Opera updates Android web browsers, gets new logo and features

Opera recently announced the latest updates available for their data-saving web browsers for mobile. Both Opera Mini for Android and Opera Browser for Android will get new features for a better browsing experience.

Video compression – Opera Browser for Android

According to Opera’s blog, the new video compression feature helps the user shrink the size of online videos streamed your device. This means that videos viewed via the Opera Browser no longer use as much data or take as long to load, saving plenty of bandwidth and time.

To use this feature, simply update your Opera for Android app, and enter the settings menu to access the Data Savings category. Check the box that says Video Compression. The rest will be handled by Opera.

Download notifications and improved tab switching – Opera Mini for Android

Opera’s ‘lite’ browser, the Opera Mini for Android, now notifies you when you’re done downloading files via the browser. We admit it’s not that groundbreaking, but it is a nice add-on even for a browser designed for a trim web-browsing experience. Another user-experience enhancement is the improved tab-switching format. Users can stay on their current tab and open new tabs in the background, with an option to flit between tabs quickly. This new functionality is ideal for comparing different deals on separate e-shopping sites.

Finally, the Opera logo has been updated for these mobile browsers, and it’s now congruent with the desktop browser’s new logo as well. Opera’s last update – Opera 33 – focused on compressing data for faster surfing, and the update before that (Opera 32) was brought in to improve privacy for web browsing users.

Opera and Opera Mini: What’s the difference?

For the uninitiated, Opera has two stable browsers on the Android OS platform – Opera Mini and Opera for Android. The key difference between the two is their compression technology: Opera Browser gives the full web browsing experience where sites and images load as if the user is viewing them on a desktop, with an option to compress web pages up to 50 percent of their original size for saving on mobile data and load times. Opera Mini, on the other hand, is a cloud-based browser where all web browsing will go through Opera’s servers, and those servers will automatically compress the web page’s text and images, down to 10 percent of their original size.

The Opera Browser is what a typical person would use on a flagship Android smartphone; whereas the Opera Mini browser is suited for overseas travel, in situations where mobile data bandwidth may be limited or subjected to poor connectivity.