Being able to sync your desktop experience to mobile browsing has always been a selling point of Google's Chrome app, but its slower speed compared to Apple's Safari made it a second choice for many. This most recent update for Chrome on Android would take care of that, as it was designed to improve speeds by up to 25 percent.
Expanded support for HTML 5, which features CSS filters, and the latest V8 Javascript engine (which brought up the Octane performance) should bring the app up to "the same rapid pace that you’ve come to expect on Chrome across other platforms," Google announced.
In its blog post, Google touted its new "omnibox" feature for iPad and iPhone, which would allow a user to easily refine his/her search without having to scroll to the search bar or to extensively edit the URL of the search. Omnibox will roll out in the next week, so it may not appear immediately in Chrome after updating.
On iOS devices, Chrome now allows tab history, which is available on the desktop version and was a sorely missed feature in mobile devices. Instead of having to tap the back button multiple times to return to a page, users now simply have to hold the button for a menu to pop up. Sharing a page becomes easier, too — going to "Menu" and then hitting "Share" will bring up a list of options, such as sending to email or to a favored social network. You can also share sites via Messages.
Mobile Software Engineers Grace Kloba and Rohit Rao ended their blog post by reassuring users of Google's commitment to steady improvement and responsiveness to user feedback.
"We’re continuing to add plenty of under-the-hood stability, security improvements and bug fixes to Chrome for both Android and iOS," they wrote. "We look forward to your feedback on the latest versions of Chrome, now available on Google Play and in the App Store.
(Edited by Lois Heyman)
