Shopping online started out as a novelty, matured into a convenience, and by now it's positively a cornerstone of life for many of us in these still-pandemic-scrambled times. We're constantly checking prices and waiting for good deals on the best Android smartphones or audio gear before we pull the trigger, and price tracking services play a crucial role in reassuring us that we aren’t leaving any money on the table. If you've still got holiday shopping left to do this year, you'll want to check out a new shortcut in Chrome for Android, helping you stay on top of the best deals around.
We first started seeing work on Chrome's integrated price tracker last year, but now it's finally ready prime time with the arrival of Chrome 108, getting prominent placement in the address bar. Squeezed up top next to the tab switcher button, hitting this new shortcut opens a menu allowing you to bookmark the web address and toggle alerts for when the item’s price drops.
Chrome usually displays a voice search shortcut, new tab button, or a share button in place of the price tracker shortcut, but you can customize what you see here by long-pressing the button and setting it to change dynamically based on webpage content. This way, you should have ready access to the new shortcut when scrolling through Amazon, Best Buy, or any other e-commerce store. Google appears to be A/B testing different implementations of the tracker shortcut, sometimes overriding your preference for the price tracker.
You can find the Chrome flag for this shortcut (and its different variations) in the Experiments section available under chrome://flags. With Chrome 108, access should be going broad, but we're not seeing it on all devices just yet, suggesting there's still some testing going on. We can confirm the new shortcut button appears on version 109.0.5414.23 of the Chrome dev build, if you feel like getting a head start. In either case, this looks like a great asset as you sift through your gifting options ahead of Christmas.
Thanks: Nick, Hamzah