Chrome for Android beta: rough, but already a great mobile browser

Google’s mobile operating system, Android, was released just after Chrome, the search giant’s desktop browser. Most folks were surprised that the browser included in the early versions of Android weren’t called Chrome, but maybe that was a good thing. After all the early browser on Android was pretty lame.

The software got a much-needed improvement with Android 3.0 and 4.0, including picking up some of Chrome’s best features, such as bookmark syncing. But still, Google still wouldn’t brand it as such.

On Tuesday, Google released Chrome for Android, a beta app that finally does the Chrome brand proud. While it shows promise, it’s definitely a work in progress. But given the pace at which Google has historically updated the desktop version, you can bet the Android app will get better quickly.

Now, before all you Android users eagerly snatch up your smartphones for a quick download, I’ve got some bad news for you: Chrome for Android only works on the latest release of that mobile OS, version 4.0, known as Ice Cream Sandwich. Given that only a few devices currently run ICS, the initial universe of users will be small. If you’ve got an older Android device, you may never get the chance to run Chrome until you buy new hardware, which further highlights the aggravating issue of fragmentation in the Android ecosystem.

But for those lucky few running ICS, Chrome for Android is worth checking out. I installed it on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus review unit, and it immediately became the browser I’ll primarily use on this device.

There are some cool features that Chrome brings over from its desktop heritage. It can sync bookmarks and passwords stored on your PC or Mac, giving you instant access. Chrome for Android also features the default new-tab page showing your most-visited websites.

When you initially fire up Chrome, you’re invited to sign into your Google account. If you’ve got sync set up on your desktop browser, it will begin pulling in the data from that software. In a couple of minutes, your mobile browser will feel a lot like your desktop one.

It even brings over your Omnibox data, including your search history, which makes the suggested-searches feature work just as it does in the desktop version.

One of the best features native to the mobile version is how it handles tabs. They’re stacked like collated pages, showing you the top of each one, staggered down the screen. As you add more tabs, they bunch up at the top, but you can swipe down to browse through them. It’s a perfect way to handle lots of tabbed pages on a small screen.

So far, Chrome has displayed Web pages faithfully – I have yet to run across one that doesn’t look great, or has a skewed display, in the few hours that I’ve been trying it.

Being beta, it’s a little sluggish, and some of the features aren’t working as smoothly as they should be, such as bringing up open tabs on the desktop version. It’s definitely not as speedy as the desktop version of Chrome, even on this state-of-the-art Galaxy Nexus phone, which connects to an LTE network. But it’s already a more useful app than the default browser that comes with ICS. I’m excited about the improvements that will come.