But most of all, I like that I always know what's happening, what is supposed to happen, what it means if something is off.

In my opinion Opera could've got rid off mail-client in favor of better webmail-support, and thrown the Unite and Widgets out to slim it all down and focus on the important stuff.

• Both Chrome/Chromium and Opera now use the webkit browser underneath the hood so the rendering time of the pages are just the same.

• As a developer compared to Opera DragonFly, Google Developer tools are easier to use and more importantly loads faster. I'm writing in reference to Opera 20.

• I often travel to rural areas in Asia as a part of my work where 256 Kbps internet is a luxury. At such times, the author-mode and no-image mode used to be lifesavers along with the turbo-boost. Opera 20 doesn't have those customizations available anymore.

Disappointed.

When you have more than maybe 10 items, its not really a SPEED-Dial anymore, and certainly not if you have folders in it...
What? You can still access the first 10 items very fast, and the access to all the other items and items in folders is not really different than a bookmarks menu with sub-folders. Specially if you use the keyboard to access your bookmarks.

It's quite possible to use Speed Dial for bookmarks. I do. For sessions too. I just recommend people to try it, if it doesn't work for you it's very easy to enable the bookmarks bar and drag your folders there... Or use a bookmarks extension, it's worth it if you like the other Opera features (if you miss classic bookmarks in Opera why not install a bookmarks extension rather than switching to another browser and installing extensions like "Neater Bookmarks" on it to recover the features you'd miss?).

One thing that I can NEVER understand in these threads here is the term and in what way SPEED-dial is used.
For me that term indicates a short "list" of easily and very quickly accessed items. In a phone it would mostly be numbers.
Here it is web pages.
But as many try to convince the complainers (me included) the seems to want you to use it as a sort of bookmarkish-alternative.

When you have more than maybe 10 items, its not really a SPEED-Dial anymore, and certainly not if you have folders in it...
I don't really under stand that. Its just some sort of Bookmarks-alternative that is not as easily over viewed and organized imo.

After more than 10 years of using only Opera, I switch to Chrome few month ago. It was a bit hard to get used to but I did and now I am loving it. Not close as much as I loved using Opera ( until version 12.xx) but still better than whatever Opera does now. Once a month I come back to see if something good happened to deeply beloved browser but no. Opera team abandoned us and it looks like they go further away from good things that made Opera such a great browser. Sad.
I was looking for the same answers myself for a very long time and found not a single reason to use Opera Chromium over Google's original pure Chrome.

I'm just trying to understand why you'd move from Opera to Chrome if you really loved Opera up until version 12.xx. What does Chrome provide along the "old Opera" line that Blink Opera doesn't? I'm still baffled by the readers who mention this same choosing, given that the same extensions can essentially be applied to either browser, and there are several things in Blink Opera that aren't available in Chrome. Moving to Firefox or one of its clones, I can at least understand because it's architecturally different from all the Chrome/Chromium variants, so it will look and behave quite differently to some users.

Some people are finding Stash useful, maybe they can give some tips on how to use it and for what. It displays saved pages' screenshots and indexes some page content to quickly filter using the search box.

I use it like Firefox's Unsorted Bookmarks. One click to quckly bookmark a page to read at a later date but not permanently store on the bookmarks bar

https://forums.opera.com/post/42825

State the feature you're concerned about. What are the functions that you believe Opera deleted and that you want. That might help. Perhaps the feature is there or one can help you find it via extension.. Posting generalizations help no one address your concern. On looks/appearance, what is it they say: you can't judge a book by it's cover, though I think the speak dial look of Opera 21(with its folders and background wallpaper) is awesome and unique. In any event, Chrome is not all a loss. It has some/many features that people like. It's isn't a popular browser for no reason. It's sort of browser assassination to deride something because it has a feature/or features Chrome has. In any event, Opera has features that clearly distinguish it from Chrome. As to what Opera had before, the new Opera browser is faster, has better access to a wider range of sites. Further the new Opera gives the user huge customization possibilities through Opera extensions, and also Chrome extensions. See discussion (perhaps you missed it) by rafaelluik in this thread on key features distinguishing the new Opera from Chrome: https://forums.opera.com/post/31150

Also, Opera have deleted many different functions in the last updates which Chrome didn't really have or at least not as good functions. Why?

You really do seem to be a worker. ... It's like your evasive or something. ... so maybe that's why you hide it I guess? ... Just as long as people know your doing so on your time and not Opera's time.

