Opera's Minimalist Mobile Browser Gets a Design Overhaul

Monday March 22, 2021 2:32 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Opera today is releasing a substantial update to its two-and-a-half-year-old Opera Touch mobile browsing app.

opera mobile browser 2021 update
Now titled simply "Opera," the revamped version features a "neater and flatter design" that aims to reflect its lightweight underpinnings and its status as a minimalist app that promises users a fast and secure browsing experience.

The revamp of the user interface in Opera also unveils a neater and flatter design that gives the browser a more refined appearance than before. The new-look replaces the diagonal background pattern, initially introduced into Opera Touch, with flat surfaces and removing shadows on bubbles and other elements.

New icons have been added in the bottom bar and the floating Fast Action button, which users can touch to access a radial menu and swipe through several one-handed actions with their thumb.

The browser also includes a feature called Flow that uses a QR code to securely link the iOS app with the Mac, allowing users to share links, notes, images, files, and other information over a secure and private connection, no logins required.

In addition, Opera comes with a built-in Ethereum wallet, built-in ad blocking, and protection against disguised online cryptocurrency mining, or "cryptojacking".

Opera says its iOS user base increased by over 65% in the 12 months to February, and believes that the growth has been partly thanks to Apple's decision to let users choose a default browser in iOS 14.

Opera is available for iPhone and iPad in several languages and can be downloaded directly from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Tag: Opera Browser

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Top Rated Comments

Unggoy Murderer

73 months ago

Wouldn't touch Opera with a barge-pole since it was sold to a shady Chinese equity firm a few years back.

Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Unggoy Murderer

73 months ago

They still have to obey EU law and EU privacy making it far less of a data harvester than one of those American companies that collect everything about you.

... a company that also has to obey EU legislation. Doesn't mean I'd trust either of them with my data.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Westwood_1

73 months ago

The marriage between the Chinese government and Chinese tech companies is a terrible thing. I have no trust in Opera to abide by EU regulations, simply because I think Opera has an even more demanding governmental interest at home.

It's a shame, too. Opera had some unique features (built-in VPN, mouse gestures, data-saving mode, built-in adblocker) that I really liked.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Unggoy Murderer

73 months ago

We aren't talking about GDPR and we aren't talking about a Chinese company. Opera's HQ is still in Europe and they are still a European company. The parent company and investment may come from a Chinese company, but nothing suggests they are changing the direction of Opera into a data harvesting company and I doubt Opera's engineers would put in such rubbish. Opera has a long track record of being a respectful company, they aren't a Google or Facebook.

They're a Norwegian company, not European. They are based in Europe, and it's likely their engineers will do whatever they're told to do, or face dismissal.

Folks won't make $575m investments and not expect something in return. The investment alone from a shady investor consortium is more than enough to deter me from ever using their products again.

EU companies have very strict data collecting policies and if you were worried you could do a subject access request and data deletion request that would cost them a significant amount of money if they failed to comply

Quoted from you previously, this is almost entirely legislated through the GDPR.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Unggoy Murderer

73 months ago

Opera is as much to do with China as any other company with outside investors. It is still developed in the EU and still has to abide by EU law which is much stricter than the USA... the USA has almost no protections and this is why you have Facebook and Google knowing everything about you.

With respect, I don't think you understand how the EU's legislation / directives (particularly around the GDPR) work.

What the GDPR sets out is at a high level the following:
[LIST=1]
* There must be informed consent to subject data collection / processing
* When data is stored on a data subject, it must be in accordance with the directive, and local laws / customs (in the UK for example, it's implemented in law under the Data Protection Act 2018)
* Data subject has right to request data access, edits, deletions, in a timely, fair manner.
* Lots more around data transmission, retention periods, encryption at rest, etc.

With that in mind, there is absolutely nothing wrong (lawfully) with Google, Facebook and the like collecting all and anything about you as long as they are in accordance with the GDPR. Nothing in the GDPR says that these companies can't mine the living daylights out of your data after you've consented. It does not mean that your data will be treated with respect, or any morals.

Facebook and Google have far more to lose if they don't play ball around the GDPR (and rightly so), however Chinese firms - can and have - effectively ignored it, just like all other laws and regulations (especially around copyrights, designs and patents).

(In addition, don't confuse EU law with regulations, directives, and decisions. The GDPR is a directive, not law.)

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)