Google just updated the stable version of Chrome for Android with background audio, but the development of the mobile browser hasn’t stopped. The latest Chrome beta for Android has updated with data compression and password syncing.
This update comes hot on the heels of Opera’s newly launched Opera beta for Android. Opera was one of the first mobile browsers to integrate data compression to save bandwidth usage. Google and Opera’s implementation of data compression is similar, both utilizing server-side compression. Webpages will be compressed at Google’s servers before being fed to users on their mobile devices. HTTPS requests will ignore being compressed so private information doesn’t reach Google’s compression servers.
Google claims that their compression method will reduce bandwidth by over 60%. The company achieves this by transcoding images from their native formats to the smaller and optimized WebP format.
Other updates in this beta release password and autofill syncing, which is super handy. This feature is being rolled out slowly so it may be a day or two until all Chrome beta users on Android get the functionality.
To get the latest version of the Chrome beta for Android, click here.
Source: Chromium Blog
