Opera 12 Getting Hardware Acceleration

Opera is currently holding its Upnorthweb Conference in Oslo, Norway.

The company reportedly demonstrated an upcoming version of Opera 12 with hardware acceleration, which will be supported on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.

Opera has promised hardware acceleration since version 11, but decided to delay the introduction so far with the argument that it intends to offer the full acceleration feature on all platforms, including Windows XP. The first alpha version of the browser is expected to be unveiled this Thursday. There was no information how the browser's performance compares to the hardware acceleration feature in rival browsers.

Additional new features include direct support for webcams, a new page navigation feature that replaces scrolling with touch or mouse swiping, as well as a new themes features, which enables an easier creation of browser themes.

We should also mention that Opera keep working on its JavaScript engine and claims that both JavaScript processing as well as HTML rendering has been accelerated. Stay tuned here Thursday to find out how Opera 12 compares to its competition.