Google Releases Chrome For Android

by Saumitra Bhagwat & Andrew Cunningham on 2/7/2012 1:45:00 PM
Posted in Android 4.0 , Google , Chrome , smartphones

It has finally happened; Google has officially released Chrome for Android. In typical Google fashion, the browser is currently in beta and requires Android 4.0 Icecream Sandwich to run.

Chrome for Android has been designed from the ground-up for mobile devices with focus on speed and simplicity and a lot of the features from the desktop version have made their way into the Android version.

Some of the main features include a minimalist UI optimized for smaller screens and support for intuitive gestures such as flip and swipe to manage an unlimited numbers of tabs. Google compares this to holding a pack of cards in your hands, but I doubt it would be the same for a 10” tablet.

Of course, Chrome for Android also inherits the same speed and performance from its desktop sibling with super-smooth scrolling, background loading of top search results and some other under-the-hood tweaks for a speedy browsing experience on your mobile device.

To get an idea of how Chrome for Android compares relative to other Android browsers, we've run some quick SunSpider tests on a Motorola Xoom running Android 4.0.3:

As with the desktop versions, Chrome trails Firefox in raw SunSpider speed, though of course it should be noted that Chrome is a freshly-released beta and Firefox for Android has had a few product cycles to mature. Chrome is also slightly slower than the stock Android browser, but the same footnote applies - Chrome for Android is still a work in progress.

Chrome for Android also features the Incognito mode and as Google calls it, some “fine-grained” privacy options. Some other nifty features include Link Preview, which makes selecting the right link easier on a cluttered page.

The sync feature is an attempt by Google to unify your browsing sessions at home and on your mobile devices. There an option to view the open tabs on your desktop and even get autocomplete suggestions for the most visited websites on your computer, displayed right on your phone or tablet. Bookmark syncing is obviously a given. While these features are extremely handy, I see potential for abuse in every single one of them, especially if you lose your phone.

Android for Chrome is now available on the Android Market, and as usual, Google would greatly appreciate your feedback. We will follow up with a more in-depth benchmark run soon.

Source: Google Chrome Blog

Print This Article 15 Comments View All Comments Post a Comment Coincidence, LOL by Kristian Vättö on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 For some reason, I was wondering why is there no Chrome for mobile OSs when I was in need of a bookmark today that I had saved on my desktop. Well, it sure didn't take long :D Too bad I don't have an Android phone Kristian Vättö Reply RE: Coincidence, LOL by Saumitra on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 My Nexus One isn't cool to run this anymore. ;) Saumitra Reply RE: Coincidence, LOL by V-Money on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 I think you might be right, I got it to install but it won't start. If you haven't tried ICS on your phone though, the alpha has come a long way, I've been running it for over a month now and it works great. V-Money Reply RE: Coincidence, LOL by Impulses on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 You wouldn't need Chrome for Android for that anyway... The stock Android browser has supported bookmark sync with Chrome (or your Google account really) ever since Honeycomb. The ability to retrieve tabs and/or history elements from the desktop is new, tho again, FF has supported that functionality on Android for a while...

Android FF has always seemed like a resource hog tho (I don't have any major complaints about it on the desktop tho) and last I checked the stable releases still don't support Flash which I still use a lot on the stock browser. Some in depth benchmarks of Android browsers (Chrome, stock, FF, Opera, and maybe Dolphin?) would be awesome... Impulses Reply RE: Coincidence, LOL by Kristian Vättö on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 I have an iPhone so I guess I'm out of luck (not surprised to be honest). It's just funny that I thought about it today and then Chrome gets released for Android a few hours later. It's not like I really need my bookmarks anyway :-) Kristian Vättö Reply Interesting by dagamer34 on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 I wonder how long until Chrome OS is basically just the docked version of Android runnin on tablets... dagamer34 Reply Odd timing... by Impulses on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 Wonder why they didn't make time to include this in ICS, will Chrome supplant the regular stock browser in future Android releases? Impulses Reply RE: Odd timing... by jjj on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 Seems like they just don't want to open source the browser anymore so they are killing the Android browser and renaming the new version as Chrome.

Anyway,curious if Chrome for Android has web store access and if the apps work ok and a bit dissapointed to see that they still waste so much screen real estate,pretty weird to see them trying to minimize that on traditional PCs and do nothing about it on small screens jjj Reply RE: Odd timing... by jjj on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 no edit so i got to double post to add something.
since this is a beta it's likely that it would do better on the TI SoC than on Tegra,maybe test it on both? jjj Reply RE: Odd timing... by sprockkets on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 Chrome has always been apache licensed, and the engine core always has to be released due to the LGPL. sprockkets Reply Subject Comment Post Comment Please login or register to post a comment.
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