Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Chrome comes to Android, but only for the 1 percent

A beta version of Chrome for Android is available to people running Ice Cream Sandwich

Google on Tuesday began offering a beta version of its Chrome browser for Android phones, finally beginning the move to unify its computer, tablet and mobile phone browsers.

The browser, however, is only available for phones and tablets running Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. As of Feb. 1, just 1 percent of Android devices in use are running Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Chrome browser for Android offers a few neat features for people who also use Chrome on their computers. When signed into Chrome on both devices, a user can launch the browser to display the same tabs that are open on the other device. Autocomplete also works across both devices, so if a user searches for a phrase on a computer, that phrase will pop up as a suggestion when the user searches on a phone or tablet. Bookmarks also synch across devices.

In a blog post, Google promoted the fast speed of the browser and said it was designed "from the ground up for mobile devices," so that tabs fit naturally on the small screen. Users can also preview the content in the link, which could help them choose the best link first.

Prior to this release, Google had offered Chrome for computers and had developed a separate browser that was included with Android devices.

Google didn't say if it planned to release versions of Chrome to be compatible with earlier versions of Android or other competitive operating systems.

The mobile browser space was once a competitive battleground, until it became clear that most people simply use the browser that comes loaded on the phone, which is most often built by the operating system developer. Opera is one of the few standalone companies that has managed to win and retain customers who are willing to download the browser to their phones.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Google, IDG
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Android OS, applications, browsers, Google, mobile, software
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Optimizing Storage and Protecting Data with Oracle Database 11g
    This paper focuses on key Oracle Database 11g capabilities that help IT departments better optimise their storage infrastructure, enabling administrators to deliver a cost-effective, scalable data management platform that is easy to manage, reduces costs, and protects data while continuing to deliver the performance and availability that today’s businesses require.
    Learn more »
  • Oracle SOA vs. IBM SOA - Customer Perspectives on Evaluating Complexity and Business Value
    The Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) model has become the cornerstone of business computing. Its ability to greatly accelerate the development of business-critical applications promotes business agility, decreases time-to-value and total cost of ownership (TCO), and greatly increases the efficiency and strategic value of IT. SOA implementations tend to be complex, IT decision makers should carefully consider their choice of a SOA platform in terms of its ability to simplify the fundamental development, deployment, and management tasks involved. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Best practices for implementing 2048-bit SSL
    Secure sockets layer (SSL) technology continues to be essential to the growth of the web. With unabated increases in ecommerce traffic along with transmission of personal information, SSL is no longer just a nice to have capability; it is an absolute necessity. The requirement to protect information is further heightened by the universal availability of easy-touse hacking tools such as Firesheep. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.