Chrome Beta 73: Now the fixed version of Chrome 72 is released and Chrome 73 has been moved to the Beta channel. Although there are some improvements for Android, most of the traffic features that come with the platforms desktop. Below are the new features for Chrome Beta 73.
#1 Address quick actions
Η Google has added a number of buttons for the address bar on Android. Each time you click on the bar, there are new buttons for copying, sharing and editing the existing URL. This has been used behind a flag but has already been enabled as default in Chrome Beta 73.
#2 Picture-in-Picture on desktop
Chrome's picture-in-picture mode came last year and basically allows videos to play in their own little window. In contrast with Android, to which this feature is automatically activated at the time of transition to another application, the desktop requires user action, such as clicking a button. Additionally, Google is experimenting to find a way to enable this mode automatically on desktops and so far it is available as an Original Trial in Chrome 73. In particular, once you add the "autopictureinpicture" feature to a video element, it will automatically appear when the page is hidden. Simply put, it works the same way it always worked on Android. If you have Chrome Beta 73 installed on your desktop, you can try a demo here. Note that the 'Skip Ad' attribute has been added to the desktop and if you have Chrome Beta 73 you can try it.
#3 Keyboard media controls
If you have a keyboard with media controls, you'll probably love Chrome 73, as if you press the play / pause key on your keyboard then it will play or stop an active video. You may also notice some bugs, as some custom video players are not designed to handle playback changes without a user actually pushing the button but should work correctly with most sites. Sites will be available to perform operations each time the rewind / fast forward keys are used, using the Media Session API, which was introduced to Chrome 57 for Android. For example, the Spotify web application could allow you to go to the previous or next song using your keyboard. Certainly some sites will soon add support for this feature.
#4 Badges on PWAs
Another experimental feature for Chrome 73 is the ability to add a badge to an installed Progressive Web App. For example, Twitter PWA could indicate a badge for unread DMs or a video conversion could indicate a badge when it is complete. Here, to emphasize how the representation of the badge will not look the same in every operating system.
other characteristics
- Progressive Web Apps running from the desktop are licensed for autoplay video with audio.
- On Chromebooks with Android 9 Pie, when an Android app starts playing music, Chrome will stop any video or audio player.
- Chrome will no longer allow downloads in sandboxed frames if the user does not interact with the frame.
- Stylesheets can be dynamically built using new CSSStyleSheet methods.
- Sites can quickly check if specific HDCP DRM policies can be used.
If you are interested in downloading the Chrome Beta, click here.
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