Chrome for Android Beta updates, custom ROMs Beware

When Google turned Chrome for Android loose on the community, everyone jumped to check it out. Then we all found out the disappointing news that it had an Android 4.0 base requirement. That was easily combated with custom ROMs. Many people took the Android 4.0 plunge just to check out Chrome. People are crazy aren’t they. Today Google dropped an update to the market. The single biggest improvement was the browsers speed. Making it lightning fast, just like we had all hoped it might be. Other changes include –

• Android Beam support – now beam URLs from Chrome to other devices with NFC.
• Support for additional countries
• Compatibility checks to ensure system prerequisites for Chrome are met
• Essential bug fixes

Even though the change log is rather nice, adding additional countries officially is always a good thing. The list of known issues is dramatically larger.  This is primarily due to our ability to directly report issues to Google in the browser. It can only get better with our help right? Google is taking notice of the reports and will address them in updates as fast as they can.

We saw the update go live, but wanted to give it some more time after reading through some of the comments. It seems holding off on reporting the update and also telling you to snag it was the right call after all. It seems that the latest update is causing those of us running custom ROMs some major headaches. Some think the new compatibility check is looking for device model instead of Android version which is causing an issue. After updating reports are pouring with a message that states it needs Android 4.0 or newer to run, even though they are on an ICS ROM. Other’s have come in saying they aren’t having any issues with their ROM. Seems the issue is a hit or miss situation. We aren’t exactly sure what the full story is, but we definitely wanted you to be warned.

If you are interested in trying it for yourself, you may want to make a Titanium back up of the app before you update. That way if it goes haywire on you, you can uninstall it and restore the previous version. Head into the market and check the ‘My Apps’ section for the update, or you can click/scan the QR code found below.

Application: Chrome Beta
Developer: Google Inc.
Cost: FREE