Google Chrome 3.0 beta first look

I think Google Chrome is one of those pieces of software that gets updated and tweaked very very often, but doesn’t bring many improvements or features to the table with each new release. I’ve installed it since it came out in September 2008 and it’s got at least 10 updates from then, all minor. But that’s was true till yesterday, when they put at our disposal Google Chrome Beta 3.

Google chrome beta 3

Don’t try and search for “google chrome” to find it as it will point you to the “regular” version. Go here if you want to install Google Chrome Beta 3. I’ve done so last night and now I can tell you from my point of view what it does that previous version didn’t and if it is worth downloading.

Google Chrome Beta 3 improvements

First thing you’ll notice is the New Tab page, where you can customize the position of most visited websites and even can pin a tab to a specific position. The recent activities window moved down and there’s a new mystery window that says: ‘What will we put here?‘.

The Address Bar is now called Omnibox and it’s more like Firefox’s combined search/history/address bar. It seems the logical step here, why don’t copy something that’s proven to be efficient.

Visual improvements were something Google Chrome lacked and Google addressed that with a themes gallery with a few dozen visual skins to choose from. It’s nice but I wouldn’t get too excited as the styles are not so inspired.

Speed was also improved by 30% (as stated by Google), but that wasn’t an issue with Chrome. And finally, Google Chrome Beta 3 brings HTML 5.0 capabilities, a thing to look for in future websites.

New tab page in Google Chrome 3 Beta

Is it worth installing?

I think it does as it seem stable enough, not less than any Google Beta program or service. The improvements are OK, but I’m still waiting for extensions support. Till then I’m gonna stick to Firefox as my main browser.