Opera 10 – Snappy on crappy connections
The first time I came across the Opera browser was somewhere around 1998, just around the time I’d gotten access to the Internet. It was trialware and therefore not usable for long, but compared to my other options – IE and Netscape – it was so much better. I especially loved the way I could easily switch off images with a simply click and make the most of the 4kb/s bandwidth on my dial-up connection (I’d enable images on those early mornings when everyone in the country was asleep and I’d get 7kb/s).
Starting with version 5 in 2000, Opera became ad-supported and I weaned myself away from Netscape’s Navigator (I used every browser on the planet that’d keep me away from the monster). Until I joined Vesess where GP and Lankitha converted me to Firefox, it was Opera all the time.
Nowadays, the utility of having so many add-ons (DownthemAll, AdBlock Plus and ChatZilla to name a few) keeps FF my browser of choice, but that hasn’t stopped me from checking up on Opera and its latest incarnation.
The latest offering is certainly something of a godsend for anyone who’s been left out of the broadband revolution and even those with daily/monthly download limits. Opera 10 brings with it the Opera Turbo feature which builds on Opera’s experience with Opera Mini, its application for mobile phones. By routing the information through its Opera Turbo servers, the browser has less to download, resulting in savings in bandwidth usage.
Pretty neat, although it does crumple images and turn off flash by default. Unless of course you’re like me and actually want that as part of the browsing experience.
The difference in images can be seen from the two screenshots of the Opera homepage below:
1. Simply loaded in Opera:
2. Loaded in Opera with Turbo enabled:
Clearly, this is the most visible difference, but there is definitely an improvement in terms of speed. Being a user of a low bandwidth internet connection on weekdays I’d gotten used to carrying out chores while pages loaded, but once I got Opera running on Turbo I’ve even been able to access Facebook. Lower quality images is an easy trade off for quicker page loads. The difference in speeds is visible in a promotional video over at Opera Labs, where you can learn more.
Opera comes in a number of flavours, with customized installation options for your flavour of Linux as well. Definitely something anyone with bandwidth caps on their connections should check out – and hope that it comes out soon!
Thanks ma’am. It’s actually “D”, but most people get confused with the name...
Thanks for the info.
Currently I’m using Version 9.64 and I should try out Opera 10 alpha 1 sooner. I’m not a heavy Opera(desktop version) user, but as you have said I also use it when the connection is too slow. I use Opera Mini a lot on my mobile. It’s really fast and data cost is less when compared to other default mobile browsers (I’ve shared my experience here).
And also I like the feature of reloading a picture whenever you want, the way it shows feeds (it has both pros and cons) etc.
So let’s keep an eye on how it’s going to perform in the future.
Akila
30 Mar 09 at 6:15 pm
Hi Akila
You’re welcome. The main intention of using Opera 10 was to maximize my use of GPRS too, but I also sometimes use a CDMA connection.
The only worry is when it comes to security – as mentioned in the About.com page on your blog, encrypted pages get decrypted at the Opera servers… a little worrying, actually.
Dulan
30 Mar 09 at 9:30 pm
Ya, that’s bit of a concern.
Akila
30 Mar 09 at 10:48 pm