Chrome 52 for Android Arrives With Smoother Video Playback, Faster Load Times, and Better Battery Life (venturebeat.com)

An anonymous reader shares a VentureBeat report: Following the release of Chrome 52 for desktop two weeks ago, Google last week also launched Chrome 52 for Android. For whatever reason, the company didn't share what's new until today. You can download the new version from Google Play. Chrome 52 for Android makes video playback feel smoother, load faster, and consume less battery. More specifically, video playback has been improved for speed and power efficiency, meaning you should expect smoother playback and faster load times (so videos will start playing sooner, instead of pausing briefly before starting). Your Android device's battery should also last longer if you consume a lot of videos online. Last but not least, video in Chrome for Android also now works with Data Saver Mode. This means a lightweight version of the video will be downloaded and played if you have Data Saver Mode on, saving you as much as 50 percent in data downloads, by Google's estimation.

Comments

Chrome has a battery life?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow.

What about hangout?

[William Robinson]

Great to know about new stuff they are bringing, but what about hangout hogging memory and CPU like crazy? (During summer, in many countries, the hangout has caused thermal shutdown of my laptop.)

FF droolz, Chrome rules!

[Thud457]

because 52 > 48!

No Changelog? Fuck that shit.

[SeaFox]

Google last week also launched Chrome 52 for Android. For whatever reason, the company didn't share what's new until today.

I wouldn't install an update if I had no way to see what's changed. I suppose people didn't have a choice in the matter though, if it was Chrome on Android.

Re:No Changelog? Fuck that shit.

[Anonymous Coward]

?

Just don't install it. Only "app" that might complain and force update is the "Play Store".

Who edits these days?

[Anonymous Coward]

Between the title and the post it says the same thing three times. I wonder how many times TFA repeats it for us.

U want to use the WWW?

[Anonymous Coward]

Use Palemoon on a desktop computer.

Re:U want to use the WWW?

[desdinova 216]

you realize we're talking about mobile here?

Re:U want to use the WWW?

[Anonymous Coward]

A browser for mobile makes as much sense as a badminton net for the inside of a car.

Spying

[Anonymous Coward]

Does Chrome 52 still spy on you?

Re:You're being spied on

[fustakrakich]

If you use anything, or even step out of the house, you are being spied on. Just use the best tool for the job.

spyware??

[Anonymous Coward]

google is known for spyware what is this browser doing to combat this, if anything and why should i trust it please explain

HTML5 Audio Tag is improved, too

[acroyear]

With 50 and 51, one could preview the new media by turning on a chrome://flags setting. That setting is now default 'on' instead of off with 52. With html5 audio tag, it fixes a lot of streaming issues with constant bit-rate files (duration wouldn't update, and you'd not get an 'end' event when the song finished, things that worked fine for variable bitrate files), issues that were also in the webview as well. So those web apps that need html5 audio tag will work much better, and phonegap/cordova apps will when the webview for Android goes out, hopefully soon after the browser...

Re:You're being spied on

[sirber]

also, chrome on android: no adblock

what is Chrome 52

[Anonymous Coward]

I have no idea if this is relevant to me as an android user

No more back button

[Anonymous Coward]

The back button no longer takes you back to the previous page. You know, like every browser has done for the last 20 years.

Re: No more back button

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes it does. Do you mean the backspace key, perhaps? Using that key for navigation was always a UI failure, but is now fixed.

Re: No more back button

[Dagger2]

No, the UI failure was losing form data when going back. The right fix isn't to remove one of the ways of going back, but rather to stop losing form data when going back.

Re: No more back button

[amRadioHed]

They were both UI failures, removing the stupid shortcut fixes everything.

Re: No more back button

[Dagger2]

It doesn't fix the form data loss problem, and it also removes the only non-shifted way of going back from a regular keyboard, which really isn't worth the loss.

Just fix the damn data loss issue, don't try to paper over it by making the browser harder to use.

Re: No more back button

[Waccoon]

Somewhat off topic, but increasingly I've found the back button (and shift-clicking) doesn't work at all. To much Javascript and proprietary navigation prevents any browser's built-in navigation from doing its job.

Lots of UI failure all over the web, really. It's almost like we're heading back to the 90's and Flash sites all over again.

Re:You're being spied on

[Anonymous Coward]

Your favorite song must be "Somebody's watching me"

I'm just an average man, with an average life
I work from nine to five; hey hell, I pay the price
All I want is to be left alone in my average home
But why do I always feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone, and

I always feel like somebody's watching me
And I have no privacy
Woh, I always feel like somebody's watching me
Tell me is it just a dream?

Re:You're being spied on

[Anonymous Coward]

Did they fix their "no third party cookies" bug with chrome on android?

Does it work on 32-bit smartphones?

[Anonymous Coward]

(I mean on 32-bit CPU smartphones, of course)

I'm asking because I intend to buy a new smartphone and since Chrome for Linux has no current 32-bit version, I thought about whether Android suffers the same illness.

Re: Does it work on 32-bit smartphones?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes it does.

But if you are buying a new smartphone, you are going to get 64 bit anyway.

Re: Does it work on 32-bit smartphones?

[Anonymous Coward]

> But if you are buying a new smartphone, you are going to get 64 bit anyway.

Depending on the definition of "new".

1) Recent released: probably as you say, 64-bit.
2) To be purchased now (that is, "new" to me), but released a while ago: may be a 32-bit one still being sold over here right now.

BTW, thanks for the comment. To be honest, I have a hidden agenda: I get pissed off that Chrome does not support 32-bit (good for my low memory computers) and how some people (Google, *Ubuntu, Qt5-coders) wanted/needed to cut corners and decided the 32-bit non-SSE Linux version would cease to exist (yeah, I know, I can compile it myself). Actually, except in Google's case, all other such decisions are probably correct (even if not good for me).

But I really don't want to end up with a brick, so I asked to know whether I could e.g. watch Netflix on Chrome on my new-to-be-purchased smartphone (I'm aware of the Netflix app).

I have an old 512MB RAM one which is in its last legs. It's so slow I had to remove Chrome some time ago and didn't know if there's a current 32-bit version or if they would offer an old, soon to be unsupported 32-bit version on the Play Store. Thanks for replying, BTW. It really helped.

CHROME is Google so it is spyware.

[Anonymous Coward]

Eric Schmidt, Pentagon. You can't be just a little bit spyware or a little bit pregnant.