Chrome is one of the best browsers when it comes to browsing. This article will tell you about why to download Chrome for Android – Beta.
This Android version of Google Chrome is focused on two primary aspects: speed and simplicity. You can download this application here(read below for availability).
Chrome for Android: Features
Compared to the previous native browser of Android, WebKit, a lot of new features have been added. Navigation is fluidic and is best suited for using on small screens like those of Smartphones or tablets. Some new features include:
- Accelerated page loading, scrolling and zooming.
- An “omnibox” is present which allows user to search or navigate to a URL from the same box, similar to the omnibar present in the desktop version of Google Chrome.
- Unlimited number of tabs with easy to switch stack interface.
- Chrome Sync to enable users to synchronise Chrome data, including bookmarks, passwords, etc., from their desktops to the mobile phone and vice versa.
- Incognito mode to browse the web secretly.
Apart from these one more feature is present which allows you to send the pages from the desktop version of Chrome to the mobile version allowing users to view those pages anywhere on their mobile, even when they are offline. This page sync feature works in both directions, allowing the users to automatically resume the pages they were viewing on the last device.
Some other special features include the loading of the top results, while you scroll through the results of the Google search.Search suggestions are also available. The password manager is also a boon for people having a lot of passwords to remember.
No support for Flash
If you’re a fan of Flash support on mobile devices, especially android’s native browser then you may be disappointed to hear that Chrome for Android does not (and will never) support Flash. The same has been officially confirmed by Adobe. But as support for Flash in mobile browsers is hardly being endorsed by Adobe itself(due to poor performance) and also with the fast growth of HTML5 compatible versions of websites and web apps, Flash support on mobile phones will not be missed that much.
Availability
This release of Chrome for Android is available as a beta version. It is available in the following countries only: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. It will be made available worldwide very soon.
Moreover this release is only meant for Android 4.0+(Ice Cream Sandwich ) devices, so you can see it working only if you have a Motorola Xoom, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S or ASUS Transformer Prime. There are very less chances that a version compatible with the older versions of the Android OS will be released, though there is no official word on this.
Conclusion
Launch of Chrome for Android is a great step by Google. Users have ever since requested for Chrome for Android because of the ease of use of the desktop version of Chrome. If Google releases a version compatible with the earlier version of Android then it will be a win-win situation for all.
It would not be surprising if this version of Chrome takes over all other mobile web browsers available for Android. We just hope that the future versions of Chrome for Android will have support for plugins.
