Opera Browser Adds Low-Power Mode, Claims to Extend Battery Life by 50%

Opera claims its new power-saving mode can extend battery life by up to 50 per cent compared to Google Chrome.

Opera has released a number of improvement to its web browser in the last couple of months. It added an ad blocker to its latest release in May, and added a virtual private network to its developer version in April. Now, the developer version has a "low-power mode."

The browser prompts users to activate low-power mode when battery capacity gets down to 20 per cent.

Here's how Opera says it has managed save on battery power:

- Reduced activity in background tabs

- Fewer instructions sent to "wake" the processor

- Unused plug-ins paused automatically

- Reduced frame rate to 30 frames per second for animations and refreshes

- Tuned video playback

- Optimized browser themes

The company did not reveal when the low-power mode might make it into the official release.