Note: This is a guest post written by Roger Collings
Google Chrome for Android- Given Chrome’s phenomenal popularity in the PC segment, one has to wonder what took Google so long to bring its flagship browser to its beloved mobile operating system Android. In fact, Chrome and Android are two of Google’s fastest growing products so Chrome on Android was always a question of “when” rather than “if”.
To that effect, Google on Tuesday released a beta version of Chrome for Android. The Chrome for Android app is available as a free download from Android Market and has already crossed 100,000 downloads in less than 48 hours.
“After a lot of hard work, I’m really excited to see us launch Chrome for Android Beta today,” said Sundar Pichai, Google SVP of Chrome and Apps, in a Google+ post. “We set out to bring the full capability of desktop Chrome to Android and rethink the browser from the ground up for phones and tablets with a touch interface.”
There’s a catch though – the app is only available to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) users. Therefore, if you have a device which can’t be upgraded or the ICS upgrade isn’t available yet, you need to wait longer to enjoy Chrome goodness on your Android device.
The other major disappointment – no Flash! Adobe has confirmed that it will not be supporting Flash on Chrome for Android.
There are plenty of positives though. For a start, Chrome for Android doesn’t suffer from the eight-tab limit of Apple’s Safari browser. On the contrary, Chrome handles multiple tabs much better by displaying a button which shows the number of tabs. Flipping through tabs is as easy as swiping up and down on your Android device.
You can also sync Chrome on your Android device with the Chrome running on your desktop. Plus, you can search your desktop history on your Chrome for Android using the incredibly useful autocomplete feature.
Google says its team wrote Chrome for Android from scratch in order to take full advantage of ICS features as well as considering the fundamental differences in display size across a computer and mobile device.
Despite the limitations, one has to say that Google’s made a decent debut for Chrome on the Android platform. Surely, Google’s eventual aim would be for Chrome to replace the default Android browser. However, fragmentation and lack of Flash support are likely to be major challenges for Chrome’s widespread adoption on the Android platform. What do you think?
Chrome for Android Beta official video overview:
Note: This guest post is written by Roger Collings. He is the Managing Director of RDC Communications Ltd and a telecoms consultant specialising in business VoIP.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
It isn’t much of an improvement and it lacks flash
I like this kind of browser for galaxy s2, this will be more friendly than safari at iphone.
I always check my gmail account.. this is really fits for my needs when it
comes to my work..
This is why apple rockz… Apple is maintaing single browser “Safari” and they are improving… but Android has two browsers from google… What google going to do the default android browser???
Google launched this browser too late. Opera Mini is already ruling the Android market. And also this is available for only ICS. So i don’t think Google Chrome for Android will be any success.
Google Chrome is my favorite web browse and now I’m going to use the browser on my android
I love Chrome on my PC, but I’m really anxious to see a mobile browser that can incorporate extensions, addons and/or bookmarklets.
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