Google Inc.’s addition to the browser market, Chrome, just keeps getting better and better. Today the Big G has pushed out another update for the stripped-down browser, which puts it at version 10 (10.0.648.172 to be precise), adding in a couple of new features and improving on the already-blistering Javascript performance.
Originally released in September 2008, Google recently stated they aim to update Chrome by one version every six weeks. The update to version 10 means that Chrome has averaged one full version every three months – not bad at all when compared to Internet Explorer’s 89 week revision cycle.
In terms of new features, the browser has brought the “Options” menu into line with other in-built menus – it now opens in a new tab instead of an unwieldy second window, and has seen a bit of a spit-shine as well. Google’s quest to keep all your data in the cloud has again taken a big step forward – you can now sync passwords in the same way you can all your other data by filling a tickbox in the settings. Google are so pleased with their new “Settings” features they’ve even give it its very own video demo.
The biggest improvement Google is shouting about is the huge boost Chrome has been given in Javascript performance – a claimed 66% improvement, to be precise (as measured on the V8 benchmark tests, at least) courtesy of the new “crankshaft” engine (Google just love their car metaphors!).
As we’ve seen in the last few months, Chrome is making almost as much of a splash in the browser world as Google’s other baby, Android, is in the mobile OS world. With these new improvements on board we’re sure Chrome can only continue to grow.
