Opera today released the first release candidate for Opera 10. Today's release points to a September 1st launch for the final version of Opera 10. You can download and test the release candidate from www.opera.com/browser/next/.

The Opera 10 release candidate is feature complete, with an array of new features, a fresh look, a new application icon, and enhanced speed and performance. Opera 10 features Opera Turbo, the new bandwidth-booster for slow Internet connections. It also features a significantly improved Opera Mail, Opera's built-in e-mail client. Tabbed browsing enters the next phase with resizeable, thumbnail tabs. The upgrade of Opera's Speed Dial now gives users a chance to personalize their favorite online destinations and the overall look and feel of their start page.

Finally, Opera has always been about speed and performance. Opera 10 is now much faster on resource intensive pages such as Gmail and Facebook and is more than 40% faster than Opera 9.6. Web developers can enjoy Web Fonts support, RGBA/HSLA color and new SVG improvements.