Opera introduced free built-in VPN for developer version with 256-bit encryption last month. Today is has released Opera developer 39 that brings a dedicated power saving mode. “This is designed to extend laptop battery life by up to 50% compared with Google Chrome or older version of Opera. Depending on your type of hardware, it can mean several hours more browsing before you need to recharge your laptop,” says the company.
The battery icon appears next to the search and address field in the Opera browser once the laptop’s power cable is unplugged. You can click the battery icon to activate the power saving mode and flip on the switch to activate it. The latest update now lets you VPN feature in private browsing mode.
Under-the-hood optimizations for power saving mode includes:
- 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
You can download the developer version of Opera browser for desktop for Windows, Mac and Linux from Opera website here.
Regarding the new mode, Krystian Kolondra, SVP of Engineering for Opera, said:
It’s extremely frustrating to run out of battery on your computer, whether you are out traveling, 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%.