Opera Software released a new version of the stable version of the company's Opera web browser, Opera 53.0, to the public on May 10, 2018.

The new version of the browser is the first after Opera Software unveiled Opera Touch, a new mobile browser, with desktop sync functionality that requires no authentication (called Flow) and new instant search functionality for Opera on the desktop.

Opera 53.0 is available via the web browser's automatic updating functionality and as a direct download on the Opera Software website.

Existing Opera users may load opera://about in the browser's address bar to display the current version of the browser and an automatic check for updates. Opera downloads and installs updates that it finds automatically when you open the internal page in the browser.

Opera 53.0

Opera 53.0 Stable is not a feature-rich release as it is all about improving the appearance of tabs and the address bar in the web browser.

Opera users who updated the browser to the new version may notice the tab bar change right away. The visibility of tabs has improve in the new version as tab icons appear more colorful in Opera 53.0 without taking up more space on the browser's tab bar.

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The active tab is expanded automatically by Opera in the new version which helps with identification and also closing it as the close button is visible all the time now.

The colors that Opera uses to display address bar suggestions are more vibrant and sharper as well in Opera 53.0.

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The appearance changes are the only features that Opera Software highlighted on the official company blog. If you go through the entire changelog, you will find bug fixes for the most part and no other features to showcase.

While Opera Software fixed a large number of bugs in the new version of the web browser, a number of new and existing bugs do exist. The browser's animated wallpaper feature is broken in the new release and some users reported that they were logged out of all sessions after the upgrade. One user even reported that access to all saved browser passwords was lost after the upgrade.

Instant Search, the new search feature, is still linked to Google Search only with no option to switch to a different search provider.

Closing Words

Opera 53.0 is a minor upgrade that improves the appearance of open browser tabs and suggestions in the address bar of the browser. It is still a recommended update as it updates Opera to a recent Chromium version. Opera 52.0 was released two months ago.