Apparently, there are many of us out there who’d rather just do everything on their mobile browser instead of installing an app – that takes up lots of valuable space – for every petty thing. That is not surprising. What is surprising, though, is Google’s assertion that over 1 billion hours of video are played on the mobile version of its Chrome web browser every week!
1 billion! Let that sink in for a moment.
Users go to video streaming sites like Netflix and YouTube straight from the Chrome browser on their mobile devices for their daily fix of whatever is on show while also playing any video they can lay their eyes on on news articles on sites like The New York Times. As such, optimizing video playback on the app is Google’s top priority and that is happening already starting with the latest version of the app, version 52.
According to Google, videos will load faster, play more smoothly and not consume more battery in the new version of Chrome mobile that is currently rolling out in several regions around the world.
For the data conscious, the updated Chrome mobile also looks after you. If you’ve turned on Chrome’s data saving feature then even videos too will be trimmed and deprived of any unnecessary excesses so that your mobile internet plan does not get depleted while you’re still watching that video of the proposed Chinese public transport buses that glide over moving traffic. Last week, Opera made it easier for users of its Opera mini browser to save any video they come across on most video sites and social media. With Chrome joining the fray, it might be a good idea to ditch the data and battery-hungry official Facebook app and just see what your friends are up to using the mobile browser version of the social network.
Now that we know that Google can actually fix all of Chrome mobile’s annoyances, isn’t it about time that the company did the same for the desktop app as well? I’m writing this on Chrome desktop and I have to withstand its occasional tantrums not to mention its infamous battery-sapping tendencies. Opera browser and Microsoft’s Edge browser have been singing sweet music to my ears for the last few weeks but I’ve refused to budge and stuck in this abusive relationship with Chrome because, extensions. Sigh. Don’t mention Mozilla’s Firefox because Vitumob doesn’t work there.
