Do gamers need their own mobile browser? Opera thinks so

Opera has finally brought its GX gaming browser to mobile with the launch of a beta release. While the browser will roll out in a more official manner in a few weeks, if you’re eager to take a look, Opera has provided the APK for today’s beta launch. Much like the desktop version of the gaming-centric Opera GX browser, the new mobile release offers a homepage dedicated to gaming news and deals.

Now, upon first hearing about this browser, my first thought was that this is a really sly way to serve gaming ads to a gaming audience, hence the focus on highlighting gaming deals within the browser. This is why you’ll find information about upcoming game releases as well as a deals aggregator that links to game sales directly below the browser’s search bar and speed dial. Clearly, this info can be useful for those heavy into gaming, though it’s hard to shake the feeling this space is just one big advertisement for games and their sales.

Beyond the gaming news and deals section, users will have a choice of four themes when setting up the browser, and these range in color from red, blue, purple, and grey. These themes lean a little into typical gaming aesthetic, though they are minimal in design, which is appreciated. You can also choose from two browsing options from the setup screen, a standard option that allows you to navigate like any other app and a Fast Action option that provides a few extra shortcuts in the Navigation bar that allows users to open and close their tabs quickly.

Opera GX Mobile also comes with a built-in ad-blocker, a cookie dialog blocker, and a crypto mining blocker. But the real standout feature is that you can sync the mobile browser with the desktop version, and there’s even an encrypted messaging space called Flow where you can leave yourself notes, send files, and basically link to anything on the web that you wish, which can all be accessed at any time once both browsers are synced. There is a 10MB file size limit to the Flow space, but this is hardly surprising.

If you’d like to take Opera GX Mobile for a spin, currently, you’ll have to sideload the APK. While we don’t yet know when the app will roll out to a wider audience on the Play Store, today’s beta launch should signify we are nearing that release.

Opera GX Mobile: APK