Opera Turbo

Opera begins beta testing the next version of its Windows Web browser (Opera 10):

At Opera, we love speed. We work hard to make our browser faster with features that speeds you up, but your connection also plays a big role on how fast you can go.

Some people have fast connections, a lot have slow connections. Many are always on the run from one place to another — making it hard to find regular fast connection points. Even if you do, it might be that too many people are on the Wi-Fi in the cafe or that you are browsing through your mobile phone when commuting on the train.

That’s why we’ve been working on Opera Turbo, a server-side optimization and compression technology that provides significant improvements in browsing speeds over limited-bandwidth connections by compressing network traffic. This does not only make you surf faster, but also lowers the cost of browsing when you are on a pay per usage plan.

Today we start our time limited test phase for Opera Turbo, please read below to learn a little about how Turbo works and where to download it.

So, I've basically mocked Opera for even bothering in the PC space, but I did download this version--I pretty much always do--and for the first time, ever, I actually kind of like it. I'm not even sure why that's so. (I certainly don't like the Turbo feature, which, among other things, tones down image quality to speed web page loading.) It's not horrible. That's all I'm saying.

Discuss this Article 11

alamfour
on Mar 16, 2009
I can understand Opera Turbo for a Mobile device but for a desktop PC it does not make sense. Opera should give up on the desktop browser and focus on the Mobile Browser. They are doing great on Windows Mobile devices. They are even being bundled with new phones. If i remember correctly they have about a 70% market share on windows mobile devices so they are doing great their. They should stay their.
techfan
on Mar 16, 2009
I'm not big on faster site loading at the post of picture quality to achieve the the former. I would understand something like Turbo for dial up connections. I tried my ISP's turbo feature when I was on dial up and didn't like the lost of picture quality on sites. I could right-click each image and reload it at it's normal quality but I thought that was a waste of time.
niyokochan
on Mar 16, 2009
Good to see something about the Opera browser. :) I use it as my primary, but not default, browser on all my machines. I used Opera 10 when it was first released to test the Acid3 results. The lastest build feels a little faster, but I think it is reaching the point where speed is just a preception and all the benchmarks are pointless (I refer back to the IE vs Safari, Chrome, and FIrefox test.). I'm dying to try Opera Mobile though! I have experience with the Opera Mini on my old AT&T SonyEricsson. It woud load pages faster than a friend's 1Gen iPhone. Right now I have a phone from the japanese company AU and it has an Opera browser, but it doesn't look like Mini or Mobile. I'm trying to find out which version it is.
RobertC
on Mar 16, 2009
@niyokochan I agree that the benchmarks are pointless: in the end, the difference in speed is so miniscule as to be unnoticeable. Hardly anyone is going to complain if a website loads a tenth of a second faster or slower: but that is the practical speed difference demonstrated by the silly benchmarks!
Waethorn
on Mar 17, 2009
"Right now I have a phone from the japanese company AU and it has an Opera browser, but it doesn't look like Mini or Mobile." If it's a "phone" it's probably Opera Mini running on a lightweight Java environment. If it's a Windows Mobile phone or PDA, it's likely Opera Mobile. The difference is in how it loads pages. Opera Mini redirects all web traffic to Opera's servers and optimizes the page as a low-quality image for faster loading. Opera Mobile doesn't do that, but it requires a higher-end processor and more memory.
Victek
on Mar 17, 2009
I occasionally work for customers who use dial-up and have seen that both AOL and MSN offer compression. It does make a difference, but performance is still horrible compared to the slowest DSL or cellular internet service. I could see the compression feature in Opera being useful on slower broadband connections though, to perk them up. Note that it's not going to speed up file downloads.
subzerohitman721
on Mar 17, 2009
Opera Mini 4.2 is becoming a favorite of Samsung Instinct users. Many swear that it loads faster and usually run 4.2 along with the stock browser bundled with the Instinct. Opera might have a future as a mobile browser. However, the desktop/notebook/nettop futures will reign with I.E., Apple Safari, and Google Chrome. Opera have one chance, however I believe its 15 minutes is slowly ticking away.
Ocean
on Mar 17, 2009
>>the desktop/notebook/nettop futures will reign with I.E., Apple Safari, and Google Chrome.<< Firefox will die at about the same time MS Office does...that is to say...never.
Waethorn
on Mar 17, 2009
@Lindy: "You cant even SSH to it any more with Putty." Actually you can. There's docs online that show you how. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4IJr5dx2Aw And ESXi doesn't have AD integration. It's stated as such directly on VMware's site, and I quote: "The free version of VMware ESXi does not support Active Directory integration at this time." http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd...
deepfry
on Mar 17, 2009
I use Opera Mini on my blackberry and find that it is much better than RIM's browser (v4.5). However I haven't traditionally been a fan of Opera on the desktop. So add me to the list of those who think Opera should focus on the mobile market and forgo the desktop market.
EdNetmam
on Mar 17, 2009
I use opera 10 Beta, and have used Opera since version 6! I miss the 'Bork' version http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2003/02/14/ ~Ed

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