Google Chrome for Android Close to Exiting Beta Soon

Google Chrome for Android is close to exiting its beta stage and entering final release in the coming weeks.

Chrome Beta, first released in February, is currently only available on Android 4.0 ICS, and Google hasn’t disclosed whether or not it will be made available for older versions of Android. With the majority of  Android users still not on ICS, it would come as a surprise if they didn’t make it widely available. It is a bit odd that Google’s very own browser hasn’t made an appearance on Android—outside of a beta stage—yet. Although, in fairness to Google, the default browser on Android isn’t all that much different from the Android version of Chrome, especially after the latest release added a few new features.

As expected, Chrome is able to sync up with your Google account, and a Chrome to Mobile service is available, allowing you to send web pages to your computer from your mobile device. Incognito mode also makes an appearance for those of you who want to cover your tracks—a.k.a. check out some NSFW material—on the go.

Chrome loads web pages pretty quickly—which is probably aided by the preload feature—and browsing is mostly smooth. The browser also has a clean and simple design, which is how it should be.

However, if you’re looking to use flash on your Android device, you should look somewhere else since it’s not supported on Chrome.

If you’ve used Chrome Beta at all, you’ve likely noticed that crashing is a pretty serious issue. Granted, it’s still in its beta stage, so bugs are to be expected, but the crashes are pretty frequent.

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome and Apps, is clearly aware of the bugs and had this to say:

“We launched beta 2. We addressed a few things,” Pichai said. “Mainly right now, I’m driven by bug quality and stability. We are triaging, tracking, and trying to make it very stable. It is in a matter of weeks.”

Let’s just hope they clean up the bugs and release a stable version soon enough.

[ via CNET]