi connection and ‘other factors’, which enables it to cater search results and whatnot to your area.
Online video
Opera 10.60 now boasts support for open video format WebM, built right into the browser. Not much of a surprise, since Opera – along with Google and Mozilla – is behind the royalty-free video codec project.
And that’s not the only anti-Flash bet the company’s making:
HTML5 Appcache and Web Workers
Appcache lets you use different apps, such as word processor, image editor, spreadsheets and more, in your Web browser even when offline. Web developers can now also use HTML5 Web Workers for doing heavy calculations without slowing down the user’s browsing experience.
Search suggestions
Opera 10.60 beta makes search more efficient, introducing search suggestions for selected partners (e.g. Wikipedia) in the Speed Dial and search box.
User interface changes
Thumbnails for tabs have now been replaced with icons, and there are new graphics for Speed Dial, tab previews and the Opera menu button.
According to the beta product landing page, the browser should be released for Windows, Mac and Linux simultaneously this Summer.
As always, give it a whirl and tell us what you think.
(Via press release)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software. Opera handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, IRC online chatting, downloading files via BitTorrent, and reading web feeds. Opera is offered free of charge for personal computers and mobile phones, but for other devices it must be paid for.
Norway-based Opera provides web browsers for the desktop, mobile, and other electronics such as the Wii. It also provides a service called Opera Link that lets you access bookmarks across devices.
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