The beta version of Google’s own Web browser, dubbed ‘Google Chrome’, was released today. Ten minutes ago I installed it.
As with most things Google, the user interface is very minimal and clean. There are no menu bars and the address bar also serves as the search box and history bar which is a nice idea. All settings (saved passwords, bookmarks, etc.) can be imported from other browsers such as Firefox or IE which makes for an easy transition.

One thing that really disappointed me was the absence of the Google toolbar. This toolbar is the one thing keeping me from switching from Firefox to Opera: I love being able to click on an icon to go straight to Gmail (and the icon changes when I have new messages), and the spellcheck and image search buttons are incredibly useful, however none of these features seem to have made it into Chrome. Oh, and the ‘back’ and ‘forward’ buttons on my mouse don’t seem to work, something that will likely infuriate me.

On the upside, Chrome uses the WebKit framework (as used by Apple’s Safari, et al.) which means it will pass the Acid2 test and be friendly to Web developers. The ‘New Tab Page” (Googletalk for homepage) features an Opera-esque Speed Dial feature which displays thumbnails of your nine most frequented Web sites, which is fantastic, and also shows a list of your most recent bookmarks for easy access.

Final verdict: if you’re looking for a simplistic, user-friendly and easy to use browser, Chrome is definitely for you. Personally I will be sticking with Firefox for now, but Chrome is only in beta and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it.