Google has been paying a little more attention to the Android version of Chrome, and now they’ve recently updated the Dev version of the app alongside some updates they made to the Android WebView application. The update for Chrome should be live but if you aren’t seeing it and you have the app installed on your device, you can download the apk and install the update from the link provided here for the Chrome for Android Dev. WebView isn’t currently live but it shouldn’t be too long before the update pops up for those that are using the app already. As for what’s changed, there is nothing monumental here but the changes are handy nonetheless.
The first thing worth mentioning is that Google has brought contextual search over to tablets. Prior to this update, the Chrome for Android Dev app only allowed users to highlight text and search for the highlighted content contextually via smartphones, but now tablet users have access to the feature too. WebView ‘s latest version will be offering this for tablets as well now, so look for it when the update hits if you’re using a device that’s running Lollipop forward. Google has added some other text related changes to the latest version of the Chrome for Android Dev app too. The first relates to the floating text box with the cut, copy, and share options inside, which only appears if you’re running Android M.
With the latest version of Chrome for Android Dev, that floating text box now appears next to, presumably either above or below, the text selection that’s highlighted. This is for the address bar and the text entry fields on web pages only it seems. The other text related change is available for both the Chrome Dev and Chrome beta versions of the Android app, and users with those versions can now drag through text word by word. To access this, users have to enable it via the chrome://flags, and it will be listed under the “touch text drag selection strategy.” After navigating to this particular label, tap direction and relaunch Chrome to have the option enabled.
The last change coming to Chrome sees some changes to the easter egg T-Rex game users can play within the browser. Google’s Francois Beaufort mentions that once users get past around high-score 500 or so, they’ll begin to encounter pterodactyls in the game. You’ll be able to access the game whenever you open chrome and try to open a webpage without there being an internet connection.