Opera One: Review of the new AI browser

Opera One is a new browser in an early stage of development. Its flagships are the fresh user interface and the integration of the chat robot ChatGPT. We reveal whether it is worth using.

Table of Contents

• Review: Opera One with double AI power
• Opera One is potentially a showstopper
• ChatSonic vs. ChatGPT
• Automatic summarizes web page texts
• Operational weaknesses with Opera One
• The interface of Opera One
• Opera One in the test: An early conclusion

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hype topic and it is fun to deal with it. Tech-savvy people in particular are enthusiastic about it. No wonder: Often, much of it already works amazingly well. However, there is still room for improvement – it is not unusual for chatbots to “hallucinate”, i.e. they sometimes deliver incorrect facts.
At the spearhead in terms of prominence and quality is ChatGPT. The service is far from being the only (voice) AI application, the technology has been around for a while – however, OpenAI’s service made the operation suitable for mass use and brought the possibilities into the public focus. Friends of ChatGPT observe that more and more software tools are jumping on the AI aka Artificial Intelligence (AI) bandwagon: The chat assistant is on board in programming editors such as Microsoft Visual Studio Code (to be integrated via Copilot plug-in), Text Editor Pro and PSPad – and the integration does not stop at browsers. Microsoft Edge may have been the first surfing client to adopt such a feature. An AI Bing icon is prominently emblazoned in its right-hand interface area. You already know: Bing is Microsoft’s Google alternative, which has been in the shadow of the market leader until now and stole the show with the GPT entry conjured out of the hat – because the Windows creator let an AI chatbot off the leash earlier than Google.

Opera One is potentially a showstopper for competing other browsers

Opera One is potentially a showstopper for competing surfing programs: The web browser is available in an early-access development version. According to the makers, it is a completely redesigned browser that is supposed to replace the flagship Opera Browser for Windows, macOS and Linux in 2023. A central feature is the embedded ChatGPT icon in the sidebar on the left. The design also stands out from other web browsers and from the normal Opera, which will possibly sail under the Legacy flag in the future (or go down in the Wikipedia history books as obsolete).

Review: Opera One with double AI power

The OperaOne browser displays a sidebar on the left edge in the One variant just like in its conventional incarnation. The sidebar features access icons for Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Opera One also implements icons for ChatGPT and ChatSonic here. The second one doesn’t mean anything to you? It is a ChatGPT alternative – claiming to be the best of its kind and equipped with GPT-4 capabilities. For comparison, the regular ChatGPT version is based on GPT 3.5, at least if you don’t pay anything. Better than GPT 3.5 is GPT 4, which you use for free via workarounds like using Bing’s AI.
To use the normal ChatGPT in various browsers, a one-time registration and then a login every now and then is required. A login is likewise incurred with Microsoft Edge if you want to profit from the Bing AI – a Microsoft email address is asked for. OperaOne does not exempt itself from the initial hurdle: You cannot avoid authentication to get started with AI. In the test, ChatGPT could not be made to work at first with the help of its icon, a login form did not appear. The service was busy, an English error message said. The language of Opera One itself is English. Later, ChatGPT did run – and in the same way as WhatsApp in Opera, conveniently in the sidebar. Earlier test requests from another PC were directly available in ChatGPT. After all, the service automatically tags conversations; we found these headings here for viewing past conversations.

ChatSonic vs. ChatGPT

ChatSonic also requires registration. Despite its English-language user interface like ChatGPT, ChatSonic also accepted our German queries and issued suitable answers in the same localization. The bot takes on different roles like general AI, poet, philosopher or personal trainer, which users can assign via a menu.
In our samples, responses to queries like “Write a letter for grandma” came grammatically error-free as well as prompt. Even what a pull-down menu is, we got explained correctly, understandably and in a reasonable amount of time after briefly asking. The ‘ChatGPT’ or ChatSonic sidebar (only one service can be displayed in the sidebar at a time) can be pinned with a pin icon so that it does not disappear from the field of view; surfing is now possible, and the AI support remains similar to MS Edge.

