The Philippine Online Chronicles

Tech giant Google has released in the Android market the mobile version of its popular browser, the Google Chrome last February 7.

Sadly, Chrome for Android is available only for devices with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) operating system installed, which is only around 1% of all Android devices, according to data from Google.

It has always been strange that Chrome, which has steadily gained popularity in desktops and laptops has been absent for Android, despite both products being from Google and both being launched in 2008 (Android was in Beta earlier). The past six major versions of Android have shipped with the awkwardly named Browser, which has consistently been judged by many to be “clunky”.

Fast and Simple

According to Google, Chrome, which was “built from the ground up for mobile devices” is both fast and simple.

However, features of the desktop Chrome like Google’s V8 JavaScript engine and GPU acceleration comes with the mobile version to make the browser faster.

Also along with Android Chrome is the browser’s pre-fetching feature. Websites are pre-loaded in the background while you are still typing in the address bar or entering a search term (by default, the feature works only when the device is connected via WiFi but may also be switched to work with the device’s mobile connection.

Another feature of the browser is that if you want it to, it can automatically sync with Chrome on your desktop and load pages that are open on the latter – a neat feature for people who constantly switch between both devices.

This feature works even when the computer is in “sleep” mode or when your laptop’s lid is closed, as long as the browser remains open. Sending pages from your desktop to your Android device even allows you to read them when you are offline and on the go.

The browser is also able to open an unlimited number of tabs, which are presented in the interface like cards, which may be viewed side by side or as a stack.

Similar to the computer version, Android Chrome supports Incognito mode, which allows users to “safely” surf the web by cleaning-up your history for you.

When clicking a link that is beside other links, Android Chrome has Link Preview, which zooms in, on a group of links to make selecting links more easy and precise.

Caveats

While page loading is reported by parislemon to be comparable to iOS’s Safari (“some faster, some slower”), zooming in and out of web pages, particularly when using the pinch gesture to zoom is still “stuttery.”

Scrolling down also leads to stutters, which, though not being a deal breaker, is still not as smooth when compared to Safari.

The browser also has no support yet for extensions, but parislemon says “they’re thinking about how best to do them on mobile”.

No Adobe Flash support

Android Chrome will not be supporting Flash, since Adobe has also stopped development on mobile Flash.

Though unsurprising, the irony in the lack of Flash support in the browser has been pointed out by pundit John Gruber. When Android was launched, Flash support has been presented as one of the system’s advantages over its primary competitor, Apple’s iOS.

Beta

Note however, that the product is still in “beta” which means that it still needs a bit of polish before it becomes the official device for Google’s mobile OS.

Parislemon says that according to Pinchai, Android Chrome shall have a six-week release cycle for new versions, like its bigger brother.

If you are an Android user and your device runs Ice Cream Sandwich, Android Chrome is a must have. Even occasional Android Critique Gruber says that Chrome’s interaction design “is good: useful, attractive, obvious, and efficient.”

Image from Androidapps.com. Some rights reserved.