5 ms·

Chrome to become the standard browser on Android 4.0 and above

64 points by Garbage 15y ago

curveship 15y ago
Isn't the current stock browser open source, while Chrome is only mostly open source? Does this mean that open source ROMs like Cyanogen won't be able to distribute with a browser?
- eklitzke 15y ago
  My assumption is that it won't be a huge problem, since Chrome is available in the Android Market. Note that Maps, YouTube, GMail, etc. are already closed source, c.f. http://source.android.com/faqs.html#how-can-i-get-access-to-the-google-apps-for-android-such-as-maps http://source.android.com/faqs.html#how-can-i-get-access-to-...
MrJagil 15y ago
Will it eventually be available on iOS?
- robin_reala 15y ago
  No. Apple currently don’t allow any browser engines apart from their standardised WebKit on iOS. This is why you can’t currently get Opera or Firefox on iOS (leaving aside Opera Mini which skirts the rules by running the engine on a proxy server).
  - shareme 15y ago
    not correct, if Google ports their features back to Webkit and they are accepted by the Webkit project than yes you will see it on iOS as Apple uses the Webkit project.
    - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
      > and they are accepted by the Webkit project No, Apple doesn't implement every feature that is pushed to WebKit, they maintain their own fork like everyone else.
    - nextparadigms 15y ago
      But won't the engines have to be identical? Won't Chrome have to use the exact same engine/version as Mobile Safari? Chrome for Android actually uses a newer version of Webkit than Mobile Safari, according to Anandtech, and it has a higher HTML5 score. And what about V8 and all the other features? Or they only have to use the same rendering engine?
      - fpgeek 15y ago
        V8, as an interpreter of downloadable code (JavaScript), is explicitly and intentionally forbidden by Apple's rules for their app store.
- nextparadigms 15y ago
  Does Apple allow any "full browser" on iOS? Opera Mini and Skyfire don't count. I figure Firefox and Opera Mobile would've been there by now if they did.
- dasmoth 15y ago
  Also wondering about WP7. Right now it's clearly a non-starter, but there do seem to be plans afoot for a native SDK. Assuming that happens at some point, would an alternative browser be possible?
rplnt 15y ago
This is really bad news for Opera. Although they probably won't leave their 1st position in mobile browser market anytime soon, they will feel it. Even more so if Google will throw billions on advertising as it did with desktop version and people with older androids will switch too. And this will deepen the new IE5+ era which came with* Chrome. Remember those sites which blocked you when you had other browser than IE? Now try to use some non-mainstream browser for a while and you will notice them again. Some might be subtle, just silently blocking features/redirecting you to other versions of sites. But it is the same nevertheless. (And no, I'm not talking about about various tech demos which really only work in Chrome.) *edit: brought by -> came with
- chime 15y ago
  > And this will deepen the new IE5+ era which was brought by Chrome. Remember those sites which blocked you when you had other browser than IE? Now try not to use Chrome for a while and you will notice them again. The big difference is that Chromium is open-source while IE was not. Also Chrome devs work with Mozilla and others to create new features, unlike IE vs Netscape at the time.
  - apl 15y ago
    > The big difference is that Chromium is open-source > while IE was not. While certainly laudable -- how does that matter in practice? The drama surrounding IE5 would have unfolded in a similar manner if Microsoft's browser had been open source. It's about control and pushing for non-standard features, not development strategies... Your second point stands, of course.
    - vibrunazo 15y ago
      > It's about control and pushing for non-standard features, > not development strategies... I guess the point he's trying to make is that if IE was open source, then MS would have much less control over pushing non-standard features. If chrome tries to pull the same tricks today, people will just build chromium without it and compete. So I agree with chime, that chromium being open source makes a big difference.
defualt 15y ago
I wonder how this will affect Phonegap.
Ziomislaw 15y ago
lets just hope, that google learned on IE errors, and it will be possible to uninstall chrome.
Achshar 15y ago
wait, the title seems misleading. Chrome wont be replacing android browser as standard in ics. it has not even been confirmed for any future updates either. "Standard browser" is probably poor choice of words.

