Chrome for Android
"Your Chrome from home" Google

Google has announced Chrome for Android, a mobile browser for smartphones that the search giant claims to be users' "Chrome from home".

Chrome for Android runs on Ice Cream Sandwich and can provide all of the open tabs, search history and favourites saved on the desktop version and port them over to users' smartphones automatically.

Google said: "Today, we're introducing Chrome for Android Beta, which brings many of the things you've come to love about Chrome to your Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet.

"Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices."

Switching between open tabs is down by flicking to the left or right and crucially, unlike on iOS, open tabs and pages in the background remain loaded and do not refresh when returned to, making browsing quicker.

The emphasis is firmly on speed with Chrome for Android, with Google stating: "One of the biggest pains of mobile browsing is selecting the correct link out of several on a small-screen device. Link Preview does away with hunting and pecking for links on a web page by automatically zooming in on links to make selecting the precise one easier."

Chrome is available for devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now, but it is a beta build, so expect the occasional bug until a final version is released.