Opera's Coast Looks to Keep You in the Browser Longer with Major Update

Back in September, Opera launched an iPad-specific web browser called Coast, an app that embraced minimalist design and looked like it would provide the ultimate browsing experience for its users. Today, Coast has gotten a major update, and while it’ll do more than it did before, it looks like Opera is still focusing in on keeping the interface simple and usable.

Coast’s team leader, Huib Kleinhout, offered up this statement regarding the update:

“The reception of Coast by Opera has been so good, and, to be honest, we have been bordering on stage fright for the follow-up. But, we started out by listening to our users and noting what they actually wanted. Then, we put on some tunes and got to work. Go ahead and download Coast from the Apple App Store; it’s free, you know. We’re happy with the changes that Coast brings, and we think the best browser for iPad just got better.”

The new update tackles three major areas of using Coast: music, reading, and personalization. According to a press release published today, the update allows users to listen to in-browser music with a bit less hassle. Users can control music that’s playing “from the iOS lock screen,” just as if “it was in the native music player app.” That means that if you want to pause the song or skip a track, you can do so simply and easily, without having to navigate all the way back into the application.

Reading, too, has gotten streamlined. Opening a PDF in the web will prompt Coast to let you choose the way you want to open or save the file, meaning you can open PDFs in iBooks or some other app meant for handling that format. As for personalization, Coast will now let you choose your own image for your home screen, giving you the ability to be greeted with whatever you like when you boot it up.

Anyone out there with an iPad try Coast? Let us know what you think in the comments.