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Google Chrome Underwhelms

Techtree News Staff, Sep 04, 2008 1124 hrs IST

We take Google's web browser for a spin -- it's nothing special. For now

Chrome is out and available for download, we took it for a quick spin. If you are looking for a low-down on the features that Chrome introduces, our previous article will serve as a good introduction. Our impressions of Chrome follow.

What we like

Each tab runs as a different process. Open Windows Task Manager and you will see multiple instances of Chrome, each representing a tab. Incidentally, Chrome offers a task manager of its own: right-click its address bar area to access it; a far easier way than to hunt down Chrome processes under Windows Task Manager. This behaviour makes it easy to track errant websites and memory sinks, and to close them down without affecting the browser on the whole. We also like the "New Tab" experience: Chrome lists frequently visited sites and recent bookmarks while a new tab is opened. It's Opera's Speed Dial remixed but as a value-add, it's a good feature.

Chrome's Task Manager allows you to shut down an errant tab, without bringing the entire browser down

Google Chrome's 'New Tab' behaviour: Chrome on top, Opera's Speed Dial below, highlighted in red

Incognito Mode. A one-click option to go invisible while browsing sites, nice. Under Incognito Mode, Chrome does not store any information on the sites you are browsing. Safari offers this as well, not surprising since both these browsers use the same guts (Webkit).

An incognito window will not leave cookies on your PC. Nor will sites browsed while incognito appear in your history

It's fast. Really fast -- in our totally-unscientific testing, it felt faster than even Opera! (Chrome loaded Techtree.com in about 5 seconds, Opera took about 6 seconds and Firefox took about 8 seconds.)

Very clean Interface. Chrome's interface is impressive: clean, intuitive, minimal yet useful. It also feels snappy, especially with the tabs. Unfortunately, Chrome does not allow you to change tab listing from a horizontal to a more readable vertical layout. (We love opening tabs, and the horizontal layout gets very cramped, very fast). The interface is equally clean across the browser's features: history, downloads, find-in-page, even the stats page carries the clean lines and fonts.

It's compliant. Google Chrome passed the Acid2 test fine. It failed the Acid3 Link Test though (a 77/100 score), which is strange since Webkit was one of the two (the other being Opera) that had passed the Acid3 test. But javascript support is excellent, from what little browsing we did on AJAX-intensive websites. (For those wondering -- Safari gets 75/100 on Acid3, Opera 83/100, Firefox 70/100, IE8 12/100.)

An integrated download manager. Every browser should come with a download manager. Chrome's is tied to the tab that you trigger the download under. So while the download will continue even if you close the tab, you won't be able to track it on the browser's footer. (Hit [Ctrl] + [J] to open the Downloads window -- downloads here are searchable.)

History view. The browser shows History by day and you can delete a particular day's history with just a click. History is also clickable. Nothing special -- Opera offers the same and more, for example, but Chrome's interface is much cleaner.

What we don't like

It's not what we expected. When Google introduces a new product, we expect something revolutionary. Chrome is evolutionary at best; nothing special. Yes, it is a very early Beta but as it stands, it doesn't excite us beyond its speed (did we mention it is very fast?). When we first heard about Chrome, we expected a browser that will revolve around tasks; Chrome is still too URL-centric; it is not "something starting from scratch", as the Chrome comic put it. Chrome is still very much in
the 'old browser' domain. As of now, Flock is more of a design "based on the needs of today's web applications and today's users", than is Chrome, to quote from the comic once again.

In its current state, Chrome fails to live up to the promises of this comic strip:

Some interface niggles. Bad tab management. Yes, it opens related tabs next to each other, but we like how IE8 Beta colour-coordinates sibling tabs. We also miss browsing through tabs using our mouse-wheel, like Opera allows. Absence of mouse-gestures also make us sad. Overall -- this is not a power-user's browser. (Although it does throw some nice stats at you when you type in about:memory in its address bar). It's zoom feature also leaves much to be desired -- everybody, just copy Opera's zoom implementation please.

Missing features. No adblock software, no feature to store and track web-content as snippets, surprisingly little (read: none) integration with Google Apps beyond taking them offline with a click, lacking in integration with even Google services such as YouTube and Picasa. Chrome is open-source, so we expect a lot of value-addition in the form of plugins but as of now, the browser feels bare.

Memory hog. It is quite the memory guzzler. With 14 tabs open, Chrome's memory footprint was the biggest, with IE8 Beta being the lightest. Note that throwing Opera in this comparison isn't very apples-to-apples, since there were 17 tabs open under Opera, while the rest had the same 14 open. (This article was written under Opera;
plus an additional window, hence the extra tabs).

Mmmm, memory. Chrome likes.

Our thoughts on Chrome

Google Chrome is a typical Google product -- fast and simple. Unfortunately, unlike most Google products, it lacks the "wow": there is no pressing need, no must-have feature that begs you to adopt it immediately. Which is disappointing, considering Google's track record with new applications. It is fast though.

Chrome is clearly a shot across Microsoft's brow, and for the most part, it connects. Google has obviously released this software as a means to ensuring that all their web applications run, and run well on at least one browser. Chrome also lets you create shortcuts to Google Apps; and to take Google Apps offline, via its Gears framework (although that works with other browsers as well). We imagine this behaviour will be better integrated with time. Chrome is thus a play against Microsoft's dominance of the online field (through IE), and offline field (through MS Office).

While this move is welcome (competition is always good), we can't help but feel a little left out; as an end-user. We wish Chrome truly had rebooted the browsing experience, much like Google brought new interface paradigms to the webmail experience, or indeed to data via its search service.

We were expecting a revolution, and Chrome isn't it. At that, we are disappointed. As a browser, it is a competent offering but it's lost in the web of browsers; and barely stands apart. Hopefully, Google has greater plans for Chrome -- beyond merely using it as a lynchpin in its strategy agains Microsoft.