Exactly a week after the launch of the stable version of Chrome 28, Google has announced the release of Chrome 29 beta for Windows, Linux, Mac and Android. Majority of the big changes has taken place on Android platform, which now supports Web Audio API for processing and synthesizing audio and WebRTC, a real time communication API and has received a faster page loading time.

On the other hand, for desktop (Linux, Mac and Windows), Google now brings a pinch for Omnibox suggestions enhancements which will now take the recency of the visited websites into the account to provide more appropriate textual suggestions at the precise time. In addition to that, the company has also included a support for VP9 coder-decoder for WebM video playback in the desktop’s version.

With this omnibox suggestions improvement, it would not be wrong to consider that if you are using Chrome for a long period of time, then Omnibox will modify its results to what you have used in recent days as contrasting to months.

It is worth stating that WebAudio API will only function on ARM devices which support Neon Optimization, a technique to accomplish specific commands on ARM chips that were hosted in ARM Cortex A8 processor. More precisely, Web Audio API enables developers to implement modern gaming audio engines and “professional quality” audio production applications. To see Web Audio API in action, check out this demo.

Chrome29-Beta-Web-Audio

WebRTC, which lets real-time interaction using video and audio without making use of any plug-ins, has been made available for Android beta as well. WebRTC support temporarily comprises of three autonomous modules: DataChannels (creates peer-to-peer data communication among web browsers), PeerConnection (sets up calls with the capability to cross firewalls and NATs and), getUserMedia (offers access to the user’s webcam and microphone). Chrome 25 for the desktop was one of the first browsers to receive this support and lastly, Android beta is getting this support as well. Chrome and Firefox both supports WebRTC but Microsoft still holding out for its Internet Explorer. More browser supports WebRTC, more developers will be involved in this technology.

Try out Google’s video chat demo with WebRTC here.

The official Chrome 29.0.1547.23 beta changelog for Android is rather brief:

  • Support for WebRTC, a web platform feature to enable real-time voice and video communications.
  • Faster page loads.
  • Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance.

The Chrome 29.0.1547.22 beta changelog is also equally short:

  • Improved Omnibox suggestions.
  • A number of new apps/extension APIs.
  • Lots of under the hood changes for stability and performance

The Chromium blog expands on the second point by saying Chrome packaged apps have gained richer access to Google services such as Google Analytics, Google APIs, and Google Wallet, as well as better OS integration using services such as Bluetooth and native app communication

Other features included in the web platform are:

Stable version Chrome 29 could be released next month. This is another big release for the company as YouTube has guaranteed to implement VP9 codec support as soon as Chrome browser starts using it.