New Google Chrome 4 beta gets bookmark sync, faster browsing speed

Posted on 04-11-2009

Google has released a new beta version of its Chrome browser (v 4.0.223.16), which promises a boost to speed as well as the new feature of syncing bookmarks across computers.

“For those of you who use several computers – for example, a laptop at work and a desktop at home – you've asked for a way to keep your Google Chrome bookmarks in sync across multiple computers. Today's new beta release allows you to do just that! You can keep your Google Chrome bookmarks synchronized and up-to-date across the multiple computers you use, without needing to manually recreate your bookmarks every time you use a different computer,” the official blog post said.

We tried out the new feature a couple of minutes ago, and can vouch that this works as advertised. After importing all our bookmarks to Chrome on our laptop, from our desktop PC, we then added a new bookmark on the laptop. A few seconds later, it popped up in the Chrome browser on our desktop. Nice!

Google has even released a video that highlights the new feature and how it can be used:

Additionally, Google is claiming that the new Chrome 4 beta is up to 30 per cent faster than its current stable release, Chrome 2. With these claims coming just a few days after Mozilla released the beta version of “its fastest browser yet, Firefox 3.6”, there were bound to be comparisons.

So the folks over at Lifehacker decided to test this claim with a real-world benchmark test. Unsurprisingly, they found that Chrome 4 was the fastest browser around, followed by Chrome 2. In their overall results, which included memory usage and other benchmarks, Chrome 4 still reigned supreme, with Firefox 3.6 beta 1 taking the runner-up slot.

You can download the latest version of Google Chrome 4 beta here.

Related Stories: