Chrome For Android Released For 'Ice Cream Sandwich' Devices (VIDEO)

Google has released a long-awaited beta version of its Chrome web browser for Android-powered phones and tablets, but the software only works on devices running the latest version of Android.

The test version of Google's popular Internet browser was made available for download today in the Android Market.

Notable features of the software include the capacity for tabbed browsing, the option to browse the web in "incognito mode," accelerated page loading, and the ability to sync bookmarks and passwords between users' other devices on which they use the Chrome browser.

Unfortunately, the acceleration technology these features require means the browser is limited to the few Android mobile devices that currently use Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of the Android operating system.

Those devices include the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Asus Transformer Prime, Business Insider reports.

But experts expect Google Chrome to dominate Android devices in the future as users upgrade their phones to ones capable of running the newest Android operating system.

"Even in beta, it's a compelling browser at least on the Galaxy Nexus I tried it on, and it's and a much better match for Apple's Safari on iOS," Stephen Shankland wrote in a review of the software for CNET. "And eventually, its success is all but assured when it simply becomes what ships with Android."

Today's beta release caps off a three-year effort on the part of Google engineers to converge Android and Chrome, the company's two fastest growing products, according to Mercury News.

Both products were launched at the end of 2008 and soon became favorites of many users and developers.

Android is currently the world's most popular mobile operating system, while Chrome recently shot past Mozilla Firefox to become the second most popular Web browser behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Early feedback from users reviewing the software on Android Market has been largely positive, with the first 500 commenters giving the software an average rating of 4.3 stars out of five.

Check out a slideshow of screenshots below:

WATCH:

Comments

[Ppenguinator]

04:45 PM on 02/08/2012

When they make an Android version of Comodo Dragon I might be interested.

[MichaelAKD]

02:20 PM on 02/08/2012

as many owners of tablets running ics found out yesterday, self included the app is still very buggy. to be expected from a beta version but surprising that the bugs were so obvious from the get go. one for example, bookmarks don't load the pages rather one must manually enter in the address for all sites. that alone was reason enough for myself and many others to uninstall the app and wait for the next release. have to admit though i did like how fast it loaded pages and how it used tiles for bookmarks(even if they didn't work.) i only wish mozilla and opera would get on the ball and do a better job with their apps. i prefer those two but the versions for android are entirely different beasts than what windows users experience. as android as an os becomes more and more widespread i am confident that developers will start focusing more of their efforts on that market and deservedly so. one item of note should anyone working on chrome read this, you need to include in options the ability to set your homepage, that isn't there now or if it is nobody can find it.

[Channa]

06:34 AM on 02/08/2012

I am puzzled that a Google product took so long to get on the Android market.

[jsarets]

09:07 AM on 02/08/2012

Google acquired the "chrome" (no pun intended) of the original Android browser when they acquired Android the company. They gave it a web runtime very similar to Chrome (i.e. WebKit/V8), but the surrounding browser application is completely different from Chrome.

Chrome for Android is most likely a major rewrite of the Chrome feature set and interface paradigm using the Android NDK. It's a whole new application, and it really wasn't the highest of priorities when Google was pushing Android out the door to play catch-up with Apple, because Android already had a reasonably good mobile browser.

[Channa]

10:17 AM on 02/08/2012

thanks for the info

[Litho-stone]

01:49 PM on 02/08/2012

Thanks.

[RealityMyFriend]

02:19 AM on 02/08/2012

Old technology... old news. There are better newer inovative technologies out there.

[jsarets]

09:22 AM on 02/08/2012

Like what? I'm trying to think of the most innovative web client technologies on the horizon, and the top two projects which come to mind are the SPDY binary multiplexing extension to HTTP and the Dart programming language as a scalable successor to Javascript. Both of those are Google projects.

[RealityMyFriend]

11:21 PM on 02/08/2012

HTML5 - ignored by DROID, Google and Microsoft. Much better than flash.

[RemoveTheGreedyOnes]

09:44 PM on 02/07/2012

No Flash = quick un-install. Try again Google...

[anthonyCA]

02:49 AM on 02/08/2012

And it's also not possible to switch to the desktop version of a site if available. I guess that's why it's still in beta.

[RemoveTheGreedyOnes]

07:00 AM on 02/09/2012

I didn't even notice that. Yeah that's a deal killer too. On top of that I have been hearing about issues with Galaxy Nexus phones after installation. Things like forced reboots and lockups. meh... I'll stick with Dolphin browser HD.

[elicourey]

09:23 PM on 02/07/2012

I hear Chrome for Android doesn't support Flash.....well, probably because Adobe doesn't even support it for mobile devices anymore. Looks like HTML5 and Apple are the winners!

[Ramon Moreno]

12:23 AM on 02/09/2012

Rave on, troll ~

[elicourey]

08:43 PM on 02/09/2012

i know you are but what am i?

[DavidEvan]

08:55 PM on 02/07/2012

There are great third party browsers that work on all Droids. So what's the point and why years after the fact of the original lame native Droid browser?

[Dan Pierce]

08:46 PM on 02/07/2012

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/7/2782743/adobe-flash-not-supported-chrome-android-browser-android-browser

Remember how Flash on Android was seen as a competitive advantage over iOS?

Yeah, good times.

[talos72]

08:02 PM on 02/07/2012

So it's pretty much uselss on my Droid Bionic I bought a few months back! Thanks Google.

[MichaelAKD]

07:15 PM on 02/07/2012

very cool looking to give it a try on the transformer prime. mozilla is buggy w/ics as well as opera and the stock browser works but is pretty basic. as tablets running ics especially with the new tegra 3 quad core become more common the software choices will only grow as well. these new tablets are finally becoming a viable option to a sector that apple has pretty much had all to itself. options are a good thing. in regards to search engines i don't use google rather dogpile, again options besides if you aren't aware they are out there what good are they?

[massimo1]

06:11 PM on 02/07/2012

Who cares? Chrome isn't all that great and most or all of what it does is already available on other mobile browsers. Dolphin rules. Plus, do you really want to be in total thrall to Google? Don't they know too much about you already? Will no one stop their evil juggernaut? Down with Google.

[Ramon Moreno]

12:25 AM on 02/09/2012

Decaf.

[JohnTheMac]

05:24 PM on 02/07/2012

Is this called "splintered" or "fractured"?

[theveggiedude]

06:50 PM on 02/07/2012

How can that be? Ice Cream Sandwich was suppose to end all fragmentation for good.

[Ramon Moreno]

12:25 AM on 02/09/2012

Supposed. Your English is fragmented, fanboi.

[thtech]

05:07 PM on 02/07/2012

It works well, the ui is great and it takes all of 15 seconds to understand how to use it, no flash though, (disappointing) so I won't make it the full time browser yet.

[sking007]

04:38 PM on 02/07/2012

Great. Now I can experience the same problems on my Android.

[The Mikester]

03:52 PM on 02/07/2012

and in another 5-8 years they will have an app for my ipad? Badly needed but not available- Thanks Google!

[Dalton Perry]

06:05 PM on 02/07/2012

Stop buying proprietary devices that are anti-open sources and you wouldn't have this problem.

[The Mikester]

06:18 PM on 02/07/2012

I would have others.

it's a great, no BS, always works device. I want to use it, not understand it!

[theveggiedude]

06:53 PM on 02/07/2012

The irony is that the Chrome browser uses WebKit open source, thanks to Apple. Plus, all the development for Google products are done on Macs. : )