Google's Chrome team gave the beta of the new Chrome 5.0 a sort of rocket fuel injection, boosting the browser's speed to gains of up to 35 percent over the previous channel release. Chrome 5.0 also boasts new user interface features for Windows, Mac and Linux computers, including browser preference sync. There are some not-so-noticeable utilities based on HTML5 in Chrome 5.0, including geolocation APIs, App Cache, Web sockets and file drag-and-drop capabilities. Chrome may not have anywhere near the market share of Windows Internet Explorer yet, but it is making a dent at nearly 7 percent.
Google's Chrome team gave the beta of the new Chrome 5.0
a kind of rocket fuel injection,
boosting the browser's speed to gains of 30 percent on the V8 benchmark and 35
percent on the SunSpider benchmark over the previous channel release.
As Chrome's JavaScript engine, V8 is the piece of software
Google created to make Chrome render Web pages really fast for users surfing
the Web and using Web applications. V8 is one of the foundational technologies
that have helped Chrome
grow to 6.7 percent market share in less than two years.
While V8 and SunSpider have served Google Chrome well to
date, Google's Chrome engineers felt more could be done to test Chrome's speed.
To wit, Chrome engineers have created new speed tests, which those interested may
check out in
this amusing, well-produced
YouTube video.
Yes, those are potatoes being
launched through graters at high speeds to help Googlers measure Chrome's 2,700 frames per second pace.
On a more serious note, Chrome 5.0 (technically 5.0.375.29) also boasts new user
interface features for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. These include the
ability for users to sync browser preferences, such as themes, homepage
and startup settings, Web content settings and
language.
Users may also now install and run Chrome
extensions, essentially little widgets to boost the usability of Chrome, while
in incognito mode.
There are some not-so-noticeable utilities based on HTML5
in Chrome 5.0, including geolocation APIs, App Cache, Web sockets and file
drag-and-drop capabilities.
Chrome 5.0 also hosts the Adobe Flash Player plugin. Users
will be able to browse multimedia content, such as videos, and receive security
and feature updates for Flash Player with Chrome's auto-update utility.
Users may download Chrome on the
Windows beta channel, or download the
Mac or
Linux betas. Google Operating System offers 10 features users should try in Chrome 5.0
here.
Chrome may not have anywhere near the market share of
Windows Internet Explorer yet, but it is making a dent at nearly 7 percent. IE sunk below 60
percent market share for the first time ever, according to the
latest Net Applications rankings.
Mozilla Firefox continues to hover around the
respectable 25 percent mark. Chrome could have as much as 10 percent share by
the end of the year.
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