Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. 15, allowing only those users which already have Flash to receive updates.Ĭhrome can be downloaded free-of-charge from the App Store in versions for the iPhone and iPad. Thursday, Adobe also announced that it will block new installations of Flash for Android as of Aug.

Yesterday, Adobe confirmed that it will not create a certified edition of Flash for Android 4.1, aka 'Jelly Bean,' reiterating promises it made late in 2011 that it would abandon development of Flash for mobile browsers. Apple has been adamant about keeping Flash out of its e-mart, and off its mobile devices.īut browsers on other mobile platforms, notably Google's own Android, are also going sans Flash: Chrome for Android, which Google launched in beta in February and shifted into its 'stable' channel earlier this week, also lacks Flash. Google obviously half-assed another iOS app.'Ĭhrome for iOS, like all browsers in the App Store, lacks support for Adobe's Flash Player. 'Runs 3.5 times slower doing JavaScript than Safari thanks to the lack of Nitro,' said a reviewer identified only as 'Reviewergoy' yesterday. Instead, it had to call the stock WebKit JavaScript renderer, which lacks a JIT compiler. Google, however, was prevented by the App Store rules from using its own V8 JavaScript engine, which has a JIT compiler. Apple first used Nitro, which includes a 'just-in-time,' or JIT, compiler with the March 2011 release of iOS 4.3.Īll desktop browsers now rely on a JIT compiler to significantly speed up JavaScript execution many advanced websites and most Web apps depend heavily on JavaScript, so a JIT compiler will render those pages and run those apps much faster. In effect, Chrome for iOS is a 'skin' - of Google's user interface (UI) and additional features - covering Safari.īenchmark tests run by numerous websites have confirmed that Chrome for iOS is dramatically slower than Safari in handling JavaScript due to the latter's use of a much-improved engine, dubbed 'Nitro,' that Chrome cannot access. Because of the rules Apple enforces, all Web-accessing apps, including browsers, must use Safari's rendering engine and iOS's stock JavaScript engine. The numbers are impressive in light of the fact that Chrome on iOS is essentially Safari in disguise. The average rating is four-and-a-half stars. Reviews for Chrome have been overwhelmingly positive, with 80% of the more than 3,700 posted so far giving the browser a five-star rating, the highest possible.

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