Opera is currently on a roll. As the date of its buyout through a Chinese consortium come closer, it is trying what it can to get as many users on board as possible. The latest such feature is the new Power saving mode, available currently only on the developer version of Opera but could make its way to the users soon.
The feature is targeted specially towards users who are usually on the move and want to get the most out of their battery life. Opera claims that its browser with the power saving mode on can result in a battery life which is twice that of contemporary browsers such as Firefox and Chrome.
Opera has done a few things to make this possible. When in the mode, the activity on background tab hinders, frame rate reduces, animations are paused, while unused plug-ins are paused. JavaScript use is scheduled more prudently, while more work is loaded at hardware acceleration.
To verify these findings, Opera tested its claims on two different laptops from Lenovo and Dell, and found that while the ones without the setting ran out of juice in under two hours, the ones running the power saving mode reached almost three.
The option can be accessed whenever your laptop is disconnected from its charger. The browser will alert you once your battery reaches 20 percent to turn on the mode.
Opera has been adding features to its portfolio quite rigorously. It first became the initial mainstream browser to feature a built-in ad-blocker (which is both faster and less of a resource-hog than AdBlock) then it brought the same feature on mobile. It also brought a built-in VPN to its users, meaning this power saver is just a link in this chain of developments.
Great browser! Its now my third best browser, following Chrome and Firefox. Adblocker, followed by VPN and now battery power saver, other will follow suit, but at the moment Opera leads (yes I am aware that these features are available using plugins).