Opera has announced the latest version of its cross-platform web browser with the same name, Opera 9.5. The latest version brings many news in terms of features and performance. Opera pride itself for its speed and performance, but is often forgotten as Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer often manages to hog all of the stage time. Opera is usually compared to Firefox since they are the two major non-Microsoft browsers on the market. Both are also cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) and both have a rather extensive set of plugins/widgets. With this new version, Opera brings a couple of new features to the game.
The most obvious being the Opera Link features, which allows you stay in touch with your notes, Speed Dial, bookmarks, and remaining features, that used to be available only on your local computer, from any location. All you need to do is log in and they will be right there waiting for you. Even from Opera Mini on your cell phone.
Opera 9.5 also introduces Quick Find, which is a feature very similar to the new location bar found in Firefox 3.0. E.g. if you’re looking for a site you visited a while ago, but can’t remember the exact address, simply type in a word you know was on that specific site and Opera will search through its history and find you the site you were looking for (hopefully).
Opera 9.5 also has a new and fresh look to go with the current trend of smaller and more space-efficient layouts. Clean lines and clear icons have been the key words, but there is of course also the possibility of changing to any of the other platform-specific skins. Opera also says that the raw speed of the browser and its built-in mail and RSS clients have been vastly improved.
Opera 9.5 is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and you can download the new browser from Opera.com.
