Google Chrome a La Carte!

Google took the ‘beta’ tag off Google Chrome back in December, after the fifteenth update! This left us with two Chrome options: a stable user version, and a developers version.

Now, there are even more options in Chrome: a new beta is back!

Google is trying to get feedback from users on their early beta channel. Google often relies on comments and input from the community to improve or develop products, so this early release is not exactly a huge surprise to me. In fact, with it already being three months after the previous version was deemed stable enough to be relieved of its beta status, very enthusiastic users might argue it is time for some improvements.

What the new beta offers

1. The new version of Google Chrome is said to be 25% faster than the previous one.
2. Autofill forms
3. Full page zoom
4. Autoscroll
5. Drag tabs

You can drag tabs around on your computer screen to switch between different windows easily. Personally, this looks a lot like something you can do with a Mac with all your program windows, but that’s just my opinion (any other people agree with me?)

For the really adventurous among us, the developers channel for Chrome is also an option. It is even rougher than the beta version, but I suppose the one benefit is that you will notice changes and updates much faster than the beta users. As Google themselves state on the developers channel, sometimes ideas fail. If you are easily frustrated, then perhaps the developers version of Chrome isn’t right for you. However, if you like playing around with new (online) toys, then it is a virtual playground.

Google Chrome has previously been rated highly on usability and performance, by people who are not Google. I’m personally always inclined to want to test drive the latest of the latest, so I’d say go for the new Chrome beta. After all, anything that is really buggy is first tested in the developers version anyways, so the beta should perform (virtually) perfectly.

Who’s test driving it with me?