Opera introduces new Opera Mini browser for iOS users: AI powered news feed and more

Opera, the developers behind the popular Opera Mini web browser has now released a new version of the mobile browser app for iPhone users.

What's new in the latest version? Well, the browser now comes with a revamped user interface featuring a news feed on its start page. The browser now helps users get the news four times faster than the previous version. Further, the company has said that an artificial intelligent (AI) news engine is also rolling out to selected countries, including India, bringing the latest and most insightful news to the user without any effort setting it up.

And talking more about Opera's AI news engine, the technology basically uses real-time intelligence ranking, powered by machine learning (G.B.D.T. algorithm) and deep learning (D.N.N. deep neural network).

"Once the user starts engaging with news content, it will begin defining a unique user profile by accumulating news categories and publisher domains the user clicks on. The news engine analyzes the user's interest through a deep learning model that understands what each user is engaged with. The more the user engages with the newsfeed, the more in-tune the content becomes for the user within the "For You" section," the company said.

Moreover, the AI-powered technology in the Opera Mini newsreader will give users a more personalized start page each time they use it. No setup or customization is required. The more they read, the more personalized news feed will become.

As of today, the Opera AI-powered newsreader is available in select countries such as Ghana, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States. The company has stated that it will soon be coming to Russia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

"The goal is to provide each user the ability to get their optimal content based on their interest, which is constantly evolving," said Cuautemoc Weber, Head of Global Accounts & Content, Opera Software. "This is also applied to bringing new information which perhaps the user would not have been able to gather from their traditional sources."

With the new version, users can also customize the news with international news sources. This feature is especially useful for checking out the news in other countries. To set it up, all they need to do is swipe to the left on the top of the start page and click the plus symbol in the top-right corner. They can then tailor both the location and news categories to their liking.

For Indian users, the news feed is available not only in English but also in Gujarati, Hindi, and Tamil. The company claims that the new Opera Mini is even more efficient by loading full news stories at least four times faster, compared with the previous version.

The new Opera Mini for iOS also comes with rejuvenated address and search bar color. Users will now see it as Opera red. The search bar has also gotten smarter. It now reminds the users that it's not their ordinary address bar, but it also scans QR codes and allows them to customize their search engine.