Opera Next can be run alongside Opera stable on the same computer. The Next builds update automatically whenever a new snapshot build is released by Opera (with options to disable that).

Opera Next can be easily distinguished from Opera stable releases; The menu background color is blue instead of red.

Opera Next will automatically download and install all new builds released by Opera Software. Some users may prefer to only download alpha, beta, release candidate and final builds. For this, they need to disable the Download All Snapshots options in the Opera Configuration by clicking on this link and removing the checkmark from the Download All Snapshots parameter.

The Opera Next builds are completely independent from stable Opera installations, unless you configure them otherwise. You could for instance use Opera Link to synchronize data between both versions.

Opera Next is an entirely separate product to the official Opera browser product, which is the stable product intended for day-to-day use. There is no connection or interaction between them unless you manually configure this; all preferences and settings are saved for each product individually. For example, a bookmark saved in Opera Next will not display in your primary Opera browser. This ensures that your valuable data and settings remain untouched when you try out our latest changes.

The first Opera Next build is an Opera 11.50 alpha build which introduces two new features to the web browser.

Opera Link, Opera’s synchronization service, gets password synchronization, a feature that was long requested by the Opera community.

The new password synchronization is not automatically enabled. New Opera Link users who setup synchronization for the first time can enable password synchronization during setup. Existing users need to select Menu > Synchronize Opera > Configure to add Passwords to the synchronized data.

The second feature in the Opera Next release is an extensions engine for Speed Dial. Speed Dial extensions can be used by developers “to make live previews of web pages” or add “other nice decorations” to Speed Dial.

Three sample extensions have been created by Opera, including a live feed and weather report right on the speed dial page.

A tutorial is offered at Opera Dev for developers who would like to create Speed Dial extensions.

Interested users can download Opera Next from the Next page over at Opera Software. It is available for all desktop operating systems Opera runs on.

Opera Link is a synchronization service that works similar to Firefox Sync or Google Sync. Opera users can utilize the feature to synchronize bookmarks and other information with multiple computer systems and devices.

The following browser components can be synchronized with Opera Link:

• Bookmarks
• Speed Dial
• Bookmarks Bar
• Notes
• Typed History
• Searches
• Content blocker rules
• Search engines

The components differ from other browsers. It is for instance not possible to synchronize saved passwords or open tabs. We have not talked about notes yet. It is basically a note taking component of Opera that you can use to store textual information.

All versions of the Opera web browser have an Opera Link icon in the status bar. A click on the icon and the selection of Enable Synchronization opens the Opera Link setup wizard.

You can select the components that you want to synchronize with Opera Link.

You do need an Opera account to work with Link.

A green icon in the status bar of the browser indicates that Opera Link has been enabled and that data is being synchronized.

All you need to do now is to enable Opera Link on the other devices and computers as well to synchronize the data. Opera Link is not only available for desktop browsers but also on mobile phones, for instance as part of Opera Mini.

The initial synchronization may take a minute or two before the data becomes available in other Opera browsers and online.

One interesting option is the ability to access bookmarks, notes and speed dial links on your Opera membership website. This is basically your own personal online bookmarking service which can be handy, especially if you work at places where you do not have access to Opera but would like to access your bookmarks.

Actions like adding or deleting bookmarks are automatically synchronized with the Opera account if Link is enabled.

Criticism

If you compare Opera Link with Firefox Sync or Google Chrome Sync you will notice that Opera’s synchronization service does not sync components that the other two browsers do. Passwords need to be mentioned here in first place, but there are other components like extensions or preferences that do not get synchronized.

Extensions are relatively new and it is likely that the Opera developers are already working on the next version of Opera Link that adds the missing features.

Verdict

Opera Link is a handy feature for users that run Opera on multiple computer systems or devices. Especially the ability to synchronize bookmarks and notes with mobile Opera versions is a big plus. And lets not forget the ability to access bookmarks and notes online as well.

We have addressed the negative aspects under criticism already, and Opera should consider improving Link in this regard.

Not everyone wants to use Opera Link on the other hand. The two main concerns are the required account and that not all the data is synchronized between Opera browsers when using Opera Link.

The Opera Settings Import & Export Tool is a manual alternative to Opera Link. It can export and import the majority – if not all – profile settings of the Opera web browser. This includes bookmarks, preferences, widgets, saved sessions, contacts, logins, toolbar setups, skins and mouse setups among other settings.

The portable software program displays options to export Opera settings to an archive or import previously exported settings into Opera.

It will automatically scan the computer for Opera profiles if data export has been selected and display the discovered profiles in a list with the option to browse the computer to pick a profile manually. This is handy for portable versions of Opera.

Opera settings are then populated with a preview of the selected item on the right side. Here it is possible to select some or all of the items to include in the exported Opera archive.

The archive of the profile settings is stored as a compressed gz file. This file needs to be selected during imports to import the profile data.

Another interesting feature during imports is that the ini paths are corrected automatically so that they work without problems on the new Pc as well.

The Opera Settings Import & Export Tool is available for Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. It can be directly downloaded from the developer’s website.. Developer website is down for now, download available at Softpedia.

The changelog of this new version lists several bug fixes in the interface, core, Opera Mail, Opera Unite and some more that are operating system specific. The full changelog is available at the blog post announcing this lucky Friday the 13th edition.

The release candidate comes with Opera Link, Opera Unite and Opera Turbo. All of these features can be activated in the left corner of the status bar of the Opera browser. Opera Link can be used to synchronized bookmarks, notes, speed dial settings and other information. Opera Unite to use the web browser as a web server and Opera Turbo to speed up page loading and connection by using compression.

All available versions can be downloaded from the Opera website. Watch out for Jason, though..

The advantage of Opera Link is that it is build into Opera like many other features that can only be added to Firefox with add-ons. Opera Link can be used to synchronize Bookmarks, Notes, Speed Dial and the Personal Bar with an online storage at Opera. That storage can be accessed by other Opera browsers including Opera Mini. As a bonus the personal data can also be accessed directly on the Opera website which is excellent if you access the web from a computer that has no Opera browser installed.

Using Opera Link could not be easier. The feature can be accessed in the File > Synchronize Opera menu and requires an account at Opera. The account can be created right from the menu and the only data that is required is a username, password and email.

The transfer of the data is fast and I was not able to witness any delay in the process. The data will be continuously synced with Opera Link until the user decides to turn that feature off again.

Bookmarks and the other data will be synchronized with every browser that activates the sync feature and provides the same user data that has been entered during account creation.

The online version provides access to the bookmarks and Speed Dial links and even has an option to add new bookmarks.

If you do use Opera Link with Opera you can synchronize all bookmarks with Opera while other browsers obviously only have access to the web version. The changelog lists a lot of changes since Opera 9.5 Alpha including heaps of changes to the Rendering Engine and JavaScript / DOM.

Opera 9.5 beta seems to render websites faster than Firefox and Internet Explorer. I could make another performance test to see if the tests show that my subjective feelings are right.

Read More:

Opera 9.5 beta
Opera Link