Chrome didn’t take very long to become one of the most popular desktop web browsers in the world, and it stole users away from Internet Explorer and Firefox by addressing common pain points users had with these two top browsers. Now, Opera is making waves by stealing a page from Google’s playbook. The company recently announced the addition of free and unlimited VPN to the developer preview version of its desktop web browser, and now Opera is back with a new announcement. The latest build of its pre-release browser includes a new power saving mode that can increase a laptop’s battery life by 50% or even more.
DON’T MISS: iPhone vs. Android: Which phones are more likely to fail?
Google makes it difficult to ditch the Chrome browser. It’s lightning fast, quite sleek, and it keeps all of your data in sync. But if ever there was a reason to bail on Chrome and switch to Opera’s desktop web browser, the prospect of increasing your laptop’s battery life by 50% is probably it.
Unlimited free VPN is great, but we already told you how to add the same great privacy feature to Chrome for free. Power saving mode, however, is something that Chrome simply cannot match.
So how exactly does Opera’s new power saving mode work? The company outlined the new feature’s main components in a recent blog post:
- Reduced activity in background tabs
- Waking CPU less often due to more optimal scheduling of JavaScript timers
- Automatically pausing unused plug-ins
- Reduced frame rate to 30 frames per second
- Tuning video-playback parameters and forcing usage of hardware accelerated video codecs
- Paused animations of browser themes
Power saving mode can be enabled at will in Opera’s most recent developer preview. Or, like the low power mode in Apple’s iOS 9 software, Opera will issue a pop-up and suggest that you enable power saving mode when your laptop battery reaches 20%.
The Opera developer preview build that includes power saving mode is free to use, and you can download it right here.
