Installation and first look
Installation, as with most browsers, is a doddle. Google Chrome offers the usual options, allowing for user-defined shortcut creation, and the ability to import data such as bookmarks and history from your previous browser.
During our test, we opted to import from Internet Explorer 7, and installation was flawless. Upon completion, you're presented with the crisp-and-clean looking Google Chrome window:
At first launch, Google Chrome offers a "Welcome" page that introduces Chrome's features and tells you a little about the browser. Re-open the browser and you're presented with the default Chrome homepage, a useful starting point that lists your most-visited websites - complete with thumbnail images, a list of recent bookmarks and the ability to search.
Google, as you'd expect, is the default search engine. But, Google does ask the user if he/she would like to use an alternative search engine. Though the default homepage looks baron in the below screenshot, it develops with continuous use of the browser and becomes more feature packed. After use of Chrome's tabs, the homepage will also list a set of recently closed tabs - very useful.
Speaking of tabs, Chrome's own tabbed browsing behaves in a manner similar to that of Mozilla's Firefox. Tabs can be opened or closed with the usual one-click buttons, and they're easily rearranged or opened into new windows using drag and drop.
Chrome's appearance isn't all that different, and its feature set, at first glance, offers more of the same. But what else is new?