Automatic summarizes web page texts

An “AI Prompts” button placed in the upper right corner of the Opera UI allows to perform actions with “Chat GPT” applied to the opened web page. For example, a web page text shortening can be commissioned, a meme sentence can be generated or a tweet can be formulated. Opera automatically passes prompts to the AI bot along with the respective web page headline. The outputs do not modify the loaded web page in a hacker manner but appear in the sidebar. This facilitation has potential and would certainly be Opera’s killer feature if the information was not displayed in English.
What we dislike about the usability is the fact that the drop-down menu at the top right and the sidebar closed abruptly again and again in the beginning. It was a nuisance to fade in again.

Operational weaknesses with Opera One

Opera One stands out from other browsers with AI features. Innovation is an attribute that experts have attributed to the client from Norway for quite some time. It is not only with the latest pranks that the software shines with it. Now, one can view AI critically and object “I don’t need all that”. In that case, you can ignore it in Opera One – which works well, since the sidebar can be hidden, just like in the conventional Opera. By the way, the developers’ joy in creating something new has manifested itself in the projects “Opera Crypto Browser“, “Opera GX” (see our review of the gamer browser) and Opera Neon so far.

^{Now Opera is “only” a niche browser, whose penetration rate does not compete with MS Edge, Google Chrome and Firefox.}

So far, none of the variants (which are not forks, by the way, since they come from the original developers) has made any attempts to replace the conventional Opera client. It seems sensational that new browser is supposed to replace Opera in the future. Now Opera is “only” a niche browser, whose penetration rate does not compete with MS Edge, Google Chrome and Firefox. Among the small browsers, however, it is one of the better known. Those who like Opera can currently leave Opera One to the left – especially since it is still in the development stage. In the long run, however, such a person should pay interest to the One incarnation. Try out the application via free download, get an impression today of how we will surf tomorrow.

The interface of Opera One

The interface of browser is not fundamentally different, but it differs from the classic Opera in some aspects. If the latter client is updated to Opera One one day (with or without a name change; Firefox is practically no longer called Quantum despite its name given in 2017 during a refresh), you should know this status in order not to be completely surprised.
Operationally, New browser has a few things to be chalked up to, so original Opera and other browsers are currently much more pleasant to use. Specifically: Tabs cannot be targeted at the very top in maximized window state via blind mouse click – you have to aim at them exactly. The same applies to the menu icon at the top left. And this operating malus does not stop at the plus symbol for new tabs: The icon can be found on the right in the tab bar. Experienced users would rather press Ctrl-T than get involved in a precise navigation. The described is regressive – and unworthy of a progressive plan.

Opera One in the test: An early conclusion

If Opera’s motto is “One for all” (see the program name: Opera One), the browser makers’ AI push makes sense. It fits their innovation affinity to directly integrate ChatGPT and ChatSonic. Something similar is in the offing for Windows 12.
It is still too early for a mainstream recommendation because Opera One requires a sense of proportion when clicking elementary GUI buttons. This is a long way from carefree browsing. A parallel: The Windows tool “RoundedTB” provides Windows 11 with the taskbar, as it is supposed to appear in Windows 12 according to screenshot leaks. The usability of the taskbar deteriorates in the same way as described for Opera. New is not necessarily better.

Opera One browser still raw

The OperaOne programmers should readjust before they position Opera One as a top product and let Opera Classic go into the eternal hunting grounds. Once they have done that, the web page context-sensitive auto-text processing is ready to become a flagship feature that has what it takes to turn the browser market upside down.
Currently, companies seem to be throwing unfinished AI products onto the market in order to be ahead of the game. The expectations of the company and the presumed bubbling revenues promote this. Google, on the other hand, may not have anything comparable to Bing’s AI (and mature) in its quiver at the moment, but it does not need premature function releases and has a reputation to lose. In the case of Opera One, teething troubles are okay, for example with regard to the currently prevalent handling ailments, since the whole thing is pre-beta (if you like, you can install Opera Final/Stable, Opera Beta and Opera One with different version numbers in parallel).