Among the first things you will see after starting Opera 12 for the first time is that it’s skinnable (a.k.a. themes) and has nifty graphic emoticons. Yes, boys and girls, you too can have a cruise the web in a Cookie Monster, Master Sergeant (Halo), anime (whatever)—flavored browser.

Welcome to bright ideas from Norway, land of the midnight sun, and Opera 12. Brilliant tech-forward concepts in this release include “reduced chances of crashing” and, of course, the aforementioned themes (skins).

“With Opera 12.00, your favorite websites can now use your computer’s webcam to make it easy for you to take photos instantly and share them online,” enthuses the company’s slickly produced and written marketing materials.

What will they think of next?

Sarcasm aside, Opera 12 really is a fully modern (64-bit) browser that’s fast and has unique features — stackable tabs, gestures, etc. — not found elsewhere. Further, it delivers a reasonable 385 of 500 points on the HTML5 Test, which puts it ahead of Safari and roughly on par with Chrome and Firebox.

Get your copy of Opera 12 here.

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