Opera released the second beta of its Opera 9.5 browser and typically I'm skeptical of both betas and alternative browsers. The usual chain of events goes like this: I download a new browser, play with it for a bit and then go back to old reliable Firefox.
That said the latest Opera is pretty snazzy. I was checking the browser out for its security features, but the thing that won me over was the so-called speed-dial feature. You open a new tab and you get nine of your go-to sites instantly.
That may not mean much to most folks, but I often have a dozen or more tabs open. And often forget where I was or what I was doing. Typically these tabs will blow up Firefox 2.0 after about four or five hours as it consumes memory and requires a restart.
The speed-dial is one way around that problem and it may actually save me some time. It's unclear whether the latest Opera will save me time or not, but the speed-dial thing did make me go hmm. And for an alternative browser trying to elbow itself into user habits between Firefox and IE making a potential user go hmm is half the battle.
Other impressions:
- Opera, code-named Kestrel, is quick.
- You can synch your browser across computers and mobile devices. This would be more handy if I could download Opera Mini to my Motorola Q (long story, but Verizon Wireless won't support (or allow) it.
Overall, the latest Opera is worth a download for a test spin.
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