This afternoon Google released their brand-spanking-new web browser called Chrome. I’ve been using it this afternoon for my normal, day-to-day browsing and web use. My initial take is that it’s a great browser with some room to grow.

Chrome Screenshot

I spend most of my time using Google products: Gmail, Google Reader, Google Docs, and search. Overall it seems like the response and load time of these apps is quite a bit faster. No surprise here really, though, since they wrote the software they want their products to work really well on it. I also signed into a couple Yahoo products (mail, Flickr, and Delicious) and they seemed to load really well too, so they didn’t just write an app for their own products.

I did notice a few small bugs. First, I was not able to change or upload a new profile pic. I’m thinking part of the problem is with Facebook’s programming, though, since I’ve had a few issues with the site in Firefox. Also, I was not able to sign into Rhapsody’s web interface. The sign in window would open, but there weren’t any fields that I could enter text into. I’m also going to miss the Delicious bookmarking addon, so that will be an adjustment, too.

Other than those minor annoyances I’m impressed with the browser. I’m planning on using it as my primary browser for the time being, so after a week or so I might be able to give a fuller review of the product. Download it for yourself and give it a try (if you use Windows as your OS, that is).

See also:
Google’s official announcement/comic book about Chrome
CNET’s Webware Blog Review
Lifehacker’s First Look