Is Google Chrome for Android ready for prime-time?

I’ve been accused of being an Android apologist, and I’ll accept that somewhat. iPad still has my tablet attention, but for all else mobile it’s Android 110%. So it surprises me to discover that Google Chrome — a browser that I spend almost every working moment with — pretty much stinks when it comes to the Android version for tablets, phones. And stinks is not a term I throw around loosely.

With patience, Google Chrome for Android sort of satisfies... you do like making "wait" or "close" decisions, no?

I prefer to herald all that is good, such as Google Drive, or Google Nav, or Gmail, or any number of impressive innovations coming out of big G. But, man, what is up with this version of Google Chrome!?

On any given day, it won’t load. Then, only after what seems like an eternity, even on an Asus Transformer Prime or Samsung Galaxy S2, will it reluctantly load web pages in a decidedly 300-baud manner. I could flash fry a Porterhouse, and down some Napa Cab in half the time.

I’ve become a good acquaintance with the doomed “wait” or “close” pop-up.

Just loading Chrome is a painstaking test of endurance. Firefox calls itself a beta too on the Android platform, but at least that app opens and responds. Quite extraordinary considering Google is the Web powerhouse.

Something is amiss.

Side-by-side with an iPad it’s no contest. Safari on iPad flys. All the sites I frequent — CNN, Mashable, Google News (of course), Venturebeat, Berkeleyside, Fox News (kidding) — load el pronto on this “new” iPad 3. However, I readily admit the Galaxy S2 is respectable in its Chrome performance, which is saying a lot considering it’s over a year old, with a successor due any day now.

What’s an Android Apologist to do?

Simple:

(a) use the stock Android browser

or…

(b) vault over the fanboy bar and use an iPad, even if anonymously in a Starbucks.

Clinton Stark

Clint writes about Silicon Valley (Churchill Club Academy member), film, California wine (Stark Sips), theater (ATCA member) and tech (including his Canon EOS 60D and unlocked Nexus 4). A would-be NHLer if it weren't for the clarinet, he tries in vain to direct Loni on Stark Insider TV. He's held executive marketing roles at Cisco, EMC and Salesforce.com, and is active with start-ups across the valley. Clint's story...

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