Chrome for Android updated with bug fixes, new Nexus device support

By Cory Gunther
on 1 Nov, 2012

Today the developers over in Mountain View for Google have just pushed out a quick and apparently needed update to the Chrome Browser for Android. The update is available this afternoon as usual in the Google Play Store, and at first glance only appears to be bug fixes, but there’s a few more things included as well.

The Play Store ‘What’s new” sure didn’t give us any details or information regarding the bugs, and performance improvements that were added, but both are briefly mentioned. We have a feeling most of these issues were related to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, as well as the all new LG Nexus 4 and Samsung Nexus 10 tablet. Both are mentioned by Google themselves elsewhere.

According to the Google Chrome Blog the update to Chrome on Android brings updates to both ARM and x86 versions, and the update brought important stability fixes and support for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10. Both devices were announced earlier this week after Google had to cancel their launch event, and will be arriving for buyers in the coming weeks.

Chrome for Android comes pre-installed on all Nexus devices like the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 — but it looks like a few outstanding bugs have now been trimmed off for optimal performance. To get the latest version right from Google head to the Play Store. For more details on both of their new Nexus devices stay tuned right here to Android Community for a full review coming soon.

Sean

Chrome for Android really needs to improve significantly. New support is nice, but I would rather serious focus being put into general performance than into new features. Often Chrome will freeze and become unresponsive for sometimes up to 10 seconds (no kidding), and displays noticeable pauses between operations. This really hurts the user experience and makes it painful to use. Benchmarks and HTML5 support are great, but when the UI freezes up, I find it hard to love.

Chrome is a core app, and as a core app, should set the tone for the rest of the apps in the market. Sadly, many Google apps have stuttery performance or annoying freezes (Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Reader, and Chrome).

I love my Nexus 7, and Android in general. It’s simply a shame that Google doesn’t take its own advice for UI performance when building its core apps.
- http://www.androidcommunity.com Cory Gunther
  
  Really. Google Maps and earth both work wonderfully for me… all the time
  - Sean
    
    It may be this issue (that I just found) that I’m experiencing:
    http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=37258
    
    I just ran androbench to test storage, and my unit has extremely compromised random write speeds as many other users are reporting. It makes sense as well, as my system becomes unusable while an update is happening in the background, and would explain a great deal about the chrome responsiveness problems I have been having.
    
    A factory reset seems to clear the issue up for some, so I’m guessing it is software related. There is hope, and I hope that this issue is addressed so that more users don’t experience it!
- Sean
  
  As an alternative, I have been using Naked Browser which is ugly as Sim, but loads quickly. There are a few bugs but it works for the most part. Ironically, it uses the original android browser engine, and works really, really well.