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Google adds Chrome finish to Android

Ice Cream Sandwich users only, sadly

Google has announced a beta version of its increasingly popular Chrome browser for Android users, but only if you’re on the most current build, version 4.0, dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Chocolate Factory’s latest creation has been designed to allow easy synchronization with the desktop version of the browser. Bookmarks can be ported across to smartphones, tabs left open on the desktop can also be synched to the smartphone or tablet, and the autocomplete suggestions can also be shared between the two platforms.

“Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices,” said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and Apps on the Chrome blog.

The browser has also been optimized for smartphone screens, with smaller tabs available in “unlimited” quantities (although given the screen size there would be practical problems for large amounts of tabs) and the ability to zoom in on hyperlinks automatically.

For privacy – and to cover up evidence of one-handed viewing of dodgy sites – the incognito window feature of the desktop browser is included, and further “fine-grained” privacy controls have been added in.

The software is available in the Android marketplace for users in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.

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