A newly-released beta version of Google’s Chrome internet browser includes “crazy speed improvements”, according to the firm.
Version 5.0.375.29 which is available for Windows, Linux and Mac computers is described by Chrome’s developers as offering a “hefty boost in speed”. According to tests there’s been a 30 per cent and 35 per cent improvement in speed on the V8 and SunSpider benchmark respectively, over the previous beta channel release.
V8 is Google’s JavaScript engine, while SunSpider was released by Apple’s WebKit team.
Mads Ager, a Google software engineer, said: “In fact, looking back in time, Chrome’s performance has improved by as much as 213 per cent and 305 per cent on these two benchmarks since our very first beta.”
A number of new features have also been included in the update. To start with, browser preferences such as themes, homepage and start-up settings can now be synchronised across multiple computers.
New HTML5 features have also been added, including geolocation APIs, App Cache, web sockets and file drag-and-drop capabilities. In addition, the new beta contains initial integration of Adobe’s Flash player plug-in for the first time.