Opera Software has released a preview version of its upcoming updated Opera One browser. Called Opera One R2, it comes with new and improved functionality.
Where to download: you can download Opera One R2 Preview from this page on Opera’s website.
Note: if you install the browser on Windows, you may get a SmartScreen security warning. This is because the browser is new, not because it is malicious.
Opera One R2
Opera highlights three new and improved features in the preview.
- Improved control over multimedia.
- More AI.
- Split screen tabs.
Improved multimedia controls
Opera Browser displays music and media playing options in its sidebar. You can access the likes of YouTube Music, Spotify, or Apple Music directly from the sidebar.
Each service is in reach and it is easy to switch between the options. The music player mutes itself automatically when audio is played on a webpage and it resumes playback afterwards.
Tip: you can change the option by loading opera://settings/playerService in the browser’s address bar. Here you can turn auto-mute off or change the resume interval.
Most Opera users who use the player keep it running in the background while they do other tasks. Hovering over the media player icon displays controls now to interact with playback without leaving the site you are on.
Video popout allows Opera users to display videos on top of other webpages. Useful to keep watching something while doing other things in the browser. The popout can now be dragged anywhere and it can be resized.
I could not drag & drop the media player around in the interface as Opera showcased it on its website. Maybe that is coming, but it looked like the coolest feature of the bunch.
More AI
Like it or not, but AI is going to play a much bigger role in most web browsers in the coming months and years.
The new version introduces additional features:
- Answers, Images and Page Context Mode (Ctrl+/ on Windows, then Tab to access Page Context Mode).
- AI Image recognition to get information about images you upload.
- AI Image generation.
- Aria, Opera’s built-in AI, offers “more and deeper information”, including source links, search suggestions, and more.
- Text-to-Speech support.
Split Screen
Not a unique feature, but still useful. Just drag an open tab to the right side of the screen to get the option to split the screen between the two active tabs.
Closing Words
The new Opera is available as a preview. In other words, it should be considered Beta at this stage. If that does not bother you, you may give it a try by following the link I posted near the top.
It seems unlikely that the new update is going to convince lots of users to give Opera a try. Split Tabs is not a unique feature and media playback controls seem limited at this point.
Still, if you happen to listen to music or videos while doing “things” in your browser, or want to give the new AI capabilities a try, it may be worth checking out.
What about you? Do you use Opera at all? What is your take on these features?
I did a few tests and found the answers from Aria to be mostly right. However, there were a few instances where Aria botched the answer. One instance involved configuring a static IP in Linux with Netplan.
Of course, when we talk about security, Aria is the famous Chinese dragon in terms of security.
https://investor.opera.com/news-releases/news-release-details/opera-becomes-first-major-browser-built-access-local-ai-models