Vivaldi Technologies released Vivaldi 2.5, a new version of the company's desktop web browser, to the public on May 8, 2019.

The new browser version extends Vivaldi's support for home and entertainment devices; it adds support for Razer Chroma devices. Support for Philips Hue devices was added in Vivaldi 1.5 which was released in November 2016.

Vivaldi users who run the web browser on their devices already may run a manual check for updates if the update is not picked up automatically at this point. All that needs to be done is to select Vivaldi Menu > Help > Check for Updates to run a manual check. The browser should pick up the new version at this point to download and install it on the device.

The new Vivaldi 2.5 version is also available as a standalone download on the official Vivaldi website.

Vivaldi 2.5

The big new feature in Vivaldi 2.5 is support for Razer Chroma devices. Razer Chroma brings "immersive lighting effects" to devices that support it. Basically, what it does is change the background lighting or ambient lighting of Chrome devices such as keyboards or mice. Chrome is compatible with Philips Hue devices as well to increase the effect even further.

Vivaldi's integration changes the lighting of Chroma devices based on the websites that you visit. It picks a dominant color on a site, e.g. blue, and changes the lighting of Chroma devices to the same color.

Razer Chroma users who use the Vivaldi browsers may enable the feature under Settings > Themes. There they find options to enable Razer Chroma integration in the Vivaldi browser, and to enable it on individual device categories such as keyboards, mouse mats, or mice.

Here is a demo video by Vivaldi that highlights the new feature:

Vivaldi 2.5 features new Speed Dial tile sizing options. Speed Dial refers to the browser's new tab page. You may change the default size of Speed Dial icons under Settings > Start Page > Speed Dial.

Available options are tiny, small, large, huge, default, and scale to fit columns. Tiny and small push more speed dial tiles on the visible portion of the New Tab Page so that you may access more without scrolling. The larger sizes displays fewer but may improve visibility or accessibility.

The third and final functional addition to Vivaldi adds new tab selection options to the browser. The new commands, available via Quick Commands, keyboard shortcuts, or mouse gestures, add previous, next and related tab selection options to the browser.

Vivaldi 2.5 comes with a large number of under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes. You can check out the entire changelog on the official website. Check out our in depth Vivaldi review as well.

Closing Words

Vivaldi is adding features to the browser that distinguish it from other browsers. Some may say that these have limited use as most Vivaldi users may not have the required devices -- Philips Hue or Razer Chroma -- to take advantage of these features.

I think it is a valid strategy provided that Vivaldi does not forget to deliver features that the majority of users find useful or may attract new users to the browser. We are still waiting for an Android client and mail support.

Now You: What is your take on Vivaldi?

Summary Article Name Vivaldi 2.5 released featuring Razer Chroma support Description Vivaldi Technologies released Vivaldi 2.5, a new version of the company's desktop web browser, to the public on May 8, 2019. Author Martin Brinkmann Publisher Ghacks Technology News Logo

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