Over on the Blink Google Groups page, Engineer Eric Seidel lays out some details from a recent meeting of the web platform team. In his post, he outlines some goals for Chrome in 2014. We learn that Google wants a faster, more responsive platform for Android. They also want to take advantage of devices with less powerful specs, which reminds us of the promise KitKat has yet to deliver on.
The post outlines several metrics the team wants to hit, but most importantly to us is their attention to web apps. Top to bottom, the team wants to bring a better, easier option for Developers. To date, web apps have lacked the ability to match native apps for style and ease of use. Google wants to do their part to change that.
One line in particular stands out, in which Seidel notes that the team wants to be “#1 on (credible/realistic) mobile web benchmarks”. While the entire posting details just how they’d like to achieve that, the list item itself is interesting. It tells us that while benchmark tests may be suspect, and offer differing results, Google just plain doesn’t care. They want to be the winner, each time, hands down, no questions asked. We like the moxie.
With Chrome having replaced the tired old Android web browser, and an increasing appetite for mobile web surfing, it’s nice to see Google really going full steam ahead. Not content to have their browser simply on Android devices, Google wants to make it a browser we look to as a default as well. Though many of us do, it’s good to see Google not resting not heir laurels.
VIA: Liliputing
I use Dolphin browser for just one reason – quick access to bookmarks by sideswipe. If Chrome browser did this, would switch.
Focus on making Chrome faster to use… not just loading pages. I don’t mind the speed at which it loads pages, but the app itself is just a laggy mess and one of the reasons that I hate using my Android phone to browse the web (I use all platforms for my job). Mobile Safari KILLS Chrome in not only page load times, but overall responsiveness… it also kills Chrome rendering pages correct and I’m not sure why this is but it also surprises me… I can’t tell you how many countless times I go to a site and I opt for the desktop version of the site because it offers functionality or some type of form options only to have it not render properly in Chrome then I whip out my iPhone and sure enough mobile Safari renders it just like the desktop client does… it irks me to no end. Please fix this…
Currently I find Chrome to be the best browser on Android except for a few issues
1. Does not render some pages correctly
2. It lacks the feature to convert a Web page to PDF
3. Lacks safe for offline reading
4. Lacks night mode