Google has moved the latest version of their browser, Chrome 7, from their dev channel to Beta, but users aren’t noticing many apparent changes just yet.
Chrome Program Manager Anthony Laforge made the announcement of the Beta 7 version with little fanfare on the Google Chrome Releases blog late last week.
Fans who downloaded and installed Beta 7 soon began commenting about the lack of anticipated new features, including “Options in Tab.” Some even questioned whether the build was really ready for Beta status.
“A lot of the work that's being done in 7.0 is largely not user facing and in some cases is a legitimate work in progress. With our new release cycle and about:labs, I'd suggest you stay tuned, things are going to start moving quite fast,” Laforge replied to commenters.
Chrome 7 Beta does, however, have a few noteworthy features. The main search bar has incorporated Google Instant results for faster searches, while Mac users have been treated to a new expose view of all open tabs with a simple three-finger swipe gesture on a MacBook touchpad.
Google Chrome Labs has also been incorporated into this build, its first appearance in a Beta version of the browser. The experiments available to users include placing tabs on the side instead of the top of the window and the ability to remotely access another computer from within the browser.
Full hardware acceleration is unfortunately still not enabled by default in this build, but there are components built in to the browser that can be enabled with command line switches. Graphics acceleration has been enhanced though, and WebGL 3D support has been added.
If there are any features missing from Chrome Beta 7 that you were hoping to see, you may not have to wait long. Revisions are currently scheduled to arrive at a pace of every six weeks.
Chrome Beta 7 can be downloaded directly from Google’s Beta channel now.
