Google’s Chrome team has released the latest Version 26 stable edition of Chrome OS for all devices, as well as the latest Version 26 of the Chrome browser and the latest Chrome Beta for Android offering.
The new versions were unveiled in separate posts on the Google Chromium Blog.
The latest stable release of Chrome OS, Version 26.0.1410.57, debuted April 8, according to a post by Ben Henry of the Google Chrome team on the Chrome Releases Blog. Version 26 is available for all Chrome OS devices, he wrote.
Improvements in the latest stable release include a Pepper Flash update to Version 11.6.602.180, a GTalk plug-in update to Version 3.14.17, Bluetooth user interface improvements in the status area to make it easier to connect and manage Bluetooth devices, and an updated wallpaper picker user interface, wrote Henry. Also included is the addition of a Widevine Content Decryption Module (CDM) on Intel platforms and significant video performance improvements in Widevine CDM on ARM platforms.
One known bug that remains and is still being pursued is that in some situations the screen may dim while in a Google+ Hangout, he wrote.
With the release of the latest stable version of Chrome OS, a new developer’s channel version, 27.0.1453.46, was also announced for all Chromebooks, according to an April 10 post by Danielle Drew of the Google Chrome team on the Chrome Releases Blog. The developer’s channel versions go through many revisions before they are later adopted as stable versions for release to users.
The new “dev channel” update contains a number of bug fixes and feature enhancements, including an update of Pepper Flash to Version 11.7.700.169-r2, fixes for network connection error notifications and an updated Chrome Office Viewer extension, wrote Drew.
On the Chrome browser front, Version 26 has been promoted as the latest stable version for Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS, according to an April 9 post by Dharani Govindan of the Google Chrome team on the Chrome Releases Blog.
The new release contains stability improvements and a new version of Adobe Flash, wrote Govindan.
The promotion of the stable Version 26 of the Chrome browser means that the developer’s channel is now working ahead on Version 28 of the browser as it continues its evolution, according to an April 8 post by Anthony Laforge of the Chrome Team on the Chrome Releases Blog. The latest build is working on some known regressions and stability issues, according to Laforge’s post.
The next beta channel candidate of the Chrome browser, Version 27, is also now under way, according to an April 10 post by Karen Grunberg on the Chrome Releases Blog.
The Chrome Beta for Android project also has a new edition, Version 27, which includes several key updates, according to an April 10 post by Jason Kersey of the Chrome Team on the Chrome Releases Blog. Among the updates are full-screen capabilities on phones to allow users to scroll down the page to make the toolbar disappear, along with simpler searching using the search box, wrote Kersey. Also being worked on are capabilities that bring a tab history to tablets, allowing users to use their browser’s back button to view their tab histories.
Earlier in April, Google released Chrome 26 for Android, the newest stable version of its free Web browser that fully integrates with the Android mobile operating system. The latest version introduced several features, including password synchronization, autofill synchronization, and a variety of other performance and stability improvements.
Chrome for Android provides a customized version of the popular browser that is built to run specifically on Android devices.