Opera Max 3.0 for Android with new design, Facebook support

Opera Software released Opera Max 3.0 for Android today featuring a streamlined interface and Facebook data saving support.

Opera Max is a data savings application that sits in between your device and the websites, apps and services that you use on the Internet.

It works like a tunnel, and compresses data before it reaches the device you are using. The app tracks data usage on top of that, works with websites and apps,  and also (some) media streams. Additionally, it may protect your data when you are on a public WiFi, as it encrypts the data.

The all-new Opera Max 3.0 for Android ships with a new design that improves your control over the application's functionality.

Opera Max 3.0

Opera Max 3 uses a card-based design. You may use the tabs at the bottom of the screen to manage data savings for mobile and WiFi connections, and privacy settings.

Mobile and WiFi works as you'd expect them to. Hit the "start saving" button to enable Opera Max for the connection type, and you are all set. Opera highlights the data that was saved while using it so that you know exactly how much data the service saved you for a given time period.

Privacy Mode on the other hand acts as a filter that blocks tracking attempts, for instance by preventing applications from connecting to know tracking addresses.

The last option that is offered gives you control over the data usage of individual applications. You may block apps from using mobile or Wifi data, and check apps that run in the background on top of that which may help you when it comes to setting features.

Opera Max 3.0 ships with another new feature, and that is support for Facebook. Facebook's main application is quite demanding, both when it comes to battery life but also data.

According to Opera, Facebook users on Android may save up to 50% of data transfers while using the Facebook application.

We also took one step further and start adding data savings for Facebook! You can get your friends’ updates, browse news and chat through instant messaging while saving up to 50% of your data plan. With just one tap, you can launch Opera Max’s Facebook web app and have the benefits of a VPN connection, saving sessions and other settings all auto-configured to get you going and saving on Facebook data usage.

This happens automatically, and does not need to be configured in any way by the user.

Now You: Do you use Opera Max, a VPN, or something else to save data or stay protected?