Google Chrome Beta for Android: Faster, Simpler?

Today Google finally announced it today on its blog — the Google Chrome Beta for Android. Long-awaited for a lot of our readers, many of whom are developers. That’s who this release really targets.

Chrome Android users will notice some other enhancements, Google execs say, including a sign-in and syncing that will work across all your Android devices. We’ll see if this is what it promises. If so and if implemented well, that’s a powerful feature.

According to Google SVP of Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pichai, Chrome Beta for Android is now available from the Android Market and in several countries and languages for phones and tablets. It requires Android 4.1, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) or higher.

We’ll be reviewing it in a matter of hours … if I know our rabid for anything Android sub edit team. Click here to see if it’s available in your country.

Still can’t wait? Check out the demo video Google uploaded on Youtube. The new version of Chrome requires Android 4.01 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) or higher. Thanks to an old friend @gizmodo for the heads up on this little gem. Below that is a video featuring Chrome Android engineers, talking a bit about their thinking on this.

We look forward to taking a closer look with Mat Lee, Jeremy Lesniak, Eric Finkenbiner and Joey Kelley, our Android team at aNewDomain.

From Google’s notes here, speed and simplicity were the goals here. Here are Google’s verbatim claims. Will it live up to the hype? Let us know what you think!

Speed

With Chrome for Android, you can search, navigate and browse Chrome fast. You can scroll through web pages as quickly as you can flick your finger. When searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so pages appear instantly. And of course, both search and navigation can all be done quickly from the Chrome omnibox.

Simplicity

Chrome for Android is designed from the ground up for mobile devices. We reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen phone as they do on a larger screen tablet. You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you’re holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web.

Here’s another video, this one from some of the developers on the team. I enjoy watching the people who actually design these products, as opposed to a bunch of spokesmodels.

Here’s a screen of the Chrome Beta Google is showing about. We’ll soon have many more!