Chrome update sports a boatload of new features

Prepare for even better browsing on mobile. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Prepare for even better browsing on mobile. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Google’s mobile Chrome web browser gets a new update today, which — according to the Chrome team — has “more than a barge full of performance and stability fixes.”

We’re not sure how many software fixes a barge would hold, but we feel confident in saying it’s a whole lot.

The update should roll out across Android devices over the next couple of hours. The browser itself is fast and secure, and lets you sync any open tabs and bookmarks from your computer, mobile phone, or tablet version of Chrome.

Chrome also allows you to reduce mobile data by up to 50 percent when browsing — a boon to those of us on limited data plans — and will let you search with your voice or keyboard.

The mobile version of Chrome lets you translate languages of webpages on the fly, flip quickly through as many tabs as your processor can handle with left or right swipe gestures, and use Incognito mode to browse privately.

There’s a complete list of all the geeky bug fixes and performance enhancements on Google Chrome’s Git log page, like “Fix merge conflict cleanup from https://codereview.chromium.org/1770913004. TBR=chrishtr. BUG=590856.” Sexy stuff, for sure.

Chrome’s one of my favorite browsers on the desktop, so being able to sync over to a smartphone or tablet is a key feature, as is the fast and secure loading of web pages, not to mention a robust extension ecosystem.

If you’re using Chrome on your Android phone or tablet today, keep an eye peeled for the update on Google Play.

Source: Google Chrome