Google Announces Its Final Chrome Release of 2020
- Paul Thurrott
- Nov 17, 2020
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Google today announced Chrome 87, which it says offers major performance and efficiency improvements on desktop and mobile.
“The updates can help you get things done this holiday season (and beyond), so you can make life’s work a bit smoother and reclaim precious time,” Google’s Matt Waddell announced.
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The big news? Performance: Google says that this release marks the largest gain in Chrome performance in years, thanks to many under-the-hood improvements. More specifically, Chrome reduces CPU usage by up to 5X and extends battery life by up to 1.25 hours thanks to a new tab prioritization system. It now starts up to 25 percent faster and loads webpages up to 7 percent faster, despite using less RAM and power than before. And on Android, the latest Chrome now loads pages “near instantaneously” when you navigate backward and forward.
Beyond that, Chrome 87 also includes a new tab management feature that lets you navigate to tabs even if they’re in another Chrome window; Google says this feature is coming first to Chrome OS and then to other desktop platforms. Google has also added Chrome Actions to the Chrome address bar that lets you take specific actions—like “edit passwords” and “delete history”—by typing short phrases. (You can find the list of Chrome Actions here.)
Soon, Chrome will also sport a new feature called Cards that let you continue where you left off. These cards will appear in the New Tab page and provide access to recently-visited and related content on the web. Google is also experimenting with cooking, shopping, and entertainment experiences that it says it will make available in early 2021.