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Chrome for iOS

itunes.apple.com

41–50 of 94 posts

Re: Chrome for iOS

#41
I have high hope for Chrome for iOS to be like the Google Search app[1] which is simply fun to use. Instead, on an iPad, what we got is just a desktop UI slab on top of touch interface… and seems to trash old tab faster than Mobile Safari. It's kind of sad.

Edit: I was wrong about tab trashing, seems like old tab reloads when you come back from Incognito mode.

[1]: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-search/id284815942?mt=...

Re: Chrome for iOS

#42

The bummer here for Google (and anyone else who'd like to provide an alternative to Apple's apps on the iOS platform) is that there's no way to set your default browser. Or email client. Or calendar. It'll be hard to use chrome if Safari opens up every time I click a link in email or any other app.

It is a bummer you can't make Chrome your default browser. However, if you move Safari to a folder and put Chrome in your launch bar, Safari being default won't bother you too much.

Until you click a link in an email or app.

Re: Chrome for iOS

#43
Autocompletion in the omnibox is way more aggressive than in Safari. You typically only need to type one or two characters to get to the sites you visit most frequently. In a lot of cases, this will more than make up for any JS performance differences between Chrome and Safari.

Re: Chrome for iOS

#44
post #5

Chrome for iOS doesn't use V8 or the Chromium fork of WebKit, just UIWebView. [0] Because it's using WebViews, it's about 3x slower than the OS's Safari browser [1], because WebViews in sandboxed apps don't get the "Nitro" JavaScript JIT from iOS 5 onwards (presumably for mark-executable security reasons). Unless the tab-sharing feature is crucial to more people than I thought, I don't think this app is going to be a…

feature is crucial

A crucial feature for me would be password-manager support (lastpass, 1passwd). The (lack of) password management on the iPad is driving me nuts. The half-baked external apps that let you copy/paste don't cut it for me. Nor the awfully slow and constantly crashing "LastPass browser".

Does Chrome finally bring relief?

Re: Chrome for iOS

#45
post #12

This could be a nice "trojan horse" into the iOS ecosystem. Get Apple users hooked enough on Chrome, that they will want to switch to Android for the "real Chrome experience". I know a lot of people are not using iPhones because they can't live without the Gmail app for Android.

It's possible but I seriously doubt users would switch to Android because of a browser. Especially when they've already spent a lot of money on iOS apps and are familiar with the iOS ecosystem. I also doubt any mainstream user will understand that Chrome on iOS is slower than it could be because of Apple's rules.

> It's possible but I seriously doubt users would switch to Android because of a browser. [..] I also doubt any mainstream user will understand that Chrome on iOS is slower than it could be because of Apple's rules.

Yes, it seems more likely that the opposite of what GP said will happen: iOS users will try Chrome, and seeing it is 3-4x slower than the default Safari, will assume that Chrome would be slow on Android too - it has the exact same name after all - so they'll stick with iOS.

Re: Chrome for iOS

#46
post #44
post #5

Chrome for iOS doesn't use V8 or the Chromium fork of WebKit, just UIWebView. [0] Because it's using WebViews, it's about 3x slower than the OS's Safari browser [1], because WebViews in sandboxed apps don't get the "Nitro" JavaScript JIT from iOS 5 onwards (presumably for mark-executable security reasons). Unless the tab-sharing feature is crucial to more people than I thought, I don't think this app is going to be a…

feature is crucial A crucial feature for me would be password-manager support (lastpass, 1passwd). The (lack of) password management on the iPad is driving me nuts. The half-baked external apps that let you copy/paste don't cut it for me. Nor the awfully slow and constantly crashing "LastPass browser". Does Chrome finally bring relief?

Hmm... I never thought of that.

Safari 6 added a new preferences panel for saved passwords. Unfortunately there's not an equivalent iPad setting (just checked on iPad 2, iOS 6 beta 1), but this might change between now and fall...

Maybe you should file a bug report?

Re: Chrome for iOS

#47
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that's a bummer. The UI in the Chrome app is really slick!

Don't worry too much about that, it's only slower for javascript execution. The other features, including Chrome sync, unlimited tabs, "Request desktop site", more than make up for it. The real stumbling block, IMO, is that without jailbreaking, links from other apps will always open in Safari.

> unlimited tabs

Safari on iOS 6 (on iPad, at least) finally lets you open more than 9 tabs! The new max is 25, which is enough.

Re: Chrome for iOS

#48
post #44
post #5

Chrome for iOS doesn't use V8 or the Chromium fork of WebKit, just UIWebView. [0] Because it's using WebViews, it's about 3x slower than the OS's Safari browser [1], because WebViews in sandboxed apps don't get the "Nitro" JavaScript JIT from iOS 5 onwards (presumably for mark-executable security reasons). Unless the tab-sharing feature is crucial to more people than I thought, I don't think this app is going to be a…

feature is crucial A crucial feature for me would be password-manager support (lastpass, 1passwd). The (lack of) password management on the iPad is driving me nuts. The half-baked external apps that let you copy/paste don't cut it for me. Nor the awfully slow and constantly crashing "LastPass browser". Does Chrome finally bring relief?

Chrome Sync allows you to sync passwords.

Re: Chrome for iOS

#49

The bummer here for Google (and anyone else who'd like to provide an alternative to Apple's apps on the iOS platform) is that there's no way to set your default browser. Or email client. Or calendar. It'll be hard to use chrome if Safari opens up every time I click a link in email or any other app.

I wonder if Apple is ever going to run into legal trouble for this - it can't be much different than Microsoft's troubles with bundling IE, WMP, etc. on the desktop.

Re: Chrome for iOS

#50
After a few hours of heavy usage:

-I had forgotten how AWESOME omnibox is. You can speak to it!!

-Safari habits die hard

-The only thing I'm missing is the 'Reader' feature.

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