There's no shortage of web browsers to choose from, and things are no different on Android than other platforms. As such, any browser vying for attention has to offer something fairly special in order to stand out from the crowd. With the Android version of the Opera web browser, the developers have focused firmly on privacy and security, delivering a browser that goes beyond what much of the competition has to offer.

Opera for Android is based on Chromium and includes everything you would expect of a mobile browser and – as you will have seen from its subtitle – it includes a VPN feature to help bolster security and privacy with anonymous browsing. To help speed up your online experience and to make it generally more pleasant, there's a built-in ad-blocker, so there's no need to install an extension to take care of this.

On top of this, there is a fairly standard private browsing mode which lets you visit sites without gathering cookies or sharing information about yourself – nor leave any traces in your browsing history.

If you find yourself somewhere with a slow internet connection, or you're looking to reduce your data usage whilst travelling, a compression feature helps to speed things up while cutting down on the use of bandwidth.

Other notable features include an advanced download manager, a handy news reader option, and a built-in cryptocurrency wallet. There's also an integrated PDF reader, the all-important option of switching to dark mode. If you're using Opera on other devices – including your computer – you can synchronise bookmarks and tabs so you can easily pick up from where you left off as you move between phone, tablet and computer.

The browser support gestures so you can perform various actions quickly, and many people will welcome the option to open link in a background tab rather than one that grabs focus. Opera is very well-rounded and offers impressively smooth performance.