Google Chrome is getting a new beta update for Android bringing the version number to 69 and this includes the usual mix of interface updates and new developer features. Much like how Apple tweaked Safari-specific CSS attributes to help websites adjust with the notch-screen, Android too is following the suit including Chrome.
With Android phones embracing the notch, it is about time Google brings out support for notched phones. The Chrome 69 supports the same ‘safe-area-inset’ properties that Apple introduced last year. This means that the sites already optimized for the iPhone X will work just fine. There’s a possibility that this feature only works on phones with an actual notch and not simulated cutouts.
Android Go is a modified version of Android that is intended to run smoothly on low-end phones with 1GB of RAM. Since Google Chrome ships with every Android phone, Google decided to add media player functionality to the browser. On devices running Android 8.0 and above with 1GB RAM, chrome now opens as a target app when trying to play a media file. This is definitely a useful feature, considering the browser can natively play many video and audio formats.
Chrome has supported Picture-in-Picture on Android for over a year, however, starting with Chrome 69, Picture-in-Picture is now supported on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS. The Picture-in-Picture will pop the videos out into a floating window. You will have to switch #enable-surfaces-for-videos flag to Enabled for this to work. It will be enabled once chrome 69 hits stable. Google is also working on bringing a new Download manager, you can now enable the #download-home-v2 flag to see an updated Downloads page.
Other Chrome 69 features include Limited support for the AV1 media codec is available for desktop, new CSS features are available, the OS build number no longer appears in the user agent string, to prevent fingerprinting, Touch ID on the MacBook Pro can now be used as a login method for sites using the Web Authentication API. In case the update didn’t hit you on Play Store, you can download the APK and side-load it.