64 points by Garbage 15y ago

Isn't the current stock browser open source, while Chrome is only mostly open source? Does this mean that open source ROMs like Cyanogen won't be able to distribute with a browser?

eklitzke 15y ago
My assumption is that it won't be a huge problem, since Chrome is available in the Android Market. Note that Maps, YouTube, GMail, etc. are already closed source, c.f. http://source.android.com/faqs.html#how-can-i-get-access-to-the-google-apps-for-android-such-as-maps http://source.android.com/faqs.html#how-can-i-get-access-to-...

MrJagil 15y ago

Will it eventually be available on iOS?

robin_reala 15y ago
No. Apple currently don’t allow any browser engines apart from their standardised WebKit on iOS. This is why you can’t currently get Opera or Firefox on iOS (leaving aside Opera Mini which skirts the rules by running the engine on a proxy server).
- shareme 15y ago
  not correct, if Google ports their features back to Webkit and they are accepted by the Webkit project than yes you will see it on iOS as Apple uses the Webkit project.
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    > and they are accepted by the Webkit project No, Apple doesn't implement every feature that is pushed to WebKit, they maintain their own fork like everyone else.
  - nextparadigms 15y ago
    But won't the engines have to be identical? Won't Chrome have to use the exact same engine/version as Mobile Safari? Chrome for Android actually uses a newer version of Webkit than Mobile Safari, according to Anandtech, and it has a higher HTML5 score. And what about V8 and all the other features? Or they only have to use the same rendering engine?
    - fpgeek 15y ago
      V8, as an interpreter of downloadable code (JavaScript), is explicitly and intentionally forbidden by Apple's rules for their app store.
nextparadigms 15y ago
Does Apple allow any "full browser" on iOS? Opera Mini and Skyfire don't count. I figure Firefox and Opera Mobile would've been there by now if they did.
dasmoth 15y ago
Also wondering about WP7. Right now it's clearly a non-starter, but there do seem to be plans afoot for a native SDK. Assuming that happens at some point, would an alternative browser be possible?

rplnt 15y ago

This is really bad news for Opera. Although they probably won't leave their 1st position in mobile browser market anytime soon, they will feel it. Even more so if Google will throw billions on advertising as it did with desktop version and people with older androids will switch too. And this will deepen the new IE5+ era which came with* Chrome. Remember those sites which blocked you when you had other browser than IE? Now try to use some non-mainstream browser for a while and you will notice them again. Some might be subtle, just silently blocking features/redirecting you to other versions of sites. But it is the same nevertheless. (And no, I'm not talking about about various tech demos which really only work in Chrome.) *edit: brought by -> came with

chime 15y ago
> And this will deepen the new IE5+ era which was brought by Chrome. Remember those sites which blocked you when you had other browser than IE? Now try not to use Chrome for a while and you will notice them again. The big difference is that Chromium is open-source while IE was not. Also Chrome devs work with Mozilla and others to create new features, unlike IE vs Netscape at the time.
- apl 15y ago
  > The big difference is that Chromium is open-source > while IE was not. While certainly laudable -- how does that matter in practice? The drama surrounding IE5 would have unfolded in a similar manner if Microsoft's browser had been open source. It's about control and pushing for non-standard features, not development strategies... Your second point stands, of course.
  - vibrunazo 15y ago
    > It's about control and pushing for non-standard features, > not development strategies... I guess the point he's trying to make is that if IE was open source, then MS would have much less control over pushing non-standard features. If chrome tries to pull the same tricks today, people will just build chromium without it and compete. So I agree with chime, that chromium being open source makes a big difference.

defualt 15y ago

I wonder how this will affect Phonegap.

Ziomislaw 15y ago

lets just hope, that google learned on IE errors, and it will be possible to uninstall chrome.

Achshar 15y ago

wait, the title seems misleading. Chrome wont be replacing android browser as standard in ics. it has not even been confirmed for any future updates either. "Standard browser" is probably poor choice of words.