Google has just launched their Chrome browser into BETA. I’ve downloaded it and will be throwing some of my own site against it as well as some of my favourite bookmarks.
More to come on this…
So I have been using Chrome for about an hour now, as expected all of the Google apps run very well and very fast. Reader still hangs a little now and then, but I have a feeling this is mostly due to the sheer number of RSS feeds I subscribe to. As for the rest, here is a check list of what I have tried and how it feels:
| Google App | Chrome | Firefox | IE 7 | Opera | Safari(W) |
| Google Reader | 3 secs | 4 secs | 12 secs | 7 secs | 14 secs |
| Google Docs | 5 secs | 10 secs | 13 secs | 7 secs | 15 secs |
| Blogger | 3 secs | 3 secs | 10 secs | 6 secs | 9 secs |
| Picasa Web | 5 secs | 6 secs | 7 secs | 6 secs | 5 secs |
| Google Calendar | 3 secs | 3 secs | 4 secs | 3 secs | 4 secs |
| Google Analytics | 2 secs | 3 secs | 4 secs | 4 secs | 3 secs |
DISCLAIMER: This completely non scientific test was completed by pasting in the link, hitting return and then counting the number of seconds before the page finished loading. However I was still blown away by it’s speed. Also worth noting is how Chrome handled Mobile Me and Flickr: very nicely. I’ll test YouTube and Maps later tonight.
Comments
2 responses to “Google Launches Chrome Browser”
I’m using it right now. It feels really light weight compared to Firefox. I haven’t figured out how to set some of my privacy settings (i.e.: which sites can leave cookies behind and which ones cannot). Also, none of the extension I rely on in Firefox are in Chrome.
Hey Schultzter,
The Chrome browser is based on WebKit, the same engine as Safari for Mac and Windows, so none of the FireFox/Mozilla apps are going to work with it. However it does support Google gears beautifully and there a number of Safari plugins that will probably get ported. Not to mention that this browser is open source and the way the InterWebs community has already taken to the browser, I expect the plugins should start popping out soon.