Opera 12 Beta Launches With Themes, In-Browser Photos & Performance Improvements [Updates]

Opera 12 beta is officially out, bringing many new improvement and features to Opera fans, as well as for Opera newcomers who’d like to give the browser a first try. According to Opera Software, 250 million people already use Opera web browsers for computers, mobile phones, TVs and other connected devices and with this new iteration they are hoping to increase that number even more.

Among the most notable new feature in Opera 12 beta, codenamed Wahoo, is the addition of browser themes. Users can now choose out of a growing list of colorful themes to create their own customized look for Opera. Designers can also add their own themes to the list.

Aside from looks, there are also some performance enhancements, the most prominent of those is a separate process for plugins. Plugin crashes which used to take the entire browser with them were obviously bothersome for users, so Opera decided to give these plugins their very own process. Now when a plugin crashes, the browses itself keeps running.

Opera 12 also introduces hardware integration into the browser. More specifically, Opera 12 lets you use your webcam to take snapshots of yourself or other things right from the browser, using web apps such as Photo Booth and Polaroid. Other improvements include a more powerful extensions platform, new browser languages and 64-bit versions for Windows and Mac.

Will you give Opera 12 beta a chance?

(via Makeuseof)