New Features: Extension Sync!
PDF Viewer: Chrome 6 integrates a native PDF viewer that replaces the Adobe Acrobat Reader plugin. It is disabled by default and you can enable it by typing chrome://plugins in the URL bar. It is the first option on the top of the page. There s no official information why this feature is not enabled, but we suspect that the PDF viewer is not complete – for example, the print button is missing, while other functions such as zoom scaling is already working well. The integrated Flash player, by the way, can be disabled in this way as well.
Extension Sync: This is probably the most significant new feature in Chrome 6. If you have a Google account anyway, then Sync is a great way to take your browser configuration data with you as they are synced with your Google account. In Chrome 6, Sync also includes Extensions, which means that they are available anywhere you go, by default, just like if you were using Chrome on your Home PC.
Form Autofill: You can define certain information that should be filled into forms so you do not have to type it all the time – such as name and address fields.
Transparent URL bar information: Typing in the URL bar will deliver dynamic search results right away in the drop-down field. All results are now marked with a symbol that indicate whether what was found relates to your browsing history, a search phrase, or your bookmarks.
HTML 5 support: Google seems to be improving HTML 5 support on a continuous basis. Chrome 6 now scores 227 points in HTML5test.com, ahead of any other (final) rival browser.
JavaScript: Chrome 6 is faster than Chrome 5 in every major JavaScript benchmark (Sunspider, V8, Celtic Kane). We have seen a performance increase of about 10% across the board.
GPU acceleration: Against common belief, Chrome 6 does not include GPU acceleration and does not support the GPU acceleration switches published by Google. Google recently confirmed that it has begun working on GPU acceleration for Chrome.
Chrome 6 Psychedelic Wheel test
Chrome 7 Psychedelic Wheel test
Why Chrome 6 is already old and how you can run the latest version
While Chrome 6 is the latest Chrome version and while may feel fresh, it is already one generation behind of the latest Chrome developer builds. The current Chrome 6.0.472.53 uses the Webkit core engine 534.3 and the V8 JavaScript engine version 2.2.24.19. At the time of this writing the most recent developer (nightly) build was 7.0.515.0 with Webkit 534.7 and V8 2.4.0. In our common JavaScript tests, 7.0 is about 8% faster than 6.0.
Chrome 7.0 supports GPU acceleration in some versions (Canary builds) and has a much more sophisticated graphics engine. It outruns 6.0 in complex JavaScript-based as well as GPU-accelerated content version 6.0 by a considerable margin and is notably snappier. WE also noticed that while GPU acceleration was not enabled by default in the latest Chrome nightly builds, the software is within 10% of the performance of the GPU-accelerated IE9 in complex web graphics such as the Psychedelic Wheel test – as long as the window size does not exceed a width of 700 pixels. Compared to Chrome 6, Chrome 7 was about 50% faster on our test system in Microsoft’s Psychedelic Wheel test.
Since the end of July, Google is offering a Canary build, which is a fairly raw developer version of Chrome. It installs into a different Chrome directory, which allows you to run a developer version of Chrome next to a stable version of Chrome on your computer. If you are adventurous, you can also download nightly builds once in a while, which do not require an installation, which means you can actually run three different versions of Chrome side-by-side, if you want.
Speed: What matters to you?
Different web browsers behave differently in different scenarios. These days, browser speed is a big deal and we have seen significant progress. Within a few months, we expect that subjectively perceived performance of Opera, Chrome, Safari Firefox and IE will be on one level as far as JavaScript is concerned. Depending on the websites you like to visit, it is nearly impossible to predict which browser will be the fastest browser in general. When you are choosing your web browser, we recommend downloading all major browsers and see which one you like best and which one performs the best on your computer.
Safari and Chrome are fantastic browsers, IE9 is shaping up well and Firefox 4 has everything it needs to become a web user’s favorite. Opera is a very capable browser as well and undervalued as far as its market share is concerned, but it does have some catching up to do as every other browser is now integrating HTML 5 support and is working towards GPU acceleration.
However, there is no such thing as the “best” web browser anymore. You have the choice among some great browsers and you can pick what you personally like best without having to fear that you are making a mistake.
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