Opera on Thursday announced that the latest build of its pre-release Windows and OS X browser will include a new “Power Saving Mode” feature that can increase a laptop’s battery life by 50% or even more in comparison to previous versions of the Opera browser as well as Google Chrome. Announcing the new feature, Krystian Kolondra, SVP of Engineering for Opera said, “It’s extremely frustrating to run out of battery on your computer, whether you are out travelling, watching videos, or you have just left your charger behind. Our new power saving mode will nudge you when the laptop starts to consume battery, and, when enabled, it can increase the battery life by as much as 50%.” The new “Power Saving Mode” is available in the developer stream and works automatically. Opera users can enable the power saving mode by clicking on the battery icon situated next to the search and address field within the browser. This icon will automatically appear when the laptop’s power cable is unplugged. Opera will also suggest switching over to “Power Saving Mode” when the laptop’s battery reaches a 20-percent capacity. Opera in its tests said the latest developer version was able to allow users to run up to 50 percent longer than other browsers. The company outlined the new features 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 The Opera developer preview build that includes power saving mode is now available for free download from the company’s website. The company is also testing ways to manage memory in the developer version. You can download the developer release to take it for a spin.
