New version of Opera for Android with UI overhaul

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Hi!

Any plans to make the latest realease version available on ftp server? That would be fantastic!

Cheers

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

I did not see this thread, so I opened a new one. But honestly, this new UI is a complete disaster. While I was actually very satisfied with Opera for Android, with the new interface I have spent the whole day yesterday trying new browsers:

1. It keeps a useless non-private tab open at all times, which can't be closed and is mostly useless.

2. When opening a new tab, instead of seeing options for opening items from History and Bookmarks, the only thing available is the addressbar. If I want to see something more, I need to switch to that first tab.

3. The addressbar, which in the old version displayed suggestions based on what you typed, now only displays suggestions it wants. For example, if I had the website "example.com" in my bookmarks, after typing "ex" I could click on the "example.com" suggestion. Now, the suggestions totally ignores what the user types.

4. There are two toolbars now, which waste more space, which is precious in a mobile, while not providing any more features.

5. If I scroll down and the page goes fullscreen, many times I'm unable to get out of fullscreen, so I cannot switch tabs because the button is hidden.

6. Sync used to work nice, now I just can't trust it anymore. Sometimes I can see the history and open tabs from other devices, sometimes nothing appears.

7. Turbo can now be disabled only by going through the settings dialog.

8. The old interface was overall organized. In the new, finding anything is hard and frustrating.

The best suggestion I can give is to totally ditch the new interface and come back to the old one. This situation is totally different from there was the switch from Presto, because we know how hard is to keep a whole rendering engine well maintained. But this new design was really just change for the sake of change!

Please you, don't ignore us users anymore, and maybe create polls in the forums before deciding on major changes! If there are some things that users enjoyed in this latest update (which I honestly doubt), switch back to the old interface and then implement them gradually one by one, but only the ones that you let the users vote before!

[twozero3]

twozero3 last edited by

I agree. Opera really should have the dignity to abandon the new user interface as a failed experiment, worth a try but ultimately unsuccessful. It has no positive redeeming features at all, only negative.

[mrninko]

mrninko last edited by

Do you plan to fix and done properly data saving counter (which is not showing at all) and also add easier access to ob/off data saving. It's ridiculous how it takes too long do it... This year please

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Please update the old interface and add it back as an option. The new interface wastes screen real estate and the refresh button, my fav feature of android opera, is gone.

Not every app needs to reflect the material design.

[personal1985]

personal1985 last edited by

@personal1985
Hi, thanks for giving feedback! We will investigate this and see what we can find regarding the stutter issue.

I found an easy way to make Samsung Galaxy Note 2 N7100 and Note 10.1 N8000 or N8010 scroll fluently.

Simple: As long as (in tablet mode) the user interface is visible or either invisible scrolling is perfect. The stutter can be circumvented by an option to always show the Tablet User Interface in tablet mode at the top of the screen. It's very obvious stuttering happens when deciding to scroll in the User interface into the screen. This started with the new user interface.

So a quick solution in tablet mode is always show the top screen menus. My phone and tablet are big enough.

Dirty: I locked my phone on maximum performance 1600 MHz. Yes it works but drains the battery unbelievable fast. No kernel is available to ramp up fast enough the core frequency from 200 MHz to 1400 MHz just to bring in the menu.

Off course I did undo any CPU clocking. It's not the click speed or CPU power but the Opera Team needs to reimplement such a needed CPU spike not happening.

Improved animation like a simple menu scrolling in shouldn't use max CPU since pressing the menu to get bookmarks especially in the beginning stuttered but improved after a few releases later.

Conclusion: Like firefox standard does always shows the tabbar and addressbar I need Opera to give me and others an option to have these bars always visible. Ironically firefox has an option to not always show these bars and then is buggy but no stutter in firefox.

Solvabel: ? Yes, a simple option always show tab bars and adress bar.

I have tested this by scrolling in al directions. Opera wouldn't consume CPU spikes anymore with such a simple solution.

[personal1985]

personal1985 last edited by admin

[quote]
From cbabb7

https://forums.opera.com/topic/19662/navigating-with-links-stops-working

Video Example: https://youtu.be/JXI2NLiV9Pc

Problem: Tapping a link in Opera will sometimes not advance to the page until clicked multiple times. This happens multiple times daily.

Reproduce: Tap a link while browsing a webpage. There isn't a particular page this happens on consistently. My example shows Google results page.

Results: I expect the link tapped will take me to the page, however it does not. I have to tap it multiple times.

Android: v7.1.1
Device: Pixel
Opera: v42.5.2246.114172

[/quote]

Seems related to what I described as Microstutter in the main Overhaul of Opera Topic.

Opera consists of 2 important parts. The user interface that forwards your messages like finger input like wanting to scroll or to click towards the underlying Render Engine (the actual displayed content)

I have several times urged the Opera team the following:

1 It takes the User Interface time to fully grab user input, this causes on my Note 2 and Note 10.1 microstutter and unexpected bumps in scrolling which I unfortunately do observe on your video too.
2 Underlying Render Engine for the website therefore receives a query full of messages from the User Interface suddenly at once causing micro stutter.

3 The problem is that the overhaul is more in a graphical design phase than an optimal performance state. Meaning even your highly powered device isn't able to deal with the code from the User Interface.

4 The user interface code needs to be entirely rewritten but then fully optimization in code. The overhaul until now meant 'how it looks' not that it's fully functional.

Solvable? Yes. Remember the core render engine is nothing wrong.

[samsbanned]

samsbanned last edited by

How do you get Opera to listen? Data savings not displaying anywhere and option to see it is missing from three-dot menu. Note Pro 12.2 tablet.

Not even worth using Opera if its data use can't be checked!

[lunetick]

lunetick last edited by

Like everyone I'm disappointed by the last few versions. it crash often, bad rendering on some website like popular mechanics... After years of using Opera, I switch to Firefox.

[turbine1991]

turbine1991 last edited by

Could we get a new UI, similar to Chrome for Android? The current one looks really outdated, it's fluid/intuitive and employs a lot of poor design choices.

The desktop browser is practically perfect.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by

There is new version already, time to close this topic.