Opera 10.6 hits Windows, Mac and Linux with faster Javascript, WebM video support

Four short months after Opera 10.5, the Scandinavian potato boilers are back for more -- the latest version of their lightweight web browser features not only claims to be the fastest, but the first final browser with WebM video support. While we actually noticed a variety of web videos felt choppy with the Windows version, there's no denying it's a speedy little hummingbird; Engadget felt snappier on Opera than Chrome or Firefox by far. Don't take our word for it, though -- try it out for yourself at the source link.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2010 8:06AM]

@dicobalt

You should be aware of that Opera is not Firefox, there will be differences.

When it comes to ads you can add the ini file or manually block all content you want on every website you visit.

The adblock removes flash ads, the extra script is for normal flash usage like youtube. Personally i don't see the point in using it.

Looks like you have higher needs than most users when it comes to scripts. Maybe Opera just isn't for you then.

Opera does support webmail: http://www.opera.com/mail/start/

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2010 8:06AM]

@dicobalt

You should be aware of that Opera is not Firefox, there will be differences.

When it comes to ads you can add the ini file or manually block all content you want on every website you visit.

The adblock removes flash ads, the extra script is for normal flash usage like youtube. Personally i don't see the point in using it.

Looks like you have higher needs than most users when it comes to scripts. Maybe Opera just isn't for you then.

Opera does support webmail: http://www.opera.com/mail/start/

[chinezeks Posted Jul 5th 2010 12:04PM]

@Zoidbot2010 Even with that it is still unable to block ads on sites such as Facebook .I love Opera and use it regularly but until I can go to FB and not see those annoying side adverts,it will not permanently replace Chrome.

[azdude Posted Jul 5th 2010 1:33PM]

@chinezeks
it could be that the content you wanted to be blocked is not added to the ini file. Simply right click on facebook webpage, click on "Block Content" and select what ever content you want to block. Web developers have been finding ways around adblocks to present ads. This Content Blocking gives you the ability to block them as they change.

[azdude Posted Jul 5th 2010 1:37PM]

@azdude
once you do that... it blocks all similar content... so it's not like you have to keep selecting each ad.

[aemengo Posted Jul 4th 2010 1:17PM]

i honestly couldn't believe it, but it's faster than chrome. but chrome is just so intuitive. i just can't seem to leave it.

[budoraga Posted Jul 4th 2010 1:18PM]

I must confess that Opera is the fastest browser I have ever had.

[TalentSupporter Posted Jul 5th 2010 7:42AM]

@budoraga
Liar

[engaged Posted Jul 4th 2010 1:26PM]

I user combination of Opera and Chrome
Chrome for google, video and other flash sites, also use it when I need to view site with ads enabled.
It is possible to setup flash in opera per site basis, but I dont want to risk flash to crash my browser completely (I have tons of windows/tabs pages open at the same for days on my laptop),
chrome is more crash-friendly and seems work faster with flash ;)

[remmus2k Posted Jul 4th 2010 1:55PM]

I tried loading this European television website and it worked fine in IE but when I try to open it in Opera and Firefox it doesn't work.

I just installed Opera today and it just doesnt work. The european website is flash and I had flash already installed for opera but im guessing the website uses a .mkv codec or something which i obviously have.

Too many website not firefox/opera compatible that I had to uninstall them both :(

[max1c Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:04PM]

@remmus2k Right click on webpage > Edit site preferences... > Network > Identify as Internet explorer. Reload your page this might fix it.

[coolblue2000 Posted Jul 5th 2010 7:19AM]

@remmus2k

I would write to the websites in question and ask them to code their sites correctly. The problem is that they have shoddily coded for only IE instead of standards. It is their fault not Opera or Firefox.

[VertigoVII Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:29PM]

I would change to Opera over Chrome if i could move the bookmark bar (or in opera known as the "Personal bar") at the top, but under the address bar, is this possible?

[Hiki Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:48PM]

@VertigoVII

Yes, but it requires some work. Go to appearance, toolsbars and add the view bar. Then right click and remove all stuff there. After that you can add bookmarks by holding ctrl and dragging them there, or dragging links.

But you cant sync it.

