A large number of Android devices won’t be able to run Google Chrome soon

A recent commit for Google Chrome suggests at least 32 million Android devices won’t be able to use the mobile browser soon. The API level for the Chrome mobile browser will be raised from 4.1 to 4.4, so this means those devices that still run on Android Jelly Bean will not be able to use Chrome. Based on the latest figures, Jelly Bean is still used on 3.2% of Android devices and if there are roughly one billion phones and tablets using Google’s open source mobile OS, this means it can possibly affect 32 million devices. But then again, it might be time for an upgrade. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean first came out on July 10, 2012, while the first stable version of Chrome on mobile came out on June 27, 2012.

Source: PhoneArena

Google brings fingerprint support on Chrome beta for Android and Mac

The latest update for Chrome beta is bringing an extra layer of security for Android and Mac devices. The app will use Android fingerprint sensors and the MacBook Pro’s Touch ID sensors for biometrics. It isn’t indicated though if other biometric security options like Windows Hello fingerprint scanners or Touch ID on older iOS devices will be supported as well.

Chrome 70 beta brings with it some other features, too. It’ll exit full-screen mode when dialog boxes for payments, authentication prompts, or file pickers show up so you get a better view of what you’re filling out. Web Bluetooth support comes to Windows 10, letting Chrome communicate with other nearby Bluetooth devices. There’s also a new experimental Shape Detection API that will let you identify barcodes, QR codes, text in images, and faces, among other things.

Source: The Verge

Google tests horizontal tab switcher for its Chrome app on Android

One of the biggest changes Google is implementing in Android P is the horizontal orientation of the recent apps switcher. It seems this design change is making its way to the Chrome app on Android, too. The latest update to Chrome Canary (the unstable version of Chrome) shows a horizontal tab switcher, letting you see more of the page as you swipe left or right. You can close tabs by swiping up and down.

One of the other new things in Chrome includes how you interact with Incognito tabs. You can tap on the incognito icon in the upper right corner to open all of them. If you want to switch back, you just need to tap the icon again. If you want to try this out before the official Chrome app gets it, you’ll need to install the Chrome Canary app from Google Play and then bring out the flags by typing chrome://flags in the search box, find the #enable-horizontal-tab-switcher and then enable it.

Source: GSMArena

Google Chrome finally mutes autoplaying videos by default

Back in December, Google was testing out the ability to mute autoplaying videos on its Chrome browser. Now in Google Chrome 66 version, this feature goes live for users on both the desktop and mobile apps. Chrome will now automatically block these videos from autoplaying. As for those that are set to autoplay without sound, those will continue to play in the background. Another exception is for sites where you have “previously shown an interest in media on the site.” So, if you use YouTube a lot, expect autoplaying videos from there to start playing.

Source: Mashable