Opera, the Norwegian browser company, is releasing Opera One R2, the new major version of its AI-powered browser. Building upon the modular design and integrated AI capabilities of Opera One, which was released in 2023, the new Opera One R2 introduces a host of new features and enhancements, making it the most powerful and best-looking Opera browser to date.

Opera One R2 features Opera's latest AI innovations. It also introduces dynamic themes that allow users to personalize their browsing experience with a static or animated interface, sound effects, and music.With this release Opera is also introducing Split Screen and Tab Traces for enhanced tab management. With Split Screen, users can work in two tabs simultaneously, while tab traces provide visual cues of the most recently visited tabs. Additionally, the detachable music & video controls allow users to move their Music Player and Video Pop-out window around the screen for convenient access.

"The browser of the future will be vastly different from the one we use today. Opera One R2 is our first step towards the future of browsing," said Joanna Czajka, product director at Opera, who leads Opera One R2. "As the ultimate browser nerds, we're happy to be shipping our best-looking browser with the most comprehensive AI features today."

Latest AI features in Opera One R2
With this release, Opera is gathering the best AI Features that have been tested throughout the year in the Developer stream of the browser, and bringing them to Opera One R2.

Opera One R2 users can benefit from a more powerful Command Line interface that takes Aria's capabilities out of the chat box - making them easier to get to. When users open the Command Line - by pressing Ctrl+/ or Cmd+/ - they can then press the Tab key to enter the Page Context mode. This mode allows them to utilize Aria to help them summarize a webpage's topic, analyze an article, or even help them compare products when shopping online.

Other AI features in Opera One R2 include Image Generation and Image Understanding. These features - as their names suggest - provide Aria with the capability to generate images as well as understand them. Users can prompt Aria to generate images from the Command Line or the sidebar chat.

Additionally, users can upload pictures in the sidebar chat where Aria can explain what's in the image. These two features can even be used jointly - Aria can generate things based on the images that users upload. For example, they can upload a sketch of a landscape and ask Aria to create a realistic version of it. Opera has also made Aria available to users without the need to log in.

Dynamic themes and glass UI
Opera One R2 comes with a set of innovative, dynamic, Scandinavian-inspired themes. Powered by shader-technology, and created on the user's machine, these themes go beyond simple color changes or background images, offering a complete transformation of the browser's look and feel. Users can enjoy live-generated animations or static backgrounds, customized UI colors, and even browser sounds and music. The Midsommar theme, for example, features background music, and more immersive themes are planned for future releases. The Opera UI is undergoing a transformation through the new frosty glass UI design available in the Midsommar theme. This adds another layer of customization, allowing the UI to blend seamlessly with the background of this theme.

There are three themes being released with Opera One R2: the Classic theme, the Midsommar theme, and the Aurora theme. They all come with a multi-dimensional color picker, which allows users to experiment with countless combinations to find the perfect look for their browsers. They can even adjust the intensity of the live-generated animations.

Opera continues to innovate with tabs
Back in the year 2000 Opera introduced tabs to a browser for the first time, and last year the company released the Tab Islands feature - which helps users group tabs intuitively. Now, Opera One R2 is releasing two new features that improve the way users interact with their tabs: Split Screen and Tab Traces. The former allows users to join two tabs and divide their screen into halves to have them open at the same time. The latter gives users subtle visual cues about their five most recently visited tabs - they leave traces. Tab traces are available to users with more than thirty tabs open.


Detachable music & video player controls highlight Modular Design
Opera One R2 comes with new ways of controlling music & videos: the redesigned Music Player can now be detached and moved around the screen, without interrupting a user's browsing.

The detachable video player also works with video calls, making it even better for those constantly in calls. And for those listening to music before joining a Google Meet, the music automatically fades out and pauses for the duration of the call, resuming after.

Continued native ad blocker support
Opera's ad blocker has been built right into the browser since 2016, allowing users to browse uninterrupted and keeping intrusive ads at bay. It doesn't require any additional installation and can be customized according to the user's preferences. Using the ad blocker makes the browser cleaner, safer, and more private - as well as snappier, since web pages load up to 90% faster. In addition to that, Opera R2 will continue supporting Manifest V2 extensions, allowing users to continue using ad blocking and privacy-enhancing extensions just like before.

Download Opera One R2 and experience the future of browsing
Opera One R2 brings together Opera's innovation efforts within the world of AI and tab management, with a revamped look. This represents a further step towards the future of browsers. Users can now experience the best browser Opera has created to date. It's available for free and can be downloaded here.