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Introducing Chrome for Android

googleblog.blogspot.com

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Re: Introducing Chrome for Android

#81
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not very precise. Legally, Apple doesn't allow to use iOS SDK , i.e. to build such applications. If you manage somehow to build it any other way (not using Apple's SDK), this restriction has no meaning, and while Apple could reject such kind of software from their app store, you could deploy it to alternatives, like Cydia, and still be legal, since you didn't violate any licenses. I.e. for browsers makers the…

"The App Store guidelines only apply to the App Store", while a true statement, is a pretty useless one.

The rule above is not from the App Store guidelines, but from the SDK license. I.e. even if you use alternative app store without restrictions (Cydia), but build a browser with Apple iOS SDK - it's still illegal, and that's why major browsers like Firefox wouldn't do it.

Re: Introducing Chrome for Android

#82
post #56

And in typical Google fashion, they have assumed that devices have an infinite amount of memory: https://imgur.com/zkh7C (this is with the app in the background!)

Using lots of memory is not necessarily wasteful. Actually, NOT using memory that would otherwise sit there full of zeros is almost always a waste.

Re: Introducing Chrome for Android

#84
post #56

And in typical Google fashion, they have assumed that devices have an infinite amount of memory: https://imgur.com/zkh7C (this is with the app in the background!)

Why bigot your statement with such a ridiculous lead-in? On my Gingerbread device the browser right now, in the background, is using 67.15MB. What does that demonstrate? Nothing, given that the RAM was available and web browsing is one of, if not the most, complex activities you can do.

I should have qualified my statement by mentioning that the Chrome app process runs a couple of background services - this causes it to be killed for low memory after normal background processes (the actual behaviour is a little more complex than that, but that's the gist of it), which could potentially impact the performance of multitasking. The proper thing to do is to run background services in a separate process from the UI or whatever uses the most memory so that the latter can be evicted more quickly.

I stand by my assertion that optimising for memory isn't a priority at Google. An Android engineer poignantly put it (sorry, can't remember who) when they bragged on G+ that Android 4.0.3 was the first time since Gingerbread that they'd run the OS on a <1G RAM device (namely Nexus S). Then again, as an actual embedded engineer (none of this gigs of RAM crap!), all I care about is memory usage...

Re: Introducing Chrome for Android

#85
post #39

Chrome is now available in Beta from Android Market, in select countries and languages for phones and tablets with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. What tablets have official ICS on them? Is ICS even fully tabletized? I thought they had said they were putting that off until Jelly Bean.

My ASUS Slider is supposed to be getting the update quite soon along with the Transformer. Last I read a couple weeks ago it was in final checks at Google.

Re: Introducing Chrome for Android

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox Mobile Nightly releases for Android already include "extensions". Here are some examples: http://people.mozilla.com/~mfinkle/addons/

Nobody uses Firefox Mobile.

Any factual statistics for that?

Re: Introducing Chrome for Android

#88

Direct Market Link: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.android.chrome The download is a hefty 16MB. Features: * Chrome-to-mobile, Sync bookmarks, history, settings, Auto sign-in * Bandwidth management (preload webpages) * Privacy settings * Developer tools: Tilt Scrolling, USB Web Debugging (debug web pages from Chrome Desktop via USB??) * Incognito mode * About screen: http://i.imgur.com/Ahr6t.jpg The homepag…

> USB Web Debugging

That will be great. Even better if iOS gains something similar--it's maddening to not have a real debugger.

Re: Introducing Chrome for Android

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox Mobile Nightly releases for Android already include "extensions". Here are some examples: http://people.mozilla.com/~mfinkle/addons/

Nobody uses Firefox Mobile.

I do. Deafault browser is slow, the Aurora builds for Firefox have been the fastest option I've found so far on my GNEX. But if Chrome beta is faster I'll use it. On mobile it's all about speed for me!

O.

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