Comments for Opera 10 Alpha Emphasizes Faster Browsing Experience Over New Features

Opera 10 Alpha Emphasizes Faster Browsing Experience Over New Features

2008-12-04T17:24:29Z

Opera today released a sneak peek of the newest version of its desktop browser, Opera 10. At the center of this new release is Presto 2.2, Opera's new rendering engine, which, according to the company, offers a considerably faster browsing experience when compared to Presto 2.1.

Opera has had to face stiff competition in the desktop browser market from Google's Chrome, and the company is clearly looking to gain back some ground by emphasizing the speed of the rendering engine over new features in this release.

]]> Features

In terms of its user interface, the changes between version 9.6 and this alpha of Opera 10 are minimal and mostly cosmetic.

As for new features, Opera finally supports inline spell-checking. This feature had been sorely missing from Opera until now. Opera 10 can now also auto-update without giving notification to the user, similar to Google's Chrome.

Opera 10 also still includes all the major new features of Opera 9, including Feed Preview, Opera Link for bookmark synchronization, and the updated version of Opera Mail.

Presto 2.2

The rendering engine easily scored 100 out of 100 on the Acid 3 test (and easily passed the Acid 2 test as well). We benchmarked this alpha version against Opera 9.62 using the Sunspider and Dromaeo benchmarks. In both cases, Opera 10 was clearly faster, but the performance gains were typically around 10-15% and nowhere near the 30% claimed by Opera (though in their defense, Opera's PR material talks about the faster 'browsing experience,' not about benchmarks). Presto also wasn't able to come close to our benchmarks for Chrome.

A Capable Browser

Overall, Opera 10, at least in its current state, looks like an evolutionary update to previous versions. This preview version, however, was mostly meant to showcase the new rendering engine, so chances are that Opera will roll out additional new features and changes to the user interface in upcoming alpha and beta releases.

We have always had a soft spot for Opera, but somehow, the browser never quite found the sweet spot between speed and functionality that Firefox (in large part due to its extensions) and Chrome have.

Opera 10 is a capable browser with a number of very interesting features. However, when compared to Google's Chrome, with its unified address and search bar, as well as its speedy rendering engine, Opera 10 still has a bit of ground to cover before it will be able to challenge Chrome and Firefox.

Comment from theharmonyguy on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T18:07:27Z

Correction: Opera has had a "unified search and address bar" for quite some time. Simply type a few words into the address bar and hit enter to see what I mean. Or use shortcuts like "y keywords" (Yahoo) or "g keywords" (Google) to pick your search engine. And for the last few versions, as you type keywords you'll see pages you've previously visited which contain those keywords pop up below the address bar.

So how exactly (besides performance) is Opera lagging behind Chrome?

I honestly don't understand some people's takes on Opera, though I may be accused of being a fanboy... prior to the most recent iterations of Firefox/Chrome/Safari, nearly every comparison I saw ranked Opera at No. 1 when it came to performance (not to mention standards compatability). And it's long been on the cutting edge of features. I think it suffers from an image problem more than anything else.

Comment from Fer84 on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T18:14:20Z

"Opera 10 still has a bit of ground to cover before it will be able to challenge Chrome and Firefox."

WTF?????
Firefox SUCKS, and Chrome still has too few features

Opera Rulez!!!!

Comment from Frederic Lardinois on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T18:21:29Z

@harmonyguy: I think we agree that Opera suffers from an image problem more than anything else. As I said in the post, it's a good, capable browser.

As for the unified address bar, the concept is a bit different from Chrome's. In Opera (at least as far as I can see), I can't just type in a few keywords and hit enter to start a search. It's more like Firefox in that respect, I think.

Opera's performance was always top notch, but the recent iterations of its competitors clearly surpassed it. That's where Opera needs to gain some ground and the new rendering engine isn't quite up to par yet.

Comment from theharmonyguy on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T19:06:11Z

@Frederic: Perhaps I've simply customized my version, but for me Opera works exactly as you described - I routinely type a few keywords and hit enter in my address bar to start a search. Opera 10 appears to work this way out of the box as well. Typing one keyword doesn't work as Opera attempts to resolve this as a domain, but that behavior makes sense.