@rafaelluik stated a few posts up: "I'm not an Opera Software employee." It can hardly be stated any more clearly, and either you believe him or you are calling him a liar. This entire business of innuendo and nagging character-assassination is out of place in a rational discussion. Whether the points a person makes come from the perspective of one who is an Opera employee, an Opera "loyalist", a "neutral" user, or an Opera critic ought not to impact the validity (or lack of same) and the genuine facts (or lack) in what they're saying. Their comments should stand on their own, and be addressed as such, not responded to with ad-hominem attacks on the person making the comments.

There are enough posts in this topic for people to read through and understand the things I'm talking about, and these have nothing to do with whether I'm an employee or not.
But LOL, just because I figure out things and post my bets and assumptions based on publicly available info I "have unnaturally geeky insider knowledge concerning opera's inner workings" and therefore I'm an employee... If I inform people there's a contest somewhere for us to vote (and of course for Opera since these are the Opera forums if you haven't noticed yet) that means I'm an Opera employee and not just a supporter. I could go on...
What's funny is I post feature requests or disagree with some things they say/intend to/implement in these forums and Opera blogs myself. If I was an employee I wouldn't need to do that, you can't see any employee doing that. I'd be certainly advised to not do that actually, since these discussions are meant to be internal.

You really do seem to be a worker. Who says "these have nothing to do with whether I'm an employee or not"? It's like your evasive or something. Your a little jerky in a lot of your posts so maybe that's why you hide it I guess? I mean you did really say his children were dumb and for no reason. Just as long as people know your doing so on your time and not Opera's time. See.

• Speed Dial packages, more usability
• Closing last tab doesn't close browser
• I can use both Opera extensions and Chrome extensions

And of course I'm waiting for classic Opera features

Yes, not yet. There has been ONE year since Opera's initial transition announcement, but to date Link support is still not provided in these Opera 15+ version bumps.
Link is provided in experimental state since Opera 19.

I know but it takes time, I mean, it's normal. I miss it a lot too but I see that they have to work on a lot of other things and not only Opera Link. And when we compare to Opera Presto it's understandable:

Opera 9.1 was released in December 18, 2006. Then first Opera alpha build with Opera Link (9.5) has been released on September 4, 2007 (9.2 comes here in the middle) and the 9.5 final version came in June 12, 2008. That's +-18 months for a feature to come from "scratch" to final. Now for 15+ they're rewriting almost the whole UI from scratch and implementing many different things up to Opera 21 and it hasn't been a year.

With all the other extension APIs they're implementing in each new version we can figure out they can't simply copy the code from Chromium and have it there enabled instantly (otherwise everything would be working in 15.0 already), and more so with things implemented differently from Chromium (the mechanisms for Speed Dials, Stash, etc) I suppose the server-side and client-side sync code couldn't be simply copied from Chromium (needless to say they can't just copy from Presto either).

Opera Link just isn't implemented in the newest stable version yet.
Yes, not yet. There has been ONE year since Opera's initial transition announcement, but to date Link support is still not provided in these Opera 15+ version bumps. I don't know when will they ship Opera with link support; maybe Opera 22, maybe Opera 42, or maybe never?

While not relating with this forum, Opera for Linux is in a similar situation; no definite words of "drop support" or "(supposed) release schedule" is given. Maybe the dev team shall be more clear on this.

What amazes me, however, is the white-hot intensity of the reactions sometimes expressed in the forums. With the fact firmly in sight that Opera is only one of many free browsers, costing users absolutely nothing, what is there that stimulates the harsh rhetoric, the exaggeration, the end-of-world desperation, the personal attacks on anyone disagreeing, the seeming sense of betrayal, and the angry outbursts between posters - even to the point in some threads of obscenity-laced 'yelling' at one another - all over a free web browser?

The posts on this forum can be used as the basis for a few doctoral theses in psychology.

But when I read some of the angry rhetoric in forum posts, I find myself asking out loud: "Why??? It's only a web browser, and a free one at that!" I'm still groping for an answer...

Hard to say but my guesses would include a "sense of entitlement." Many users have this sense in which they believe Opera "owes" them the browser of their choice. And if it is not delivered right down to the color of the frames, well then, Opera becomes an unthinking, uncaring, ungrateful company that will surely die. We've seen this "entitlement" behavior demonstrated over the dismantling of the former MyOpera Community. For many years Opera provided this community free of charge along with all the services that it entailed. And what thanks did it get? Nadda! Only vehement, obscenity-laced posts of angry users. It's a curious thing but it's becoming increasingly predictable in this selfish generation in which we live. Very sad commentary on our times.