Rating: low maturity. Google Android ****
If you’re a fan of Chrome for your PC, the mobile version is a must. It’s got all the good stuff from the PC version. Fast, tabbed browsing that’s easy to use, for a start. On the smartphone version, your tabs are stacked like cards that you can sift through. Using the phone’s accelerometer, you can flip through the cards by tilting the phone.
That’s not all. Like the desktop version, you can sign in to sync your bookmarks and favourites. And if you’re on the desktop version you send things to mobile, so you can pick up browsing on your mobile device. Like with the PC browser, You can choose to browse incognito, so your history isn’t stored on the phone.
One useful feature for smartphone users is link zoom. When the browser detects you’re trying to click one link that is hard to make out, it shows the link in a zoomed in bubble, making it easy to select.
Of course, it’s not all perfect. It won’t support Flash, but then Adobe has said it isn’t putting out new mobile versions of the software anyway. The real drawback is Chrome for Android is currently available only for handsets using Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of the the software. A good incentive to upgrade.
CIARA O’BRIEN