There is a fairly good chance that Google’s Chrome browser app is your browser of choice for Android. However, the version of Google Chrome that you use will be highly dependent on how keen you are to have the very latest features on offer. Equally, how keen you are to have an as bug-free as possible browsing experience. If you prefer the ‘features now/possible bugs’ route, then you might be using Chrome Dev. If you prefer the ‘features later/bug less’ route then chances are you are probably using the standard version of Chrome, more affectionately known as Chrome Stable. Of course, there is always the middle ground for those who want some features and a more-stable app experience, Chrome Beta.
Well, if you use Chrome Dev then you might have already noticed a new feature that seems to be on offer. This is one which relates to the ‘new tab’ page. For context, if you open a new tab in the standard Chrome app you end up with the Google logo, a search box and a selection of your most frequented sites as small icon links. If you open up the same page in Chrome Dev, you get all of the above, but also what seems to be some Google Now integration. Like Google Now, the new tab pages on Chrome Dev list card based links. So for instance, both bookmarks and “Articles for you” are now showing up just like they do in Google Now – in horizontal tab fashion. As a result and much like you would with Google Now, scrolling down the new tab page allows you to scroll through your bookmarks and then a selection of curated articles that you might be interested in.
At the moment, this is primarily a Chrome Dev feature. Which does mean that it is not accessible at all from the standard version of Chrome. It is being reported that it might be accessible from Chrome Beta, although this seems to be a bit more hit and miss. However, it is live for everyone who does have the Chrome Dev app installed on their device. If you don’t currently have the Dev version of Chrome installed on your device but would like to give the new feature a try, you can download Chrome Dev though the link below. Alternatively, wait until it does progress through the Chrome app releases until it reaches your version. That is, presuming Google does not pull the feature in the meantime.