Google releases Chrome browser for iPhone: Google has done what many thought was not possible, it just put mobile Chrome on iOS. Chrome browser has been released on the iPhone and iPad and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.
Google announced Chrome for iOS after Android Chrome is out of beta. Android version of Chrome is available on Ice Cream Sandwich and up, that equates to little more than 7% of the Android devices.
Chrome for iOS will run on iOS 4.3 and up that puts it on many iPhone and iPad devices. Chrome for iOS became the chart topper in free apps category on the appstore within hours after it was announced and available for download.
This illustrates the demand for alternative browsers on iPhone other than Safari. Apple’s app rules won’t let Google bring in its own WebKit rendering engine tweaks or change the default browser. Advantages of Chrome on iOS: it’s ability to sync data between all devices including desktop, Android; You can take all your bookmarks, open tabs, saved passwords and settings to your iPhone or iPad. Disadvantages of Chrome on iOS: Chrome cannot be set as the default browser; due to Apple’s restrictions on third party browsers. That means opening links from applications like Twitter, or from messages will take you to Safari.
Chrome has slick UI but it is not as fast as the mobile safari on iOS, particularly with the JavaScript heavy sites. Although it doesn’t seem to be very slow, just behind Safari, for most of the sites you won’t feel the difference; this is due to the fact that the Chrome browser does not have access to the Nitro JavaScript Engine that the mobile safari has.
Chrome uses the UIWebView, a pre-Nitro version. Chrome is not significantly different than mobile safari as it uses the same rendering engine as Safari with Google Chrome UI and some unique functions such as Sync between devices.
