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
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.
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...
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 :-)
There's Firefox Home for iOS though, which syncs bookmarks, history and open tabs with Firefox on a PC or Mac. You can also use something like Xmarks to sync bookmarks between more or less everything.
Still, effortless and automatic bookmark/tab syncing should really be something built on a standard protocol/format.
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
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?
The stock browser seems faster to me. I'm all for bringing Chrome and useful additional features to Andorid though. In terms of looks, I like the stock dark theme it has going, matches ICS/Honeycomb stuff.
1) One of the most useful features I've noticed so far, is that when you click on an unclickable portion of a web page (meaning, there is no link or other redirect on that portion of the page), a small box pops up with a 200%+ zoom into that section. This is awesome for when you want to click on a very small link in that area but don't want the hassle of zooming in to click on it.
2) I got a much lower 0.9.1 sunspider result than you did (1843).
Re: your score, I assume you wouldn't have compared the numbers unless you were running on a Xoom. If so, that's a weird discrepancy - the one I've got is consistently posting numbers in the 2500s. Do FF and the stock browser also run faster on your tablet?
On my Touchpad, I got 2970 ms using Chrome vs. 2895 ms on the stock Android browser. Nearly the same, but scrolling feels a lot smoother on the stock browser.
Well it isn't available from the Market in New Zealand anyway. I downloaded it elsewhere, but still, annoying. Works well though, except the tilt scrolling doesn't work on my Galaxy S (with CM9 alpha ICS).
Because Chrome will be considered part of the "Google experience" line of apps, it will not automatically be included with every version of Android similar to Maps and Gmail.
So while it is a de facto replacement, it is technically not part of the Android build itself (it can't be distributed with any Android ROMs legally, you have to get it on your own).
Opera is a tad faster in Sunspider on my Nexus S, 2400 vs 2800. That seems to reflect real world use too, but the speed gap is definitely minimal this time, the stock browser is significantly behind. I switched to Chrome completely due to desktop sync. The stock browser can sync bookmarks, but this one can pick up your closed desktop tabs on the go, which is awesome.
I've never felt I was dying to get the 4.x.x update of Android for my Nexus S until now.
Does Android Chrome support the sync-options as well? If so I'm really starting to consider stuffing my Nexus S with Cyanogenmod simply to get my hands on this browser.
Any updates on what's taking so long with the Nexus S update anyway? My Swedish Nexus S still haven't had it pushed to it.
I like the vertical flipping or flicking of tabbed pages. So, why did the Android 4 developers switch the application drawer from a vertical scroll motion on Android 2.x to the less intuitive horizontal scrolling in Android 4? Would be nice if they would think things through.
The Chrome developers need to share their wisdom it seems.
Not including Opera, with (ok, arguably) the most convenient engine, that can re-flow content to match screen width (stock Android browser does it, but not as consistently, iOS version seems not to have it at all) is rather disappointing..
I'm extremely disappointed with the lack of flash support, not only in this beta, but in the future iterations of Chrome for Android.
I didn't buy a $500 tablet to end up having limited browsing on the go. Without flash, and without a way to force desktop pages to show up, this is a downgrade compared to most browsers out there.
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Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
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 phoneSaumitra - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
My Nexus One isn't cool to run this anymore. ;)V-Money - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
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.Impulses - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
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...
Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
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 :-)uhuznaa - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
There's Firefox Home for iOS though, which syncs bookmarks, history and open tabs with Firefox on a PC or Mac. You can also use something like Xmarks to sync bookmarks between more or less everything.Still, effortless and automatic bookmark/tab syncing should really be something built on a standard protocol/format.
dagamer34 - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
I wonder how long until Chrome OS is basically just the docked version of Android runnin on tablets...Impulses - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
Wonder why they didn't make time to include this in ICS, will Chrome supplant the regular stock browser in future Android releases?jjj - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
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 - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
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?
sprockkets - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
Chrome has always been apache licensed, and the engine core always has to be released due to the LGPL.EnzoFX - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
The stock browser seems faster to me. I'm all for bringing Chrome and useful additional features to Andorid though. In terms of looks, I like the stock dark theme it has going, matches ICS/Honeycomb stuff.
bplewis24 - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
A couple thoughts:1) One of the most useful features I've noticed so far, is that when you click on an unclickable portion of a web page (meaning, there is no link or other redirect on that portion of the page), a small box pops up with a 200%+ zoom into that section. This is awesome for when you want to click on a very small link in that area but don't want the hassle of zooming in to click on it.
