Opera For Android Review

REVIEW: OPERA FOR ANDROID BRINGS TURBO MODE FOR DATA SAVING, BETTER EXPERIENCE

The Internet still isn’t free, or even cheap, as we talk of it, and you are charged quite a lot for every MB of data downloaded on devices, either computers, smartphones, IoT devices or anything. Accessing every website costs something, and for this very reason, the users try and find the best browser that delivers the website content by consuming lesser data, only if possible.

Or the least they expect, is that the browser doesn’t give up on the page before downloading and rendering the content. That, if happens, is due to some reasons, including a slow and unstable network connection, low internal storage on the device or the website being too heavy for the browser to handle. One such company that has worked hard, we can safely say, for decades now, to give a stable and good browser in computers – Opera.

The same company has been having an Opera Mini browser, since quite long and that was one very recommended mobile browsers even from the time Symbian OS was around. A lot has changed since then, especially with the smartphone operating systems, Android OS taking over everything else, and it is good to see that Opera Mini has made quite a progress from there. But, what has been made much better, is the Opera browser for Android.

Opera Turbo: If the network is slower than usual, the web pages still open and Opera takes advantage of the Turbo feature to load web pages faster in rough conditions. It uses its own technology, and lets the user choose the quality of images to save more data, because the browser compresses the data before loading the page. To get just the text content, the user can choose to just turn off loading the images.

Just like the other browsers for mobile, there is an option to change user agent, thus the web pages can be loaded as a full version, or a mobile version based on the availability for that particular website.

Speed Dial: This is where all the favourite sites are kept at a place, for the quick access The list can be edited any time.
Search engines: While searching for a particular keyword, there is an icon on the right corner of the search bar letting the user choose between Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Dictionary.com, eBay, IMDb, and Wikipedia.
Bookmarking / Saving: The Opera for Android lets the user add the page to Speed Dial, or “save for offline” reading so that the entire page can be opened when there is no Internet connectivity, or add to bookmarks.

• Private browsing: In the section of tabs, there is an option of “Private tab” for someone wanting to browse without being tracked. It shows up in the same multiple tab area, but has a black border to differentiate itself from the normal tabs.
• Video chatting: Due to the support for WebRTC, there is a possibility of doing video calls right from the browser if you are using a website for that. A need for a separate browser for that is removed.
• HTML Rendering: The rendering is proper and a full web compatibility is provided by Opera for Android, so as to load Javascript heavy websites, even the ones like Google Maps, to work seamlessly on the browser.
• Full screen browsing: The browsing of page is possible in a full screen mode, whenever the phone is used in landscape position, and only then an option is shown to expand the area and make it a full-screen view.

Discover: Using this feature, one can find some interesting things, if you aren’t specifically browsing any website. Here, the top stories are shown with thumbnails, and this isn’t controlled by the browser, as the user can choose to select the categories, one from Arts, Business, Entertainment, Food, Gaming, Health, Lifestyle, Living, Motoring, News, Science, Sports, Technology and Travel. The user can also localize by choosing a location to get news from, or can go with the Global option.

One of the great points about the Opera browser for Android, is that the layout can be changed. It can be either classic, phone, or tablet view based on how the navigation and viewing is wanted. Under the settings, the user can choose to individually clear saved passwords, browsing history, cookies and data.

Sharing the bookmarks is another great feature of the browser, though this is the same on Opera Mini for Android. Saving bookmarks is possible always, but sharing them is the best part here. Because, if you have liked some websites or have kept the links saved for any project of yours, the entire bunch of them from a folder can be shared using Opera for Android.

Our views on website loading and multiple tab usage:

The browser is very swift, and with “very”, we mean it. The major reason for that could be that the browser properly compresses the page before showing it to the user. We tried loading over 12 tabs at the same time, and it worked flawlessly without a glitch at any time. When the browser was closed and removed from even the background apps, the tabs stayed there and just load again when the browser is re-opened.

It is a beautiful carousel view with tabs showing the preview of the page, when you are switching or scrolling through the multiple tabs.

All in all, the Opera browser for Android is a complete browser. There are options that might not show up directly on the front page, but all the needed features are packed in. Private browsing, offline reading, bookmarking, multiple search engines, and Opera’s own Turbo feature to make the browsing experience better with faster connectivity and loading when the network is good.

Although there is Opera Mini also available for Android, this browser is a better alternative when you are on networks that have fast and stable internet connections. Mini, on the other side, will be one you might want to use when using data network rather than faster Wi-Fi.

Download the Opera for Android app.

                                                         Download From PlayStore