Google Chrome was made available for download, by the public, from here, during a press conference & webcast at Google HQ (which I was lucky enough to view), which detailed the features of the new browser.

A few things I noticed during the conference, was a lot of direct comparison between Internet Explorer and Google Chrome - intentional of course as it is the most popular browser, but interesting how Firefox, Opera or Safari weren’t mentioned at all. The tests were impressive however, with rendering times much quicker, and a basic Java benchmark literally making IE look like a Penny Farthing in the middle of a Grand Prix. Another thing that was mentioned quite a lot was the open-source nature of Chrome - another side-swipe in Microsoft’s direction I thought.

Next up, the “Omni-bar” as it’s called was demoed quite a bit - showing the power of search in your browser. For instance, not only will the Omni-bar intelligently learn your browsing habits, but it will also make a note of search engines within websites when you use them. So if you search on Amazon a lot, Google Chrome will remember your preference and give you the option to search amazon straight from the bar. The other options you’re likely to see pop up when you start typing are pages you’ve historically been to, stuff in your favourites, and google suggestions (where I think their ads are really going to make an impact). Also, if Chrome thinks you’re generally interested in finding things with your search engine, the results will be the search results page you would normally see. All very similar to Firefox’s Awesome Bar, as it’s been called, but I think a bit better.

Another really nice feature that was showed off was the ability to take a web page and turn it into an “Application Shortcut” - blurring the distinction between Desktop and Cloud. For instance, if you’re the sort of person always with a Gmail tab open in your browser, you can create an Application Shortcut to it, which will be placed on your desktop. When you double click the shortcut, it loads the webpage in Chrome, but without all the web buttons and address bars and things - stuff you don’t need if you just want a window to check your email in.

During the conference, the browser was made available for download, so I nipped over to the download link I posted earlier, and grabbed a copy for testing.

After the initial quick download and install, the initial thing that hits you is the speed. The speed of the browser is a lot quicker than Internet Explorer, and is a little quicker than Firefox. The other thing that hits you is the clean feel to the browser. No unwanted buttons or gizmos, just the normal forward, back & refresh buttons, plus a page button (for creating new pages or adjusting how the current one is rendered) and a config button, for changing the browser options.

When starting up it imports browser settings from anything else it finds on your system, and then you’re pretty much in. As you use the browser it learns your favourite places - with the pages you like the most displayed, by default, on your homepage.

I think it will take a few weeks to fully test the browser and to notice any problems arising or bugs appearing, but in the meantime I can say I am happy with the overall feel to the browser - and it renders techsnake.com perfectly too! In fact, it renders it so well, this post is being written with Chrome right now.

To download the browser either visit here or here. To visit the newly opened code project “chromium” go here. Remember folks it’s still Beta, so treat it as such!