14 DAY TRIAL // In the latest pre-Alpha development snapshot of Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo, the updates introduced to the core of the browser have resulted in a page load performance boost. Opera 12.0 pre-Alpha Build 1033 brings to the table a number of Core network latency fixes, designed to improve the speed at which the browser loads content.
The changes introduced in the latest testing release of Opera 12.0 come to enhance the browsing experience in real world scenarios, and as such, users should not expect the results to be translated in to performance boosts in the various benchmarks available.
“You will not see any real difference testing against popular benchmarks (which focus on rendering and JavaScript performance); this kind of work is more likely to have an impact on regular "day to day" browsing,” revealed a member of the Opera Desktop team.
“However, it can result in pages loading in half the time! You are most likely to see a difference if you have a poor network connection and others may notice improved performance when connecting to a webserver hosted on another continent.”
Early adopters running Opera 12.0 pre-Alpha Build 1033 will also be able to take advantage of mail client, M2 improvements. Specifically, the Norwegian browser maker has introduced support for QRESYNC.
“For those not familiar, QRESYNC is an IMAP extension that enables you to synchronize message metadata using much less overhead. It allows clients to request all changes since the last time they were connected, instead of having to check each message for changes,” the Opera desktop team representative added.
Both Opera's Fastmail and My Opera Mail support QRESYNC, but customers can use additional services, provided that their IMAP servers play nice with the technology.
Since Opera 12.0 pre-Alpha Build 1033 is still very far from finalization, this release should only be used by early adopters familiar with the risks associated with testing pre-release software.
One issue that testers need to be aware of, is that the latest improvements introduced to Opera’s M2 email client will also update their profiles. Those users that start taking advantage of the enhancements of the mail storage format will not be able to downgrade their profile, so they are advised to first backup all of their data if they plan to go back.
Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Windows is available for download here.
Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Mac is available for download here.
Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Linux is available for download here.
Opera 11.50 Final for Windows is available for download here.
Opera 11.50 Final for Mac is available for download here.
Opera 11.50 Final for Linux is available for download here.