And we definitely agree that Opera needs to gain ground on performance - as an Opera fan I'm encouraged by Presto 2.2 but still concerned Opera is getting left behind by newer JS engines, such as V8 and Squirrelfish. You're right that browsers such as Chrome have a performance advantage over Opera now - though I would still maintain that's about the only advantage Chrome has.

Comment from Nilotpal on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T19:37:01Z

Excuse me, but does not come near the sweet spot of speed and features of Firefox or Chrome? First, you just seem to be looking at javascript benchmarks, not overall speed. Comparing the recent stable versions of Firefox and Opera, Opera beats Firefox more than handily in all aspects of browser speed (talk CSS, table rendering, picture rendering etc) except javascript (where it beats Firefox quite handily in the V8 and celtic Kane benchmark, but loses out in the sunspider and dromaeo tests). And it has more features out of the box than Firefox , is more secure as well as securable, and has equivalents of most of the popular extensions built in. As for chrome, it is a beta, insecure by default,(Aviv-Raff called it a security mule), and hell, you cannot compare the features of opera and chrome. The all in one searchbar has no where near the number of features and convenience that Opera has. I think you are biased towards Firefox or chrome (nothing wrong with it BTW, everyone has favorites). Or you have not come to recognize the features of Opera.

Comment from Marco on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T21:21:43Z

I am sorry to critize this article, but adress bar search was invented by opera, as most new features in the browser world. Their javascript engine is not the best that is right. But the browsing experince seems to be the fastest. The UI is the most responsive and mouse gesture are implemented by default from the developers. An there are a lot of details were opera leads, for example to search in the page, you just have to press the period-key.

The reason opera has only such a small market share lies in the marketing and licencesing of the product. After all it is not open source and previous version were advare.

Comment from Valentin on 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T23:31:14Z

The one thing really missing from opera is good add blocking (that does not need so much user involvement) - but apparently they don't want to implement it for fear of getting banned from websites.. But then I don't understand why they don't just implement some Firefox APIs such that Firefox plugins (including AddBlock) also work in Opera; this shouldn't be too difficult.

Comment from waferboard on 2008-12-04

2008-12-05T00:34:00Z

I keep trying these other browsers, but keep coming back to Opera. That's gotta mean something.

Comment from e on 2008-12-04

2008-12-05T07:32:33Z

You should research before you post. Opera has had the unified search / address bar for years now as a previous commenter has said.

Anyways, Opera has the best feature set out of all the browsers. Forget about Firefox's extensions you can customize this browser to do anything right from the built in preferences.

Comment from tanketom on 2008-12-05

2008-12-05T08:24:20Z

@Valentin: What? Adblocking requires you to right-click on an empty space of website, press "Block Content", pressing on all ads you want to block, and pressing "Done". That's not what I call much user involvement!

And, just like waferboard, I always seem to return to Opera. I've ran through IE, Firefox, Flock, Safari and others (not Chrome, sadly), but Opera still is the number one for me.

Comment from anon on 2008-12-05

2008-12-05T12:23:30Z

Opera is the best browser available.
It needs to come out with something revolutionary to resolve its PR issues or have a better marketing team.

Comment from Elton on 2008-12-05

2008-12-05T13:37:47Z

Howcome someone could write a biased review like this in the internet. Before I read this one, i've just read about 6 or 7 reviws, this one is shallow, biased and cowardly underestimating Opera's capabilities, in this review, the write hails Firefox and Chromes vitues and features, forgetting the most of them in those browsers were shamelessly stolen from Opera. Everyone knows this. I still don't know wht people persecute Opera That way. Anyway, Opera is the best browser regardless of people blindly passionate about other browser's stolen features and ideas.