Personally i dont use it, i just type a few letters in the adress bar and it finds the bookmark for me.

[bluesolace Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:33PM]

Posting from it right now. I tried Opera before but went back to FF as Opera just seemed a bit too different and unusable. This though seems like it might be my new browser. VERY quick and little things like mouse gestures and the clean interface are really to my liking.
If anything, if I do go back to FF, this will sit there for occasional use like Chrome on my taskbar.

[Hiki Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:50PM]

@bluesolace

Takes some time to learn and appreciate the features of Opera. Activate onebuttonshortcuts (prefs, advanced, shorcuts) and use them, they are amazing, speeds up my browsing so much.

[SRChiP Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:37PM]

Opera. The browser that broke when I installed a plug-in.

[clarinetJWD Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:47PM]

They did a lot of nice things for this version. It looks exactly the same (aside from adding the word 'menu' to the opera menu), but launches much faster, and pages render faster and it seems to have increased compatibility for bad coding (I'm looking at you Joystiq...)

[jckchn Posted Jul 4th 2010 2:50PM]

Safari > Firefox > Opera. Web browser food chain. Chrome sucks too much to be in it.

[archkron Posted Jul 4th 2010 3:13PM]

@jckchn

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OH WOW!

[engaged Posted Jul 4th 2010 3:20PM]

@jckchn you should start IE > Safari, and then reverse it ;)

[insky Posted Jul 4th 2010 8:43PM]

@jckchn
I think you got your > mixed up with

[insky Posted Jul 4th 2010 8:45PM]

@insky
Gah forgot about carrots. that would be "greater than" mixed up with "less than"

[Programmer Posted Jul 4th 2010 3:55PM]

And I thought Firefox was a memory hog, wow.

[fuisti Posted Jul 4th 2010 7:52PM]

@Programmer Yeah, i have noticed that it uses ALOT of memory. Sometimes some of the hungrier games i run lag because theres not enough ram available. And i have 4 gigs, which i thought would be sufficient.

[sk1wbw Posted Jul 4th 2010 4:21PM]

How can I use Opera with online banking? Wachovia doesn't support it for some reason. Overall, it's a nice browser.

[jeffklee Posted Jul 5th 2010 1:36AM]

@sk1wbw

Attempt to login in. On the 'unsupported browser' page, right click, Edit site preferences... On the Network tab, set Browser identification to "Identify as Firefox".

Same setting seems to be necessary to reply to posts on this site, too... (!)

[sk1wbw Posted Jul 5th 2010 6:58AM]

@jeffklee Thanks for the tip. Just giving Opera another go around and I think I like it. Seems to be just as fast as the others I use.

[sectorogo Posted Jul 4th 2010 4:34PM]

Opera 10.60 keeps the best score in "The Peacekeeper" browser benchmark! :) 18076 Points!!! It's just magical! :)

[fearful Posted Jul 4th 2010 5:10PM]

guys no need for add-ons because userscript does the same thing and you can have ad blocker , flash blocker , youtube download , auto pager , wot
and allot more just go to userscript.org

[fearful Posted Jul 4th 2010 5:22PM]

sorry i have missed an s in the name of the page its
http://userscripts.org
to apply the scripts you need to make a folder in the program file named js and put the scripts in it to activate it go to setting - preferences - advanced - content - javascript options then chose the folder you just created example of the best scripts
Windows Live Ad Remover
FFixer Enhancements for Facebook
YouTube Enhancer
Hotspot Shield ad remove
YouTube Video Download
YoutubeProtectionRemover
YouTube Unblock Rated Video
Flash blocker
oAutoPagerize
Searchengine preview
WOT For Opera

[RamaLamaBang Posted Jul 4th 2010 5:49PM]

What makes Opera better than other browsers out of the box for me is
Hold right then left click, to go back.
Convenience at its best.

[S4E Posted Jul 4th 2010 6:05PM]

Opera looks good and i use it like i use all other browsers but it's the largest bugotron ever.

Does anyone with numerous tabs in Opera noticed that turning off your Opera takes up to 10 minutes? I reported that several times over last years but they do not listen at all. Even worse, they often remove from their forums those who report the bugs.

