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Chrome 24 Released, Chrome Beta Channel For Android Added

Posted by Soulskill on from the version-increment dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google has released Chrome version 24 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can update to the latest release now using the browser's built-in silent updater, or download it directly from google.com/chrome. The biggest improvement on the user side of things is the speed increase. Google's own Octane JavaScript test shows that this is the fastest Chrome release yet. When the beta came out in November, the company was touting that Chrome had become 26 percent faster on Octane than it was last year. Now it's even faster. Google also announced it is introducing a new Chrome beta channel for phones and tablets running Android 4.0 or higher. You can download version 25.0.1364.8 right now directly from Google Play (since this is a beta, it's not available via search; you'll need to use the link). The release of version 25 is significant because it means Google is attempting to bring Chrome for Android in line with the desktop version. The current release of Chrome for Android is version 18, last updated in November."

5 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Fast - good - now focus on... by presidenteloco · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Managing memory better so I don't have to keep shutting down web browsers every day or two. Most power users have many windows and many tabs up, and some are relevant for weeks, but most are unused and could be backgrounded much more effectively in terms of processor and memory use. Hint: Replace with a URL and a snapshot image updated infrequently.

    Also, speaking of tabs. If I use them, I can't easily see visually which pages I have up, in the overview of windows display modes that most OSs offer. There is a usability disconnect here.

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
    1. Re:Fast - good - now focus on... by Big+Jason · · Score: 5, Informative

      I will concur though that some kind of tab overview would be great. Didn't early versions of Chrome have that?

      Hit Shift-Esc to bring up the Chrome Task Manager. It will give you a summary of each tab's memory, cpu, and network consumption as well as the ability to kill individual tabs.

  2. Re:silent update? by baka_toroi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    By your logic, Chrome should've been mentioned by Slashdot only once, during it's initial release, since it includes a silent updater from day 1.

  3. Re:Chrome's attitude by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    If you don't want Chrome phoning home, disable that functionality. If you go to the settings, there's a "privacy" section with 4 checkboxes (at least in my version of Chromium):

    • Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors
    • Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar
    • Predict network actions to improve page load performance
    • Enable phishing and malware protection

    Uncheck all of them and it should stop contacting Google except for automatic updates (not sure how disabling those works; Chromium doesn't have them as updates go through my package manager instead).

  4. Re:relevant for weeks? by nuggz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Some people don't like bookmarks, or they use their browser like "todo" lists.
    Not that I advocate such an approach, but I understand it.

    For any particular project I might have a handful of links that are open at one time.
    I typically don't have 100 tabs open, but 20-40 is pretty typical.