Comment from Elton on 2008-12-05

2008-12-05T13:39:06Z

Howcome someone could write a biased review like this in the internet. Before I read this one, i've just read about 6 or 7 reviews that said otherwise, this one is shallow, biased and cowardly underestimating Opera's capabilities, in this review, the writer hails Firefox and Chrome's vitues and features, forgetting the most of them in those browsers were shamelessly stolen from Opera. Everyone knows this. I still don't know why people persecute Opera that way. Anyway, Opera is the best browser regardless of people blindly passionate about other browser's stolen features and ideas.

Comment from Pax on 2008-12-05

2008-12-05T21:20:14Z

I've been a long-time Opera user (and still a fan) but recently switched over to Firefox NOT because it's a superior browser but because I've taken to using the Google Toolbar.

It's a shame that something as simple as this has had such a dramatic effect on my browsing but it has.

As for Chrome being competitive with Opera, not even a discussion now. Chromes only advantages over most browsers is that it loads quickly and provides for more screen real-estate. Outside of that, Chrome (beta...) is still missing too many features.

Once new features get implemented (including it's own version of plug-ins) both load-up speed and screen real estate will be effected. Chrome also sucks pretty bad in how it places files all over the system. It's caching system (files left on the hard drive) is enormous even after short browsing sessions since it pre-caches alot of stuff. Let's talk Chrome once they get to 1.0 final, please. Chrome is currently for low-end users with little other demands or needs.

Opera is now in a position that the Mozilla Suite was once in when they included an email client, html editor and other stuff in their all-in-one browsing solution. Is it time for Opera to trim down some of the extras (email, torrent, etc - even though it's plenty fast) and focus on cloud computing and an integrated plug-in system so that a user never leaves the browser?

I think so... This might improve startup time, reduce memory usage (which are exceptional anyway). This might also help them focus on the emerging cloud and make sure that on-demand video from the key sites aren't a problem, access to webmail (google, yahoo) are implemented within the browser (users would see unread message within the toolbar), online bookmarks, online storage, send complete page by email with comments, and out-of-the-box solutions for key tech (flv, swf, wmv, pdf, etc...)

This is the direction browsers are headed toward and Opera needs to make some hard choices, I think.

Comment from Valentin on 2008-12-09

2008-12-09T13:52:03Z

@tanketom - well, with Firefox (and the right plugins) adds are just blocked- No action at all is required. That's a lot less than what I have to do in Opera (remember that I have to repeat these steps a few dozen times before it reliable detects most adds - and I have to do repeat it with every computer I use and every time a have a clean installation)

Comment from marinus on 2008-12-13

2008-12-13T18:47:57Z

A fair analysis! Opera wins on usability, security and [?] even speed. But loses on functionality. It stubbornly refuses to rebuild its awful widgets system from scratch, so it'll continue to lose users.
Like me: i loved Opera. Its flawless Zoom-to-Fit is still unmatched by any other browser [yes, even with extension'ed Firefox], and its hideable scrollbars that don't swell with page zoom are lovely]. And its ugly rep puzzles me: at least some of us WANT a minimal interface, which Opera has.
But it lacks ad blocking, Flash and embedded video downloading, tab display as in Firefox Showcase, toolbar toggling [like "hide navigation bar" etc.], an improved Speedial [Opera invented it but FF's SpeedDial improves on it], FF's AutoPager and its wonderful "Web of Trust".
Firefox is klunky and infuriatingly unstable but it does far more than Opera, sigh.
Come on Opera, get with the program!

Comment from hans on 2008-12-18

2008-12-18T16:20:08Z

Ik gebruikte internet explorer 6, maakt niet uit welke ik gebruik 6 of 7, voordat dat een keer geopend is ben je alweer 5 min verder, geldt ook voor het surfen, en dat Firefox is al helemaal niks.
Ik heb nou 2 andere browsers, Opera en Crazy browser, Crazy browser misschien nog sneller, met opstarten en met surfen.

Comment from hans on 2008-12-18

2008-12-18T16:21:27Z

Comment from Marco on 2008-12-19

2008-12-19T11:25:05Z

Trackbacks not working, so this way: http://ecomputicus.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-is-opera-so-unpopular.html