OPERA LAUNCHES A NEW FEATURE FOR ITS USERS

Opera Touch announced some major changes to its desktop offering.

The Norwegian browser developer has launched a new mobile browser designed to work well one-handed. It is called Opera Touch, and it is actually really interesting (see for yourself).

To activate the one-handed mode, you simply press something called the "Fast Action Button" or FAB. The FAB lets you access search and view open tabs. It also places control over the many features within reach of your thumb.

If you’re curious about the design motivations behind this feature (which actually looks pretty handy), Opera has created a video where a spokesperson explains all:

The developers have also thrown quite a bit of effort into refining how search works in Opera Touch. In order to access Google, you merely graze the FAB at the bottom of the screen, which will bring up the keyboard. You then just have to type your query and hit return.

It is a bit more ergonomically pleasant than touching the address bar at the top of the screen, and then move your hand to the bottom of the screen to reach the keyboard. Opera Touch also has easily accessible shortcuts for searching with your voice, and for scanning QR codes and barcodes.

Another cool feature of Opera Touch is 'Flow'; it lets you send files, notes and links to your desktop. As someone who regularly emails screenshots to remember something important or to do a review of an app, it is a vastly more graceful alternative.

In order to use Flow, you need to run Opera on both desktop and mobile. This is actually a shrewd move from the company and could incentivise people to try a browser that does not come from the big four – like Google, Mozilla, Apple, and Microsoft.

Opera Touch will be available on Android first before it eventually makes its way to iOS. You can grab it on the Google Play Store, now!