

Chrome comes to iOS  - blinkingled
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/chrome-comes-to-iphone-ipad/

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United857
The iOS version of Chrome is a wrapper around a UIWebView. You get the Chrome
UI and syncing, but not Chrome's out of process rendering or the V8 Javascript
engine (not allowed by the App Store).

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kogir
If only they would create a version with those features I'd be delighted to
build it, sign it, and install it myself. Though I understand why they don't.

~~~
adgar
Compare the amount of effort it would take to create such a port against the
number of users who would build, sign, and install it themselves.

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kennywinker
And then re-do the process every three months when their provisioning profile
expires.

I've had a couple apps that were dev-install only because they were banned
from the app store. They didn't last long. The friction for keeping them on my
phone was too high when compared with the benefit the app brought.

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RandallBrown
"What we don't know is if Chrome on iOS is still using the system-provided
WebKit and JavaScript engine, or is using Google's own fork of WebKit and its
V8 JavaScript engine."

It's definitely NOT using V8 or Google's fork of webkit.

This is still really cool though. I'm waiting for Internet Explorer for iOS
now.

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apike
It also can't use iOS' JIT compiler nor can it be set as the default browser.
The Chrome UI will need to be pretty excellent to compensate for those
limitations.

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shinratdr
> It also can't use iOS' JIT compiler

Last I heard this wasn't true as of iOS 5 I believe. They didn't initially
open the JIT to UIWebView apps but they have by now.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

~~~
mbrubeck
Nope. iOS 5 enabled the JIT for web apps saved to the home screen from Safari
(which then open in a full-screen browser app), but not for third-party native
apps that use UIWebView:

 _"One caveat, though, is that third-party apps that load webpages in a WebKit
view still won't take advantage of Nitro's fast JIT execution."_

[http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/06/ios-5-brings-nitro-
spee...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/06/ios-5-brings-nitro-speed-to-
home-screen-web-apps/)

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railsjedi
UI is gorgeous, shows how much Apple has been dropping the ball lately in
their mobile browser design.

I really wish Apple would allow Nitro on UIWebViews. It's making an entire
generation of apps that rely on UIWebView (like... Facebook) artificially
slow.

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kevincennis
I anticipate having strong feelings about this, but I haven't figured out what
they are yet.

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icefox
So the only real compelling reason to buy the Google tablet is being released
on iOS. We knew it was coming, but I expected it to be staggered by six months
or something at least. As a desktop Google Chrome user I am happy, but it is
sure a puzzling move by Google.

sidenote: is the name of the browser 'Google Chrome', or 'Chrome'? Both are
trademarked by Google.

~~~
0x0
It's really quite interesting why Google would bother bringing this Mobile
Safari theme to iOS.

Are they that afraid of being kicked off as the default search engine, after
losing the position as the default maps provider? So much so, that they risk
diluting the Chrome brand like this?

~~~
uberalex
I think it has to do with helping to keep iOS users, who are numerous and
often technical, inside the google service infrastructure by providing chrome
syncing to their iPhone/iPad.

