Opera Touch Browser Launches for Android Phones With One-hand Use

Opera has launched a new browser for Android mobile devices, the Opera Touch. This mobile browser has taken some of its ideas from the company’s experimental Opera Neon Desktop Browser and shall be providing a version of the Opera Touch for iOS devices soon.

We have moved the browser’s key functions within your thumb’s reach. This means that, unlike in most other browsers, you can more easily browse and search the web when on the move. – Maciej Kocemba, Product Manager at Opera

The new browser has put the tab switcher and the bookmark bar at the bottom of the page to make it easier for users to access the features easily. While this facility has long been available to Safari users, it’s a first for Android users. Holding it down makes this ‘fast action’ button give users easy access also to their tabs, and quickly starting to search or type a URL is a simple tap away.

The browser also comes with Opera’s ad blocker and crypto-jacking protection. With Opera’s desktop browser, version 52, launching today, Opera Touch can share information by scanning a QR code, thus doing away with the hassle of logins and passwords and having to mail links to oneself. The feature is called ‘Flow’ and makes the browser more user-friendly than ever.

As far as the cons are concerned, Opera Touch’s Bookmarks bar does not allow users to pin a bookmark to a specific spot on the list and manage their own bookmarks. Instead, it fills in the list with users’ most viewed sites, thus compromising user flexibility.

It nevertheless is a viable alternative as a useful mobile browser, especially in combination with the desktop version.