The Chrome Beta is now available for free from the Android Market. This app requires the latest Android OS 4.0 — aka Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) — which currently only applies to the Motorola Xoom and ASUS Transformer Prime tablets. However, with only 1% of Android devices running ICS, we certainly hope to see new and updated devices with ICS later this year.
Here are some things you can expect to see with Chrome Beta:
- Fast browsing (can browse privately in Incognito mode)
- Accelerated page loading, scrolling, and zooming
- Search and navigate directly from the omnibox
- Unlimited tabs that are easy to view
- Sync your bookmarks and view open tabs on your PC
- Send pages from desktop Chrome to your tablet with one click
Chrome Beta will eventually replace the built-in Android browser, but with the majority of Android devices running legacy OSs, I think we can safely say that it won’t happen anytime soon.
For a closer look at the Chrome Beta, check out the ZDNet gallery: Google Chrome on Android Tablet.
