Chrome for Android Beta: Behind the Design

Weber: Chrome for Android is not a simplified version of Chrome.
it brings to small devices
the same multi-processor architecture--
GPU, accelerated rendering,
and things like the V8 JavaScript engine
optimized for all.
You should have your Chrome experience
wherever you are.
So we designed Chrome for Android to collaborate
with Chrome Desktop, and create a continuity
between both experiences.
Choc: So Chrome's Omnibox was an amazing innovation
when we released it for the Desktop.
So for Android, we wanted to ensure
and it was as simple and powerful
as you expect from Chrome.
The Omnibox allows you to navigate to web sites,
or to perform search queries.
As you type in the Omnibox, we provide suggestions
for not only web sites you may like to visit,
but also items from your browsing history,
as well as your local bookmarks.
When you're signed in to Chrome,
your suggestions get smarter across all your devices.
So let's say you visit a web site on the Desktop
that starts with the letter "N."
Then, in your Omnibox on your Android device,
you type the letter "N," and that web site will appear
as a suggestion.
Now, that saves a lot of typing.
Civelli: Based on browser user history,
we can predict with a high level of accuracy
where a user is likely to go
when they type a letter in the Omnibox.
For instance, when a user who often visits youtube.com
types "Y" in the Omnibox, we can start loading
and rendering the youtube.com page.
So by the time they actually click on the Omnibox suggestion,
the page has already been loaded.
Of course, minimizing bandwidth usage is a concern
for most mobile users,
so we decided to on the feature by default
only when you're connected to a wi-fi network.
Shah: Chrome's core design principle is that
you shouldn't have to think about our U.I.
Our U.I. shouldn't distract you when you're trying to ignore it.
And at the same time, you shouldn't have to hunt for it
when you need it.
For example, Chrome for Android's toolbar,
while minimal, still gives you direct access
to the most important functions of the browser--
search, navigation, and tab switching.
We've approached the design of Chrome for Android
with the idea that, despite smaller devices,
people want to do more with their browsers.
And we want to make that experience
as easy and delightful as possible.
Rajagopalan: Desktop browsers don't constrain
the number of tabs you can have opened.
We thought, why should a mobile browser have
artificial limits?
Now, with Chrome for Android,
you can open and browse with unlimited tabs.
To do this, we had to manage the balance between
keeping all tabs live at all times,
and the limited resources on the mobile device.
So we freeze a tab, and it goes to the background,
and we fade it back in when you make it live
without disrupting the page content.
Scholler: We were now faced with the challenge
of displaying an unlimited number of tabs on your phone.
To prevent cluttering, we decided to show
all the web pages as a stack,
so we can see them all at once.
Pinch to see a specific one,
or flip through them with the swipe of a finger.
Because we took advantage of the hardware acceleration,
we could show quick animations for all tabs interactions.
So you get an idea of what just happened,
and you don't get lost.
Trainor: So for Tablets, we really wanted
to provide users with the traditional Desktop feel
of Chrome tabs,
but optimized with touch-spaced interactions.
To accommodate large numbers of tabs,
we need to let them scroll and stack at the edge of the screen.
And this is great because you can drag the stack,
or you can tap to expand it, and you can easily find
the tab you're looking for.
We wanted to make tab switching super easy for you
just to do using side gestures.
So on Chrome for Android, you can use your thumb
on the side of the screen, and you can easily change tabs.
And you can do it without lifting your hand
off the device.
Feldstein: Many web sites are not optimized
for mobile browsers.
Desktop sites can often have small links
that can be difficult to touch,
especially when they're very close together.
In Chrome for Android, we wanted to make
navigating these sites easier, so we introduced
the link-preview feature.
With the link-preview feature,
if there are many small links close together,
and we're not sure which one you intended to touch,
we'll show you a zoomed-in view of all the surrounding links,
letting you quickly and easily choose the one that you wanted.
This way you can always navigate to where you want to go
without constantly zooming in and out.
Lan: Long, text-heavy pages can be especially hard
to pass on the phone.
We've introduced mobile-optimized find & page
to make it easy to find what you're looking for.
Just like on Desktop, Chrome for Android
highlights instances of the words you're searching for
on the page.
To make things easier on small phone screens,
we've introduced a translucent sidebar
where you can slide up and down through results quickly.
Especially useful on a page with a lot of matches.
Strange: Have you ever rushed away from your computer
and wished that you'd remembered to send yourself
those directions that you just looked up?
Or maybe that long article
that you didn't have a chance to read?
When designing Chrome for Android,
we thought, what if you could step away from your laptop,
even close the lid, and still have access to your tabs,
with each tab's browsing history on your mobile phone or Tablet?
Now you can.
When you sign in to Chrome on your Desktop,
and Chrome for Android on your mobile phone or Tablet,
you can have access to all your open tabs
across all your devices,
creating a completely continuous browsing experience.
Nyquist: Sometimes you want to guarantee
that a document, like a boarding pass
or a concert ticket, is available to you
on your Android device,
even if you don't have internet connection.
When you sign in to Chrome for Android,
it is paired with your Desktop browser.
Choose any page, and the document,
including text and pictures,
will be downloaded to your Android device,
available even when you're offline.
Strange: Now that you've heard about
the speed, simplicity, and sign-in features
of Chrome for Android, why don't you give it a try?