Google Chrome - Fast, effectint, intuitive & a few beta issues too!
As one of the first people to download today’s release of Google Chrome; Google’s new browser, I wanted to be one of the first to review it too. So, having had an opportunity to thrash it for a few hours - here are my first impressions!
Before I start, you can grab yourself a copy of Google Chrome here!.
Google Chrome - Speed
The first thing you will notice about Google Chrome is the speed of it. It is fast - I mean REALLY fast! Google Chrome also loads from scratch in less than a second on my machine and I have never seen any browser download a web page faster..
Google Chrome - Page display
These are the very early stages of using Chrome, but thus far - every site I have visited looks pretty much the same as on FF3. This is in stark contrast to the current beta of Internet Explorer 8; which even in ‘compatibility mode’ renders some pages very poorly..
Google Chrome - Ease of use
Within seconds I was able to find my way around the Google Chrome browser. It looks pretty basic, which I really like. You will quickly notice that there’s no dedicated search bar. Instead, you use the address bar and it will automatically do a search using your favourite search engine (you get to choose!)
The settings section is very basic and easy to understand. There are not that many options, compared with IE and Firefox..
Google Chrome - Nifty tricks
You are going to be hearing a LOT about the Google Chrome’s ‘Incognito mode‘. It allows you to surf websites without that website appearing in your browser’s history folder. Also, any new cookies triggered from your incognito mode tab will be deleted when you close it. When you have a tab open in incognito mode, you get a little picture of a detective in the top left corner - so you can tell at a glance which mode you are in.
You can slide tabs around to arrange them in the right order - and they actually do slide. It’s a nice effect!
Your bookmarks are automatically imported as soon as you install Google Chrome and your shortcuts will appear in the same order that they appeared in your previous browser - so everything’s where you expect it to be.
When you download a file, there’s a little animation of an arrow that plays - another nice little touch!.
Google Chrome issues
As you would expect from a brand new beta, it’s not perfect! Here are a few known problems from the Google Chrome help center and one of my own. You can see the full list of known issues here.
- Google Calendar - If you create an all day event at the weekend it adds an extra day!
- Laptops sometimes won’t go to sleep with Google Chrome running!
- Fixed Width fonts on some sites are tiny on Google Chrome!
- Fellow WordPress bloggers will find some of the posting tools behaving ‘odd.’.
Overall?
As you can probably tell, I am really impressed. Google Chrome is fast, easy to use and very polished for a beta release. I will have to play with it for a few more days to get a REAL feel for it, but my initial impressions are very positive.
Knowing what Google are like, Chrome will probably stay in beta for ages. It seems very solid and the feedback I have received from friends is that they are finding it equally stable.
The so-called browser wars have taken an interesting turn and I am not sure if this little baby is not going to be the winner. How crazy is that? After years of the ‘experts’ telling us that it’s either Internet Explorer or Firefox who will win - there’s a new kid in town who ‘might’ win the war (and far sooner than many imagined!)
I recommend you download yourself a copy and give it a go!.
That’s my first impression of Google Chrome - What do YOU think?
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Yeah, I have exactly the same thoughts. Chrome is incredible!
I love it. And I think I will switchover as soon as it has enough plugins. Compared to FireFox, I think the fire in FF looks pretty dim right now: http://blog.gadodia.net/google-chrome-vs-mozilla-firefox/
You asked “What do YOU think?”
omg well I think you’re a geek who gets excited to write superflous analysis. Aside from the tabbed browsing which is ok there’s nothing new about Chrome compared to FF3 and IE8 which introduce the better InPrivate browsing.
@Vaibhav
I agree 100% about the plugins. Chrome needs a few!
@TCCritic
Firstly, thanks for calling me a geek - that was nice!
You refer to my review as ’superflous analysis’ - yet it’s been read by tens of thousands of people and was one of the first reviews of Chrome anywhere on the ‘net. How come you think tabbed browsing is new? Are you from the past?
You also say there’s nothing new about Chrome - the SPEED is new! It’s far, far faster than IE8 or FF3. That said, ‘apparently’ Firefox 3.1 will be superfast when it launches at the end of the year.
Oh yeah - The fact that every tab in Chrome is unique, so that if it crashes you only lose that tab and not all your tabs and all your work - yep, that’s new too and unavailable in either FF3 or IE8!
I don’t use Chrome as my default browser (I use FF3) - but for anything that requires speed, it has to be Chrome, for now.
JC
I really like it. Its fast, simple, easy to use, maximises the screen size and generally is a pleasure to use.
All it needs is some decent plug-ins and it’ll be bye-bye Firefox!
Thanks for the review!
@Gregor
Yeah, plugins will make a difference.
I’m also looking forward to FF3.1 - the extra speed and the plugins might give FF3.1 a serious BOOOOOST!
JC
Unfortunatly Chrome’s Incognito mode isn’t really private. It keeps so-called “flash cookies” even after leaving the Incognito mode. So every website can still keep track on you using this technique. And other users of your computer can see where you have been surfed too.
Hi Mike,
I’m hearing a lot about Chrome’s security being slack!
Thanks for the heads up!
JC
First of all, Google Chrome Beta (yes, it’s still in beta) which was released not long ago should not be compared with any browser because it has been released for a short while and this is there first browser and it’s just a Beta (not the completed version) unlike Firefox, and yet it still manages to challenge Firefox. Wait until Google releases 1-3 more updates/upgrades/newer versions to Google chrome and then try it again and most of you would like it (or since i’m now posting this, try the latest version of Google Chrome) but if you want add-ons/extensions that don’t slow down your browser or cause other issues like with Firefox, give Google 5 months - 1 year. Also, Google Chrome, believe it or not, is much faster, has a cleaner interface, uses less memory, crashes less than Firefox (with me) and is more secure and Google releases 10-30 nightly builds of Google Chrome everyday and also has a Developers/Testers channel which has newer versions of Google Chrome every 1-2 weeks (with a change log and new features etc) which are tested before they are publicly released. Google Chrome’s EULA was changed the day it was released when an error was found in it.
Chrome is good for quick lookups (and it is fast), and provides much screen real estate, tabbed browsing, and does auto spell checking and saves sessions automatically, and is a good replacement for IE (including 8). But for more serious intensive browsing it cannot beat FireFox with its many viable extensions. Chrome does not yet allow you to wrap the tabs into multiple lines, or save pages as .MHT (UnMht) or SaveWithURL, or undo closed tabs or change tab width, etc. (TabMixPlus) or color (ColorfulTabs), or save many different sessions for later use (Session manager). Nor (to my knowledge) does it provide print preview or themes. But it is a welcome addition to my list of browsers, praise the Lord.