Opera Software ASA released their latest version of Opera Desktop Browser 9.5, thereby becoming the first major release in 2008 for the browsers. Although the market share of Opera remains very small compared to Micro$oft’s Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, it is a favorite among many netizens. It was also a one time favorite of mine before Firefox wooed me with its extensions and themes. It’s quite a lite browser and indeed one of the fastest down in the market.Finally I downloaded it and tested it today.

The loading time is awesome, nothing compared to Firefox or Safari. But again there is no plug-ins or widgets added in Opera, whereas my Firefox is loaded with extensions.

The 9.5 version has a great address bar but somehow my honeymoon with Firefox’s address bar is yet to get over and Opera didn’t get anywhere near to take me away from it.

One of the features which really turns your head is the Bookmarks Sync. You can achieve this in Firefox with extensions but Opera has a built-in feature. This feature is a useful one for somebody who has Opera in their Mobile also. It saves you a lot of trouble.

Regarding the Malware protection in Opera 9.5, didn’t get much chance to test it. But the online reviews already place Firefox to be better in this department. Opera has to do a lot in this if it needs to be taken seriously.

Lifehacker’s Browser Tests proves the Opera’s Unbeatable launch time and also Firefox’s low memory consumption. Also complete list of changes in this version can be seen here in Opera’s Website.

Even though this browser is lite, standard compliant, fast it is yet to drag me away from Firefox because of the lack of extensions and it is not Open Source.

Source : [LifeHacker, Opera]

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