Last Thursday, Opera released a public beta of the next major release of the Opera browser, and declared it as the fastest browser on earth.
Opera 10.50 introduces many new features including a simpler interface getting rid of the menu bar, like other browsers are doing, private browsing mode, Windows 7 integration features such as Jump Lists and Tab Taskbar Thumbnails (with Aero Peek), and of course, a Javascript engine that is supposed to be 8 times faster than Opera 10.10.
Opera 10.50 Beta features new Windows 7 integration features
Jump List options include Speed Dial pages and a link to open a new tab and new private tab.
Opera 10.50 supports Windows 7 Jump Lists
The main menu bar has been compressed into the Opera button on the corner.
Opera Menu Button and Private Browsing Options
Unlike other browsers, Opera introduces both Private Tab and Private Window.
Opera Private Browsing Notice
Opera also supports the audio and video HTML 5 tags. Similar to Firefox 3.5, it supports Ogg Vorbis open standards.
But how fast does it compare? Is it really the fastest browser on earth? Let’s test it with the Sunspider Javascript test.
Sunspider Benchmark Results for Opera, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Lower is better.
As you can see from the results, Opera 10.50 scored the best on the benchmark. I ran the test multiple times, and Opera was always the fastest of them all. Let’s remove the slower 3 and see a chart comparing just Opera and Chrome.
Opera 10.50 vs Chrome 5.0 (both in beta). Lower is better.
Google Chrome currently has the title for being the fastest browser on earth. But has Opera come to steal that title away? After all, the current beta of Opera is tested to be faster than the current beta of Chrome.
Opera 10.50 is the next major release from Opera and is currently in beta. It’s filled with new features and a very impressive Javascript engine.
Want to give Opera 10.50 a try for yourself? Please keep in mind that this is beta software and there may be bugs, though the Windows version was surprisingly stable during my testing.
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