Hi there!
After Opera switched to chromium, I tried out a lot of alternative browsers. None of them came even close to the level of usability I was used with opera 12. But... when doing so, I found a japanese browser named "Sleipnir". It sucks in almost every aspect, except tab handling/design and touch gestures. Opera as it is, with a tab handling/touch gesture support like sleipnir, would be the best available browser for me. Again.
Opera link: favorites as they are implemented in opera atm are... well, you know. But in fact: who needs favorites, if you could safe and/or sync your quick-start page? With the possibility to create folders quick-start works quite well as favorites for me. Much better than a "text only" menu.
Regards
hangman