Safari and Chrome pretty much dominate the mobile browser landscape right now, but Opera hopes to grab the attention of tablet owners with its latest product. The company has taken the wraps off Coast, a browser specifically designed for the iPad that looks to turn the internet itself into apps.
Coast won’t feature the traditional tab layout that we’re all used to. Instead, Opera has designed a tile-based user interface that will evoke the look and feel of app icons. And there aren’t any navigation buttons either. Instead, browsing will be handled by gestures. Swiping back, for example, will simply take you one step back in the browser.
Opera is focusing on security in the background too. Coast has a specific engine that will check for malicious sites in the background and alert you to them, not unlike Chrome. Security certificates for websites can be seen in the browser as well, but you’ll have to navigate through your history to see them.
Still, there are some features missing from Coast that have graced Opera browsers in the past. The server side compression that the company is famous for didn’t make the final cut, and anyone looking for sharing options out to social networks will be sorely disappointed. That’s entirely by design, though: Opera specifically says that it tried to remove clutter and make things as simple as possible.
Coast is available on iOS for the iPad right now, but it’s not entirely clear if Opera intends to bring the browser to Android devices. The company did say, though, that it’s looking into the possibility of bringing it to other operating systems.
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