The Opera browser for iPhone and iPad has a new name and a new look, but is it enough?
Opera for smartphones is far from being the most popular browser. To put things in perspective, according to Stat Counter, its market share is under 2%, as of February 2021.
Despite that, it’s great to see the company is making an effort to improve the user experience. This is not a huge surprise, as more and more people started using different browsers as default on their iOS and iPad OS devices, since Apple enabled this feature last year…
So, what’s new?
First of all, the recent update changed the name of the app from Opera Touch to Opera, which makes a lot of sense! It also made the app look more modern than before, thanks to a more streamlined UI, including a new set of navigation icons, which are now cleaner with less shadows.
Still, we think the browser needs more polish. It’s swift, but animations are noticeably less fluid compared to Chrome and Safari, though also fast. Despite the new look, the UI still leaves a lot to be desired, with browsing windows stacked in Android Lollipop fashion, which is “so 2014” (as some would say).
The handy ad-block, which comes embedded into the browser, as well as the cookie pop-up blocker are kept intact. The first works like a charm, but the latter still needs some work. Our quick test showed that Facebook was able to bypass the restriction and show a ‘cookies’ dialogue box.
For now, there is no word about the update making its way to team Android, but we’ll keep you UPDATEed!
First of all, the recent update changed the name of the app from Opera Touch to Opera, which makes a lot of sense! It also made the app look more modern than before, thanks to a more streamlined UI, including a new set of navigation icons, which are now cleaner with less shadows.
Still, we think the browser needs more polish. It’s swift, but animations are noticeably less fluid compared to Chrome and Safari, though also fast. Despite the new look, the UI still leaves a lot to be desired, with browsing windows stacked in Android Lollipop fashion, which is “so 2014” (as some would say).
However, looks aren’t everything, and we are glad to report that all of Opera’s functionality is still there, which is what the browser is best known for.
The handy ad-block, which comes embedded into the browser, as well as the cookie pop-up blocker are kept intact. The first works like a charm, but the latter still needs some work. Our quick test showed that Facebook was able to bypass the restriction and show a ‘cookies’ dialogue box.
For now, there is no word about the update making its way to team Android, but we’ll keep you UPDATEed!
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