Opera 14 for Android released
The last two months have been rather uneventful when it comes to Opera Software news. It seems as if the company has gone quiet shortly after it announced its move to Webkit, and later on to the Blink fork together with Google Inc.
As far as the desktop version of Opera is concerned, only one update was released in recent time. It is somewhat understandable considering that the engineers have to modify the browser core to implement the new Blink engine.
The company's future depends on this initial release, considering that it cannot afford to release an inferior product or one that the majority of existing Opera users do not want to switch to.
Opera Software announced today that it has released Opera 14 for Android. This version of the browser is based on Chromium 26 and not on Blink. The team confirms however that Blink will integrated into the Android version of the browser in a future update.
According to Opera employee Andreas Bovens, the new Opera 14 features a total overhaul of the user interface in native code so that it adheres to the Android design guidelines. The new release is compatible with phones running Android 2.3 or higher. Tablets are not compatible yet but will be once Opera finalizes tablet-specific interface optimizations.
Opera 14 support several new features:
- WebGL 3D context
- CSS3 @supports
- input type="color"
The development team has also improved the handling of HTML5 audio in the new release. Opera displays a pause button in the notification area now when you play HTML5 audio in the browser. Because of this, it is now possible to switch tabs or use other applications in the meantime while the music continues to play on the device.
The Speed Dial page has been improved as well. It offers a combination of favorite sites and bookmarks in one view. One interesting feature is the ability to merge multiple bookmarks into a single speed dial icon to save space without losing any of the functionality.
You can swipe to the left or right to display the recent browsing history or the discover page
What is not included yet:
- chrome://flags is not integrated yet into Opera 14 for Android.
- You cannot include custom search providers.
Tips
- The Off Road feature is excellent for saving bandwidth and speeding up the browsing. Access it with a click on the Opera icon at the top and a swipe to On underneath Off-Road mode. Note that while it will work fine on most websites, that some sites may not be compatible with the feature. This is for instance the case with Soundcloud.
- You can change the image quality when you are using Off Road mode in the settings. It is set to medium quality by default. You can set it to high or low quality, or turn images off completely when you are in that mode.
- The browsing history, cookies and data can be cleared in the settings as well. Note that there does not seem to be an option to schedule this as a recurring operation.
- If you are using Opera on the desktop, you may be interesting in configuring Opera Link on both systems to synchronize data such as bookmarks between all devices.
Uhh, this has already been possible – I am not sure how but remember my brother telling me about it. I’m not a whatsapp user so not sure of the specifics, but something about sending the image as a file and somehow bypassing the default compression settings that are applied to inbound photos.
He has also used this to share movies to whatsapp groups, and files 1Gb+.
Like I said, I never used whatsapp, but I know 100% this isn’t a “brand new feature”, my brother literally showed me him doing it, like… 5 months ago?
Martin, what happened to those: 12 Comments (https://www.ghacks.net/chatgpt-gets-schooled-by-princeton-university/#comments). Is there a specific justifiable reason why they were deleted?
Hmm, it looks like the gHacks website database is faulty, and not populating threads with their relevant cosponsoring posts.
The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk that it’s about to be deleted from my ‘daily reads’.
It’s really like “Press Release as re-written by some d*ck for clicks…poorly.” And the subjects are laughable. Can’t wait for “How to search for files on Windows”.
> The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk…
Sadly, I have to agree.
Only Martin and Ashwin are worth subscribing to.
Especially Emre Çitak and Shaun are the worst ones.
If ghacks.net intended “Clickbait”, it would mark the end of Ghacks Technology News.
Ghacks doesn’t need crappy clickbaits. Clearly separate articles from newer authors (perhaps AIs and external sales person or external advertising man) as just “Advertisements”!
We, the subscribers of Ghacks, urge Martin to make a decision.
because nevermore wants to “monetize” on every aspect of human life…
“Threads” is like the Walmart of Social Media.
How hard can it be to clone a twitter version of that as well? They’re slow.
Yes, why not mention how large the HD files can be?
Why, not mention what version of WhatsApp is needed?
These omissions make the article feel so bare. If not complete.
Sorry posted on the wrong page.
such a long article for such a simple matter. Worthless article ! waste of time
I already do this by attaching them via the ‘Document’ option.
I don’t know what’s going on here at Ghacks but it’s obvious that something is broken, comments are being mixed whatever the article, I am unable to find some of my later posts neither. :S
Quoting the article,
“As users gain popularity, the value of their tokens may increase, allowing investors to reap rewards.”
Besides, beyond the thrill and privacy risks or not, the point is to know how you gain popularity, be it on social sites as everywhere in life. Is it by being authentic, by remaining faithful to ourselves or is it to have this particular skill which is to understand what a majority likes, just like politicians, those who’d deny to the maximum extent compatible with their ideological partnership, in order to grab as many of the voters they can?
I see the very concept of this Friend.tech as unhealthy, propagating what is already an increasing flaw : the quest for fame. I won’t be the only one to count himself out, definitely.
@John G. is right : my comment was posted on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/23/what-is-friend-tech/] and it appears there but as well here at [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/08/how-to-follow-everyone-on-threads/]
This has been lasting for several days. Fix it or at least provide some explanations if you don’t mind.
> Google Chrome is following in Safari’s footsteps by introducing a new feature that allows users to move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen, enhancing user accessibility and interaction.
Firefox did this long before Safari.
Basically they’ll do anything except fair royalties.