Opera's Testing New Features for the Opera One R2 Browser

AI in the browser isn't new, but the company that first introduced AI into a browser, Opera, is now improving its AI offerings and bumping up a few other features in the Opera One R2 browser beta.

In an announcement sent to Lifewire on Wednesday, Opera said it's testing the Opera One R2 browser. Improvements include new AI capabilities, split-screen tabs within the browser window, and new themes. Of course, those aren't the only improvements.

Opera One first added AI—called Aria—in 2023, and now the browser is getting some additional AI features like voice output, which will help with accessibility and image generation, which will let you generate images directly from a prompt in Aria's sidebar. In Opera One R2, Aria is also getting an Image Understanding capability, which can tell you information about an image added to the sidebar, including things like specific models, context, and even math equations.

Maybe the most interesting feature of the update is the in-browser split-screen for tabs. Have two tabs that you want to keep track of? Rather than opening two separate browser windows, you can open one but split-screen the tabs in that one window. Tabs are also getting emoji decorations and a feature called Traces that leaves a subtle highlight on the most recently visited tabs, but only for those people who open more than 30 tabs. If you're a "tab minimalist," you won't see Traces.

Multimedia is getting a big boost in Opera One R2, too. The multimedia player can now be moved around the browser and detached from the sidebar, so you can place it where it's convenient for you. And when docked in the sidebar, there are some additional controls like hover to skip or play audio.

Opera One R2 will also feature a theme redesign that includes sound effects that extend to the multimedia player.

Opera says these features "will be gradually rolled out in the Developer version of the Opera One browser over the course of the coming weeks."