Opera 10.5's new Carakan Javascript engine is fast - Google Chrome fast.

Filed under: Browsers

I've been waiting to try it out since I heard the first rumblings about Carakan, and it's here at long last. Opera's new Javascript engine has finally appeared in the developer build just posted on their website.

The bottom line: it's fast. Carakan should serve as proof to the world that Opera is serious about building a competitive browser.

Putting Opera 10.5 through the paces with my everyday web apps, it's obvious that the new engine is a huge leap forward. GMail, Google Reader, and Seesmic Web are much more responsive than they are in 10.10, as are other Javascript-heavy web apps. Google's Chrome Experiments? If Opera was able to load a particular one (like Crystal Galaxy), Carakan ran it nicely.

On Google's V8 benchmark, 10.5 posts a very respectable 2263 overall. That's a far cry from the 182 put up by version 10.10 on my laptop. As you can see, Carakan actually managed to best Google Chrome's V8 on the RegExp test.

If you want to try out Opera 10.5 and the new Carakan Engine yourself, head on over to Opera's web site. Installers for Windows and OsX are available at the bottom of this page and you can also read more about Carakan.

As for me, I'm going to spend a week with the alpha and reserve judgment until then. It's certainly made a good impression so far.

Opera 10.5's new Carakan Javascript engine is fast - Google Chrome fast. originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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