Key Takeaways
- Vivaldi 6.8 is the latest update, featuring a wealth of new features, along with major changes to the built-in mail client.
- Mail 2.0 prefetches mail and there’s also a new Quick Reply option for faster responses.
- The browser now features real-time memory usage monitoring, Tab Switch and Break Mode.
For most, the default browser that comes with your computer or mobile device is all you’ll ever know. But if you’re willing to explore and try something new, you might find some alternate options that offer some alluring features that can really take your browsing experience to another level. With that said, Vivaldi is perhaps one of the best browsers that you can download right now, offering a fantastic experience that really delivers some truly innovative features.
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The company is now releasing an update to its popular Vivaldi browser for the desktop which brings it up to version 6.8. The latest update features a major change to the built-in mail client, along with a more seamless search experience thanks to prefetching optimizations. Furthermore, users will now get a better understanding of how the browser utilizes a computer’s resources with real-time memory usage for open tabs, not to mention other improvements as well.
Prefetch with Mail 2.0
One of the most intriguing features of the Vivaldi browser is going to be its built-in mail client that’s extremely versatile and quite powerful. With Mail 2.0, things are getting even better, with new tools that will make getting through emails even faster. With that said, prefetching will now be enabled by default for the client, making it easier to search for content when you need it most.
The new Message Preview setting will also allow users to see more of an email before opening it, providing a one to three line preview, giving users an idea of what to expect at a glance. Naturally, you’ll be able to fine tune the new settings, with different interval settings for the prefetch behavior, which should be great for making this a more consistent part of a user’s workflow.
Quick Reply and Undo to the rescue
Not only are you going to get instant access to your email, but the new Quick Reply feature ensures that you can also respond quickly as well, with a new method that makes it less cumbersome to create email responses. Going forward, users will have the convenient ability to author responses without opening a new window, which means everything you need will be on-screen at the same time. The updated mail client also have a new Undo button that will easily be able to reverse an email that you deleted by mistake without having to sift through the trash. With one click, you’ll be back to doing what you do best.
Browsing made better
Of course, no update would be complete without some improvements to the actual browsing experience. And with Vivaldi 6.8, users are now going to be able to see in real-time just how intensive certain web pages are when it comes to memory usage, just by hovering their mouse over each tab.
In addition, the address field is getting some awesome changes as well, with a new Tab Switch feature that will be able to detect if you’re typing a website that’s already currently open in an existing tab, automatically redirect you to that tab with just the touch of a button.
There is also a small quality of life change as well, with the web address and web page address getting flipped in the address bar, along with the ability to import Chromium-based extensions to Vivaldi. Naturally, ad blocking and tracking are also getting improvements here as well, but users won’t need to interact with any settings to take advantage of these changes.
For those that need some time away from the screen but find it hard to take that time, Vivaldi is introducing a new Break Mode feature with the hopes of peeling your eyes away from the screen for just a moment. When enabled, the browser will hide all visual and audio content, and when you’re ready to pick back up, you can just tap a button to do so.
Now, if you’ve never used Vivaldi, we definitely recommend downloading it and giving it a try. The browser is available for a number of different platforms, and can even be found on mobile devices powered by iOS, iPadOS, and Android. And if you’re someone that just picked up a new Snapdragon X Elite powered laptop, then you’ll be happy to know that Vivaldi also offers support for these products as well.