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Opera 10.5 pre-alpha leaks: Windows 7 integration, per-tab private browsing
It's important to remember that 1) this is a pre-alpha and 2) this could well be a build Opera never intended to see the light of day. In benchmarks like V8 and Peacekeeper, 10.5 performed about as well as the recently-released 10.2 alpha. Neither of those scored as well as Opera 10.1, however, which seems to indicate that Carakan hasn't been bolted on as of yet.
Regardless of the benchmarks, general browsing with 10.5 feels reasonably fast. In non-scientific speed testing (read: stopwatch page load timing) it's competitive with Firefox and Chrome. Javascript-heavy pages are another story, but again that should change once Carakan arrives.
Opera 10.5 takes full advantage of Windows 7's Superbar. By default, the jump list displays your Speed Dial pages. You can pin pages as well, though right now it only works with Speed Dial items -- so pinning isn't all that useful just yet.Per-tab thumbnails, on the other hand, work beautifully. I have yet to experience the bothersome spinning wheel which continues to plague Firefox builds with this feature. Hover over a thumbnail, and Opera flips between your open tabs and windows using Aero Peek.
About the only shell feature missing is the Superbar's progress indicator for downloads, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see that integrated before 10.5 hits beta.
One other big addition is per-tab private browsing. It's pretty similar to what we've seen with other browsers: browsing and download history are not saved. Everything which happened in the tab is forgotten about as soon as you close it. One big plus is that you don't need to open an additional window, making Opera's implementation just a little bit more inconspicuous.
This build does seem to be missing the one thing I really wanted to test in version 10.5: the new Javascript engine. As I mentioned before, though, this isn't an official release - so there's still a chance the real deal from Opera will include Carakan when it debuts next week.
Comments
17
Subscribe to commentsMxxConDec 19th 2009 11:36PM
does google wave work in it?
for me google wave always crashes in 10.10
3tearDec 19th 2009 11:52PM
Any idea where to get it from?
BugMeNotDec 20th 2009 1:54AM
Opera is clearly the R&D of the browser industry. Never seen such an elegant implementation of Private mode, not even in Safari.(Some FF add-ons do this, but their reviews are not so favourable)
So why would Opera be not popular? One, it isn't compatible with a lot of websites. I used Opera as default in my college lab. Once i got broadband at home, Opera was the first browser I installed, and navigated to www.wikimapia.com. It told me to look for another browser. So i did. Guess what? It was FireFox.
That was in 2006, I 'm yet to recover from my add-on addiction, the charm of the vibrant community. Still have Opera on my machine and update it, but Chrome is my default, use it for quick references, and for longer surfing, i use FF with its panoply of reference add-ons.
Unite, I think it's a killer feature. Still use it.
Two, and this is a very subjective comment, Opera is snobbish. It knows it stuff, but it is kinda hard to reach.
I have nothing on Opera's quality, yet I just can't get myself to select Opera as my default browser. Poor dumb me.
AstrophizzDec 20th 2009 2:06AM
Here are some links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/323253432/Opera_1050_20192_in.msi
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z91E83US
http://depositfiles.com/files/e01z2q5qp
Found those on a forum from a comment on the previous story about Opera 10.50 on this website.
hmmDec 20th 2009 6:59AM
Opera's comment:
There are some reports about an old internal build of 10.5 being available. Don't run it, the official build on Tuesday is much better and you don't risk getting nasty trojans on you pc.
Kris120890Dec 20th 2009 9:17AM
How faster is it. Opera was the slowest browser on my system.
Actually as a browser it was on par as whole with IE8. But IE works where opera crashed and IE was faster. Can't be bothered search for was making it crashed so I just uninstalled it cause it didn't offer anything that made it worth being anywhere near my system.
AustinDec 20th 2009 10:46AM
Looks like they're adapting the Chrome look; the menu bar seems to be compacted into that Opera button (top left), with tabs lining the top row. Wonder what that left-arrow button is up there?
Also looks like search field is resizable (with a search button now..why?).
This look needs refining; all I really want is jumplist support!
prfvDec 20th 2009 8:46PM
Actually, it was Chrome which "stole" Opera's "tabs on top" look.
hmmDec 21st 2009 12:16AM
Search field has been resizable for a long time.
MarkoDec 20th 2009 11:50AM
From what I can tell, 10.5 will not have Carakan included, instead it will have a new rendering engine Presto 2.5. Speed boost should come from that, albeit only in page rendering. JavaScript performance will still be poor compared to other browsers. I assume Carakan may eventually be included in 10.5, but not in the pre-alpha release we'll see on Tuesday. Regardless of this, it should still be interesting to see the new features.
@Austin: Menu Bar compacted in a button is a feature added in 10.0, so not new to 10.5. Also, the left arrow button shows/hides the panel bar.
preekieDec 20th 2009 8:48PM
How do you know if Carakan will be included or not if this is, as they say, an old build?
4fielDec 20th 2009 2:29PM
"One, it isn't compatible with a lot of websites."
Or the websites are not compatibles with a w3c compliant browser.
For 99% of the websites that supposedly don't work with Opera, all you have to do is to identify as Firefox or IE, that's all. How many times have I experienced that ? "Your browser isn't compatible", right click identify as, and, big surprise ! my browser is compatible. Whose fault is it if the webmasters are too lazy to check their websites with Opera ?
Plus, when I read the forums of Mozilla, a lot of "non compatibles websites" are reported as well. So it's not something specific to Opera.
www.wikimapia.com works flawlessly with Opera 10.10.
preekieDec 20th 2009 8:49PM
How do you know what will be in 10.5 if, as they say, this leaked build is an old one?
ZAHEKDec 21st 2009 4:14AM
It seems 10.5 will involve Carakan and most probably Win7 support but it is not confirmed not yet officially.Where do you get this idea from?
BugMeNotDec 22nd 2009 1:28AM
"www.wikimapia.com works flawlessly with Opera 10.10."
I'm aware of it. I know Opera does fix problems. And a lot of Tamilnadu govt. websites work only on IE. w3c standards be damned, as far as they are concerned.
What i meant was, Firefox has reduced me to a state where i browse just to fiddle with the add-ons, instead of using add-ons to enhance browsing. Firefox is the single largest reason i'm a drifter. Opera is very competent, but it needs Firefox's x-factor.
bugmenotDec 22nd 2009 1:29AM
"www.wikimapia.com works flawlessly with Opera 10.10."
I'm aware of it. I know Opera does fix problems. And a lot of Tamilnadu govt. websites work only on IE. w3c standards be damned, as far as they are concerned.
What i meant was, Firefox has reduced me to a state where i browse just to fiddle with the add-ons, instead of using add-ons to enhance browsing. Firefox is the single largest reason i'm a drifter. Opera is very competent, but it needs Firefox's x-factor.
RossDec 25th 2009 3:54PM
I use te fastest browser K-Meleon, just need to spend time getting it set up the why you like. Check it out at http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/