Chrome, Google’s Web Browser, Out of Beta

Yesterday Google released the latest version of their free web browser that Google has coined Chrome. With this fifteenth release comes the dropping of the beta tag, now that google is satisfied that the program has met their stability standards.

Chrome has a few important features. For one, it comes with built-in security features. Thanks to its sandbox security process, which runs Chrome in a so called “sandbox” where malicious executables and other exploits cannot effect the rest of your computer, worries about phishing and exploits are minimized.

Chrome also comes with safe browsing features, which warn you if a page is suspected of being malicious, protecting you further from dangerous sites.

Chrome also provides a unique tab-management system. One clever idea Google implemented is that upon opening a new tab, Chrome gives you an organized list of thumbnails of your most visited pages, as well as your most used search engines. This feature makes creative use of the glaring whitespace left in most browsers when you open a new tab only to see a blank screen.

Chrome’s tabs can also be manipulated and shuffled around to make organizing your tabs more intuitive. For example, tabs in Chrome can be pulled out into new windows, and then popped back in to a window. I have found this feature useful, as I tend to have a lot of tabs open that are hard to keep track of; by popping the most important tab out into a window I can keep track of it easier, and when another tab becomes my focus I can switch them easily.

Chrome also makes interesting use of the address bar. The address bar is in fact an amalgamation of three features: a traditional address bar, a search engine and your browser history. Chrome intelligently chooses which one you want to use, streamlining searching and browsing nicely. This cuts down on the amount of buttons in the interface and makes your history more accessible and well-integrated.

With the new version comes improved video and audio plug-in support, which fixes glitches formerly experienced with media. Also, a bookmark import and export feature has been added, making the switch from your old browser painless. This compliments the new bulk bookmark management system, which allows you to organize and deal with all your bookmarks easily, and the quick bookmark button, which takes the form of a star at the top of the browser window.

Google also added some new privacy features to Chrome, including an incognito mode that allows you to open a page without making an entry into your history. This ensures that your mom will never find out about saucyclownworld.net. (I haven’t checked if that is a real website, and I recommend you don’t either.)

Overall, Chrome looks to make web browsing simpler, more intuitive and faster. Google’s focus seems to be straightforward usability, and all of Chrome’s features seem to have ease-of-use in mind. Chrome is also apparently very fast, and the latest version benchmarked at 50% faster than previous version

Unfortunately a few key features are missing. Form auto-fill and RSS support are absent, and without such features Chrome cannot be said to be a complete browser yet. Nonetheless, if you’re looknig for a fast, aesthetically pleasing, no-nonsense, user-friendly browser, check out the new version of Chrome, right here.