Why we'd sue Opera which lacks quality control for monetary compensation, because 10 minutes per day x 365 days x 10 years is 25 full days and nights of your life lost waiting for it to close

[robindahoods Posted Jul 4th 2010 6:26PM]

As it is, opera is currently my main browser, mainly because of the forward and backwards gestures

^---that feature is fucking AWESOME, seriously, try it

[jrolls Posted Jul 4th 2010 7:13PM]

i was about to downgrade back to 10.54 because i thought they completely removed win 7 taskbar previews but then i figured out its an option lol. other than that (which isnt really that big of a problem) this update is very nice

[runningdrisk Posted Jul 4th 2010 8:07PM]

Love the speed dial feature and the speed of this browser. One concern is when it has ne install flash player 10.1 it still does not open the web page it was required for... disappointed that I can't access all my usual sites...

[pleasedropdead Posted Jul 4th 2010 8:42PM]

I'm liking this so far. It's so smooth =]

[zebrainez Posted Jul 5th 2010 12:44AM]

The only thing I don't like about Opera at least on OS X is the smooth scrolling is nothing compared to what Safari/Chrome/Firefox have, their scrolling is just incredibly smooth and precise.

The scrolling in Opera has the illusion of being smooth, and if it were on Windows then Opera would win hands down, but on OS X it scrolls in like 'lines', as in it's not silky and precise, you scroll once down/up and it scrolls in the same way every time, it would be either too much or too little to where you want to exactly scroll to.

Maybe I'm just being a bitch but this bothers me a little bit, not a lot but it's something that could be easily done, especially on OS X which is known for it's silky smoothness...

Also it doesn't startup as fast as Safari/Chrome/Minefield (firefox 4.0), but that's ok...

[SiriusDoggy Posted Jul 5th 2010 1:05AM]

Just downloaded the Windows version and installed it.....
5 minutes later I uninstalled it......
I have no use for a browser that can't even do something as simple as properly layout/format a page as common as gmail or Facebook.

[unf2011 Posted Jul 5th 2010 1:10AM]

I will never use a completely closed source browser again. It is bad for the internet. It is like a drug dealer. At first the software is free but after you get hooked its not. When its open source, if the company sells out it is easy to take the source code and just recompile. The company who wrote it has no deathgrip on the internet.

[SoyGood Posted Jul 5th 2010 2:17AM]

opera needs more LOVE!!!
(posted from my 10.6 opera)

[solid0snake Posted Jul 5th 2010 4:31AM]

They should fokus on android!

[TalentSupporter Posted Jul 5th 2010 7:43AM]

I must confess that Safari 5 and Google chrome are far superior to Opera 10.6, Just I wanted try , I promptly uninstalled Opera 10.6.

[Bahumbug Posted Jul 5th 2010 8:11AM]

I'm a long time Opera user but what still puzzles me is the fact that I cannot play certain videos here at engadget. The ones in the iphone 4 review for example. Only those embedded via youtube work, those hosted by engadget just dont work... anyone else?

[chinezeks Posted Jul 5th 2010 12:05PM]

@Bahumbug Me too mate.It's annoying.

[tatose Posted Jul 5th 2010 11:34AM]

so much opera hate and wassup with the firefox and chrome advocates?

been a long time opera user too, opera feels like a nazi browser which for some weird reasons tends to block out things from the internets more often than not.

but the browser is still cool... and to me firefox is still considered much bloated, and lack the sandbox capability of chrome... so yea - now chrome convert.

[TechBlogger Posted Jul 5th 2010 2:19PM]

Got it, tried it, looks the same. Uninstalled it. Back to Google Chrome.

[pleasedropdead Posted Jul 5th 2010 4:14PM]

I'm unable to stream anything from Netflix through this...

[TheHoldSteady Posted Jul 6th 2010 7:56AM]

I just got this update on my Lucid system. Clicking for a new tab takes about five seconds for the new page to appear. And just like the last two versions, operapluginwrapper slowly brings my comp to its knees. Exiting the browser rarely works; I usually have to kill to opera process via top. And yet I still prefer Opera to FF and Chrome.