The main concern regarding web browsers is speed. Even though Internet connections get faster every day, this still remains the essential and most debated topic when it comes down to web browser preferences. The next matter in hand is the stability and security provided by that favorite application. While Opera is not everyone's pick, Chrome and Firefox fight for supremacy against Internet Explorer.
Things change when looking at mobile browser charts, as Opera Mini tops their ranks. Switching back to the desktop version, it may look as Opera can never compete with these browsers when it comes to usage statistics. Where it can compete though is real-life, day-by-day web browsing. The real test would be to take a number of fans of each browser and measure their stress levels as they surf the Internet.
Opera has a pretty sleek and attractive interface, although users can get a lot more thanks to the built-in theme support that allows them to download themes with a single click. In addition to that, you can also change the color scheme, just to be sure everything matches your preferences. While it doesn't fancy the number of add-ons that Firefox possesses, Opera provides support for extensions.
One interesting feature that might set Opera apart from competition is called Opera Turbo and is specifically designed to help load webpages faster. Especially designed for those with slow Internet connections, this particular function compresses webpages and reduces loading times, thus the browser downloads smaller files.
Opera is one feature packed web browser right out of the box. It sports tabbed browsing, integrated search engine, a password manager and even functions such as mouse gestures and voice interaction. With this particular web browser, users can quickly set up their mail accounts and RSS feeds for easy access to the things they need inside the same application.
The thing that drags Opera down is its HTML (HTML5 in particular) and JavaScript compatibility issues. It's still a very resource friendly application while delivering an impressive browsing speed. When other web browsers might fail, crash and burn, Opera takes advantage of its caching management techniques to make sure the experience of Internet surfing is smooth.
Opera packs one of the best feature set, making web navigation faster and quite a pleasure. It does not require a certain level of Internet-related knowledge as many would think and brings the necessary bundle of protection against pop-ups and other online malware. You can be sure that you just discovered a new option when picking your favorite browser. In the end, it's just a matter of taste.

What's New in This Release:
General and User Interface:
· Opera 15 is a major reinvention for Opera. Going forward, the browser's source code will be based on Chromium and Blink, a fork of the WebKit rendering engine.
· New rendering engine based on WebKit
· New user interface
· New capabilities
· New features
· Improved site compatibility
· Silent auto updates
New features:
Combined address and search bar:
· Opera 15 combines the address and search bar, allowing for multiple predictive results that can be filtered by search engine. This bar includes options for adding current pages to Opera's Speed Dial or Stash, and expandable page information.
Enhanced Speed Dial:
· Opera 15 allows you to combine Speed Dial entries into groups, and introduces a search function that filters through entries.
Stash:
· Opera 15 introduces Stash - a feature that records the location, meta data, and a screenshot of a page. It places this information into a collapsable list entry on the browser's Start Page, that can be searched ...