Chrome for Android has been updated once since its February release, and despite its beta tag feels relatively stable for everyday use. It has some nagging issues — rendering on certain pages is inconsistent, and it is slow to start up even on the fastest devices — but the Chrome team feels like it is nearing completion.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s VP of Chrome and related apps, said that the beta will complete in “a matter of weeks,” with a version 1.0 (or equivalent) coming to quash the remaining bugs users are experiencing. The Chrome for Android code is based in part on the desktop version, and has been iterating quite quickly — the latest version is based on Chrome 18, which recently hit the Stable channel for desktop users.
Chrome for Android has, and will always be, only compatible with Android 4.0, since it relies on the powerful GPU-based hardware acceleration in these latest devices. It is optimized for both smartphones and tablets, and supports syncing between desktop and mobile clients with a unified Google login.
If you have an Android 4.0-compatible device and haven’t yet tried Chrome for Android, do yourself a favour and get on it.
Source: CNET
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