Opera browser with AI

First Impression

I downloaded Opera browser with AI last Tuesday evening after my previous browser (I won’t name it, but it rhymes with “brome”) started freezing every time I tried to load a news article. I was sitting on my couch at 9:30 PM, already annoyed from a long day of meetings, and I just wanted to quickly check tomorrow’s weather and read a couple of work emails. The install took maybe 30 seconds. The first thing I noticed was how clean the home screen looked — no clutter, no random sponsored shortcuts. Then I tapped the little AI icon on the bottom bar. I typed “what’s the weather like at 7 AM tomorrow?” and it gave me a straight answer in under 2 seconds. No loading spinner, no ads, no dancing around the question. That moment alone made me think: “Why didn’t I switch sooner?”

What It Does Well

This browser is built for people like me who hate waiting. The built-in ad blocker is aggressive — I haven’t seen a single YouTube pre-roll ad since switching, and news sites load without that obnoxious overlay begging me to disable my blocker. The AI assistant is genuinely useful for quick tasks. I use it almost daily to summarize long articles or meeting notes I get sent as PDF links. You highlight the text, tap “summarize,” and it gives you three bullet points. No fluff. I also love the free VPN that’s baked in. It’s not the fastest VPN ever, but for checking my bank account on public airport WiFi, it’s more than enough and takes one tap to turn on. The sidebar with messaging apps is actually handy — I pinned WhatsApp and Slack there, so I can peek at messages without leaving the browser tab I’m reading. The battery usage is surprisingly low too. On my OnePlus 11, I browsed for about 45 minutes during my lunch break and only dropped from 87% to 81%. That’s better than any browser I’ve used in the last two years.

Where It Falls Short

It’s not perfect, and here’s where I almost deleted it on day three. The AI assistant is great for simple stuff, but if you ask it anything complex — like “compare the processor specs of these two laptops” — it sometimes gives you a generic answer that’s clearly pulled from a cached Wikipedia page from 2022. That’s frustrating when you’re trying to make a quick purchase decision. Also, the browser has this habit of randomly opening a “Speed Dial” suggestion page when you open a new tab, even if you already set your own bookmarks. I have to manually swipe it away. It’s a small thing, but it wastes 2-3 seconds each time. And honestly, for a “busy professional” tool, those seconds add up by the end of the week. The free VPN works, but it’s limited to Asia, Europe, and North America — no options for specific cities. I travel to South America sometimes, and I’d appreciate at least one server there. Lastly, the dark mode isn’t very dark — it’s more of a dark gray, which still strains my eyes a bit during late-night browsing.

Is It Worth the Price?

It’s free. Zero dollars. So the real question is: is it worth the switch? For me, yes. I’ve saved at least 10-15 minutes a day not fighting with ads or slow page loads. The AI assistant alone has saved me from having to open a separate ChatGPT tab for quick summaries. I’ve been using it for two weeks and I haven’t felt the need to go back to my old browser. That said, if you’re someone who relies on heavy extensions or specific Chrome-exclusive tools, you might hit some roadblocks. Opera’s extension store is smaller, and some popular ones aren’t available. But for basic browsing, reading, and quick research? It’s hard to beat free and fast.

Developer & Support

Here’s where my patience ran thin. I had an issue with the AI assistant not loading one afternoon — it just showed a spinning circle for five minutes. I opened the in-app support chat (Monday, around 2 PM). The first response took 45 minutes. It was a copy-paste script: “Clear your cache and restart the app.” I did that. Same problem. I replied. Another 30 minutes. They said, “Try reinstalling.” That fixed it, but the whole process took over an hour of my workday. No follow-up, no apology for the delay. It felt like talking to a machine even though a human was typing. Opera needs to hire actual support staff who can troubleshoot without reading from a manual. A free app doesn’t get a free pass on wasting my time.

Privacy & Safety

Privacy-wise, I feel okay. Opera is owned by a Chinese consortium, which gives some people pause, but for me, I’m not storing my life’s secrets in a browser. The built-in tracker blocker works well — I ran a test on a few sites and saw fewer tracking cookies than usual. The VPN is no-log (according to their policy), which is good enough for casual use. One thing I did notice: the browser asks for permission to access my location every time I open a new tab, even though I said “deny” the first ten times. That’s annoying and feels a bit pushy. I’d prefer it just remembered my choice. But overall, I don’t feel like my data is being sold aggressively. I’ve seen much worse from bigger browsers.