6 Awesome Google Features Which Are Only Available in Chrome

Chrome being one of the most promoted products of Google has some exclusive Google features which certainly aren’t present in any other browser. I thought why not list down a few of them I know about.

#1. Instant Pages

This Chrome-only feature renders the webpage of the first search result when you search on Google. So, when you click on the first result, it takes only a Nano second for it to load, irrespective of your connection. Although this doesn’t work all the time, as Instant Pages knows when to render and when not to.

For a demo, launch your Chrome, enter a query “wikipedia” in the Omnibar and then wait for a second and hit the first link on Google search, it’ll be loading in less than a second.

Read complete review of Instant Pages.

#2. Speech Recognition

If you’re on Windows 7, you can setup Speech Recognition, but I personally found Chrome’s Speech recognition to be more accurate. Go to Google Search (on Chrome), and there you can see a mic symbol on the search bar. Just hit the mic button, speak something and it appears within a second in the search bar.

#3. Desktop Notifications

By enabling desktop notifications in Gmail, Google Calendar etc. sites you get notifications directly at your taskbar. For Gmail, you get notifications when you receive a new mail or chat message. Apart from Google sites, there are many apps which use desktop notifications.

To enable desktop notifications, go to options page in Chrome and under notifications, select “Allow all sites to show notifications”.

#4. Uploading Folders in Google Docs

Although you can install a java applet to support uploading folders in Google Docs, Chrome is the only browser which supports this feature natively.

#5. Automatic Sign In to Google Sites

This feature was actually introduced in Chrome 15, but later on was discontinued, may be that’s because it’s a bit buggy. If you’re the only (or most frequent) user of your PC, then this feature is for you. When you go to a Google site, say gmail.com, then a notification bar pops up with a sign in button, so with a click you can login to your Google account, without entering the credentials. I guess this feature will be back soon.

#6. Offline Gmail, Calendar and Docs

Recently Google has rolled out its official Chrome extensions which will make some of the Google products work offline. Starting with Gmail, which previously used Google gears for offline support, Google Calendar and Docs can also be accessed offline, provided you install the respective extensions in your Chrome.

What’s your favorite among these? Tell us in the comments.

Links: Offline Gmail | Offline Google Docs | Offline Google Calendar