So finally we get Google Chrome on Android. Maybe its late to the party, but is it good? Lets find out.
INSTALLATION
Well, it comes as a heavy 50 mb download and takes up around 55 mb of
your phone memory(cannot be installed on SD card. Well, not officialy at
least).On initial launch, it prompts you to sign in with a Google Account and imports all your data(bookmarks, history etc etc) from Chrome Desktop. Skipping this step is possible, but then you’ll miss some amazing features of Chrome.
USING CHROME
The interface is quite simple to understand and use. Just like on desktop Chrome for Android looks neat and slick. At the bottom there are the 'most visited', 'favourites' and 'open tabs' buttons.
The 'most visited' interface is similar to Chrome desktop with a small preview of each website. The favourites section has three parts: Desktop bookmarks, Mobile and other. One of the most awesome features is the 'open tabs' section. If you enable sync with your Chrome Desktop, you get all the tabs open on your desktop, on your PHONE! Say you want to text a link to some website to a friend you are browsing on your desktop. All you need to do is copy the link from your 'open tabs' section on your phone and send it. It's that simple.
All tabs in Chrome are stacked on top of one another. Browsing through this stack can be done by swiping up and down, while swiping a card to the right will close it. At the top there’s a New tab button, which opens up a new card and brings us to the above mentioned most visited, favorites or open tabs sections.
The menu shows a quick favorite button, next and previous buttons, and functions such as New tab, New Incognito tab, bookmarks and share.
SOME DISAPPOINTMENTS
One of the disappointing things is that Chrome's beloved 'sandbox' feature is not available for Android. So if one tab crashes, you need to restart the whole app. There is no support for Adobe Flash and according to Google there wont be in the future.
There is also no support for Safe Browsing as in the desktop version. Chrome apps or extensions are not supported.
Also, according to some websites, the Chrome version for iOS is not as fast or consistent as the Android version.
VERDICT
The Desktop version for Chrome has been an astounding success in a short time and it was only a matter of time before Google looked to replicate its success on the mobile platform. The simple and minimalistic interface has worked for users and we can already tell you that this is a pretty big step forward for the Android user experience, not only because of its integration with Chrome desktop, but also because of its amazing new design and animations. Its a big leap from the standard Android Browser.
All in all, we are pleased with this app. There is almost nothing negative about it at all. It just feels fast and slick throughout all functions, and it is a major change in mobile browsing experience. Google's strategy to make a web browsing experience which is shared across all devices seems to be working for it and its customers.
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