2) I got a much lower 0.9.1 sunspider result than you did (1843).
Brandon
Andrew.a.cunningham - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
Re: your score, I assume you wouldn't have compared the numbers unless you were running on a Xoom. If so, that's a weird discrepancy - the one I've got is consistently posting numbers in the 2500s. Do FF and the stock browser also run faster on your tablet?Abix - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
I just ran 0.9.1 on my Galaxy Nexus and got 1873.Reikon - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
On my Touchpad, I got 2970 ms using Chrome vs. 2895 ms on the stock Android browser. Nearly the same, but scrolling feels a lot smoother on the stock browser.imaheadcase - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
So when they going to start with the PC? I just love having a 24 inch screen and having around 3 inches each side of a webpage blank. sighchocks - Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - link
Well it isn't available from the Market in New Zealand anyway. I downloaded it elsewhere, but still, annoying. Works well though, except the tilt scrolling doesn't work on my Galaxy S (with CM9 alpha ICS).ol1bit - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
What I don't get is since Android is from Goggle, and Chrome is from Goggle, why not just replace the stock browser and call it Chrome?Also, do they have 2 teams competing against each other?
Just doesn't make sense to be 2 Goggle browsers.
Lucian Armasu - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
Because it's still beta. They might do that starting with Android 5.0dagamer34 - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
Because Chrome will be considered part of the "Google experience" line of apps, it will not automatically be included with every version of Android similar to Maps and Gmail.So while it is a de facto replacement, it is technically not part of the Android build itself (it can't be distributed with any Android ROMs legally, you have to get it on your own).
ET - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
Opera is my favourite Android browser, fast and convenient.tipoo - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
Opera is a tad faster in Sunspider on my Nexus S, 2400 vs 2800. That seems to reflect real world use too, but the speed gap is definitely minimal this time, the stock browser is significantly behind. I switched to Chrome completely due to desktop sync. The stock browser can sync bookmarks, but this one can pick up your closed desktop tabs on the go, which is awesome.vectorm12 - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
I've never felt I was dying to get the 4.x.x update of Android for my Nexus S until now.Does Android Chrome support the sync-options as well? If so I'm really starting to consider stuffing my Nexus S with Cyanogenmod simply to get my hands on this browser.
Any updates on what's taking so long with the Nexus S update anyway? My Swedish Nexus S still haven't had it pushed to it.
pixelstuff - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - link
I like the vertical flipping or flicking of tabbed pages. So, why did the Android 4 developers switch the application drawer from a vertical scroll motion on Android 2.x to the less intuitive horizontal scrolling in Android 4? Would be nice if they would think things through.The Chrome developers need to share their wisdom it seems.
medi01 - Friday, February 10, 2012 - link
Not including Opera, with (ok, arguably) the most convenient engine, that can re-flow content to match screen width (stock Android browser does it, but not as consistently, iOS version seems not to have it at all) is rather disappointing..TareX - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
I'm extremely disappointed with the lack of flash support, not only in this beta, but in the future iterations of Chrome for Android.I didn't buy a $500 tablet to end up having limited browsing on the go. Without flash, and without a way to force desktop pages to show up, this is a downgrade compared to most browsers out there.
Deuge - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
Why is Opera not included in the comparison? I reckon it is currently the best browser for Andriod.hingfingg - Thursday, February 16, 2012 - link
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