Opera 10 Beta (really?)
Opera 10 Beta 1 was released earlier this week, after several iterations of snapshot and alpha releases. I was quick to download the beta (even before they got “Ubuntu” up as an option for 64-bit Linux versions), backed up my Opera data folder and installed.
The reason I have titled this post with “(really?)” is that I have yet to find any serious bugs! For me Opera 10 Beta 1 has been running just as stable as the previous 9.6x version I had installed. The only thing I have seen so far is that the mail composer does not update the signature if I switch the account I want to use when sending. Other than that it is working like a charm, and believe it or not, it feels even faster than before.
Opera has yet again increased the speed of their rendering process in Presto 2.2 and the browser itself also feels much more lightweight and responsive, especially with many tabs open and extensive use of heavy JavaScript applications.
To increase performance on slow connections, Opera 10 also introduces Opera Turbo. Turbo is a feature which compresses the websites on Opera servers before they are sent to you. Image quality is also reduced, which may give some websites a rather strange look. However, when browsing over a GPRS or 3G connection this feature is so stress reducing you actually want to marry it. A small icon in the corner will also tell you when your connection seems to be slow, and let you choose if you want to automatically let Opera choose when to use Turbo or not, always use Turbo, or turn it off. I am guessing this feature is going to make the traveling days easier for many, as well as save quite a lot of money when it comes to phone bills 
These are the new and noteworthy features in Opera 10 Beta 1, in my opinion:
- Opera Turbo - as mentioned above.
- Improved speed dial - The new speed dial is much easier to expand, no need to hack Opera configuration files to get more sites on your speed dial! You can now also customize the background, if you don’t like the plain white one
- Tab bar with previews - If you limit your tab bar to one single line, you can now have Opera display thumbnails on your tabs. I usually have too many tabs open to enjoy this feature, but it’s definitively useful!
- Spell check, all over the place - Opera 10 brings spell checking everywhere in your browser. Earlier you had to install the spell checker and dictionaries separately, but now it comes with English spell checker right out of the box, and you can easily install new dictionaries simply by right clicking anywhere which has spell checking capabilities. No more excuses for typos in blogs and e-mails!
- HTML e-mail composer - The e-mail composer now supports composition of HTML e-mails. It’s a feature I have not missed terribly, as I prefer plain text e-mails, but it’s still a great addition.
- Auto-update - Opera is now able to automatically update itself when there are new versions available.
- Add RSS feeds to your favourite feed reader - Opera now allows you to add RSS feeds to other readers than the built in feed reader. Clicking on a RSS feed now allows you to subscribe to it in Google Reader, Bloglines etc directly from the RSS preview which was introduced in Opera 9.5 (?).
There are loads of new goodies in Opera 10 Beta 1, and even though it’s a beta the stability has been great so far. I have no reservations against recommending an upgrade! Just make sure you do a proper backup, but of course you already do that every day….!
Thanks, Opera, for continuing to create this fantastic browser!
Opera 10 Beta 1 with the new default theme
