03
Apr
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According To Net Applications, Stock Android Browser Usage Is Still Way Out In Front Of Chrome

Posted by in Android OS, Applications, Apps/Games, News

Net analytics firm Net Applications has released its latest mobile browser market share data, and the results on the Android side were a bit of a surprise to me: apps based on the stock Android browser are still handily trouncing Chrome for usage. That includes 3rd party solutions like the stock Samsung, HTC, and LG browsers, all of which are based on the stock Android browser.

To be precise, the figures are 21.86% of all mobile visits for the "Android Browser," but a mere 2.43% for Chrome (Safari is out in front, at 61.79%). That includes the iOS version of Chrome, too, so the figure is even lower if you're only counting Android handsets.

05
Mar
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Newest Chrome Beta For Android Includes Experimental SPDY Data Compression Proxy For Faster Browsing

Posted by in Applications, Apps/Games, News

The recent Chrome Beta for Android update was notable for including password and form sync, but it turns out there is another feature lurking beneath the surface, and it's potentially a big deal. Google has built in a data compression proxy for Chrome that can reduce bandwidth usage by up to 50% on mobile networks. You'll have to do a little digging through the Chrome flags, but it's relatively easy to switch to the fast lane.

spdy-proxy

Just type chrome://flags into the address bar and enable the Experimental Data Compression Proxy. When that's done, all HTTP traffic will be routed through Google's SPDY servers where pages will be optimized for Chrome.

27
Feb
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Chrome For Android Updated, Brings Better Scrolling And Pinch-to-Zoom, Background Audio Playback, More HTML 5 Features, And More

Posted by in Applications, News

Google's Chrome browser for Android got itself a nice little update today that brings a couple of new features, as well as an improved overall experience:

Updates in this version of Chrome for Android include:
1. Improved scrolling performance
2. Increased responsiveness to pinch-zooming on pages
3. Faster interactive pages thanks to the latest version of the V8 javascript engine
4. Audio now continues to play while Chrome is in the background
5. Expanded support for HTML5 features
* Audio playing in Chrome will now pause when the phone is in use. This requires an additional permission.

There are actually a few notable changes here, but the biggest might be the ability to play audio in the background.

10
Jan
chrbeta

Google Releases Chrome Beta Channel For Android

Posted by in Applications, News

Ready to try the latest version of Chrome for Android, but don't want to wait for the updates to hit the stable channel? No worries – Google just released an official beta channel for Chrome for Android. This new channel should "release early and release often" according to the Chrome blog, so you'll always have the latest build smokin' out of Google's servers.

1 2 1[6]

Of course, "beta" comes at a cost – sometimes it's at the cost of stability, sometimes it's at the cost of borked features. Basically, if you plan on running this build, be ready for some bugs.

01
Jan
android-a-look-back-to-2011-and-a-look-forward-to-2012

Android: A Look Back To 2012, And A Look Forward To 2013

Posted by in Editorials, News, Rumors
Last Updated: January 7th, 2013

Happy New Year! It's that time again; with the new year comes our new annual prediction post. I tackled this last year, and rather than do a bunch of crazy, pulled-from-thin-air predictions, I ended up with a link-filled research-fest for the year. It worked out pretty well, so that's what's on the docket for today. First though, I'll take a look and see just how many of last year's predictions and rumors came true, and provide some updates for the more important topics.

A Look Back To 2012

What a crazy year. 2012 brought us two versions of Jelly Bean: 4.1 and 4.2.  We saw a complete transformation of Google Search with the Knowledge Graph, Google Now, voice output, and Google Goggles integration.

28
Nov
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Chrome For Android Updated, Brings 'Stability Fixes And Performance Improvements'

Posted by in Applications, News

Well would you look at that. Seems our favorite - but admittedly still flawed - browser just got itself a little update. No, it's not the developer update we mentioned yesterday (that would be fast) - it's actually just a little bug fixer.

This version update includes a number of stability fixes and performance improvements.

The early reports seem to be pretty good - we're already hearing that there's a noticeable performance boost. I personally don't have that many issues with Chrome these days (it has come a long way over the last several months), but I'll take any improvements they want to offer up.

27
Nov
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Google: Chrome Releases To Align Across All Platforms - Including Android - Starting "Early Next Year"

Posted by in Android OS, Applications, News

Chrome for Android is expected to start aligning with desktop releases of the browser by "early next year," according to a post by the Chrome team on Google+.

Q. Chrome for Android is still at v18, while regular Chrome is at v23. When will Chrome for Android catch up?

A. Soon! We expect an update to Chrome for Android starting with a developer update to happen before the end of the year, and we’re actively working towards aligning releases across all platforms, including Android, starting early next year. 

(emphasis ours)

So, what does this mean? At some point next year, Google is going to begin the process of aligning Chrome releases across all platforms, meaning the guts in each platform's respective release will be more similar, and features across platforms will vary less.

12
Sep
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Chrome For Android Updated To Version 18.1, Brings Bug Fixes, Improved YouTube Controls, And More Support For Third-Party Keyboards

Posted by in Applications, News

Google just pushed a small update to its Chrome browser that brings a handful of tweaks and fixes, as well as a couple of enhancements:

  • Location preference now integrated to system level Google apps location setting.
  • Youtube videos controls now work in full screen mode; videos continue playing after a screen lock/unlock
  • Fixes to make third-party IMEs work better with Chrome

It's all pretty much straightforward, but you may be wondering what an IME is. That's actually just an abbreviation for Input Method Editor, which is a fancy way of saying keyboard. So, it has improved support for third-party keyboards. Cool.

27
Jun
Chrome-logo-2011-03-16

Chrome For Android Is Out Of Beta, Brings The Usual Performance And Stability Fixes

Posted by in Apps/Games, News

As if the endless torrent of news out of I/O wasn't enough, Google has decided to push out updates for just about every Android app today, too.

Chrome For Android got a bump to 18.0.1025123. The biggest change of which is the dropping of the "Beta" tag. Here's the full "What's New" from their blog post:

This update picks up important stability and performance fixes since the last Beta, along with some minor UI adjustments, especially for tablets.

wm_2012-06-27 15.38.28

If for some reason you don't have Chrome already, you can grab yourself a copy from the Play Store, right here.

Source: Google Chrome Releases

29
May
io

The Ultimate Google I/O 2012 Preview

Posted by in Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Rumors
Last Updated: June 27th, 2012

Google I/O is coming and it's time to get excited! It's like Christmas in June! It will be here in just a few short agonizing weeks - and we need to prepare. There is background information you need to know, rumors you should have in mind, and past announcements and acquisitions that need to be remembered. Google always leaves little news breadcrumbs for those that pay attention, and I pay attention. Fanatically.

This post will be part news recap, part rumor roundup, and part speculation. The last time I did this went pretty well, and now it's time for another look at what the little elves at Google HQ are working on.

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