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Google Chrome beta app for Android is updated with a battery saving feature

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By Alan Friedman

Updated: Jun 15, 2019, 6:28 PM

Google Chrome beta app for Android is updated with a battery saving feature

Just a few days ago, we told you about an update to the Google Chrome Browser app for Android to version 75 (75.0.3770.67). That update included a password manager that creates "strong and unique" passwords and also allows you to look up stored passwords. It also added a dark mode setting with three options; the default setting keeps Chrome on Light Mode until the Battery Saver is enabled. Light Mode will keep the usual black text on white background regardless of whether the Battery Saver is on, and Dark Mode always has the white text on a black background.

According to the Chromium Blog (via Android Police), there is now a new update for the beta version of the Chrome Browser for Android. The update takes us to version 76 (76.0.3809.21 to be exact) and includes "lazy loading" on some websites. This is when some aspects of a web page don't load until you scroll down to them. If you want to see a good example of this, open the NewYorkTimes.com app on Chrome and switch to Desktop site. You'll notice that the images on the bottom of the web page won't load until you scroll down to reveal the boxes where the images load. Google says, "If the viewport is scrolled within a distance threshold of deferred content, it will start loading in. The distance depends on factors like the current network speed, such that it can be tuned so that deferred content is almost always finished loading by the time it becomes visible."

Google says that using this technique saves data because it doesn't load images that the user doesn't scroll down to view. Loading elements that the user never sees is a waste of battery life, system resources and processing time, according tot he company. Once an image is loaded on the page, it stays loaded until the site is closed.

There are some other new features that are part of the update. One feature will load a site's dark mode build if it has one as long as dark mode is enabled for the browser. And the top right corner of the tabs page on Chrome will show your Google profile picture inside a circle. Google is calling this an identity disc in a nod to the movie Tron. In the movie, the detachable discs carry all of the memories collected by a program.

New York Times website in dark mode on Chrome

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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