Recently, instead of using the classic Chrome custom tabs, the Google app for Android started using a custom browser for search results and more. The browser in the Google Search app on Android is now testing useful shortcuts for “Read aloud” and “Translate”.
Last month, the Google app browser went through a significant redesign, moving its controls from top to bottom. More recently, these lower controls have gained a tab, revealing suggestions from other pages you may be interested in.
Tonight, Google started rolling out a new pair of options in the browser’s three-point menu. The first, “Read aloud,” is just another way to access the Google Assistant by reading an article for you on Android. It opens with the same activity that you get when you ask the Assistant to “read this to me” when browsing a page in Chrome.
As the page is read, words are highlighted on the screen, and you also receive playback controls, including speed settings. Tragically, this feature does not appear to offer a dark mode.
Interestingly, “Reading aloud” is the only colorful option in the Google Search application browser menu for Android. Where “Read aloud” uses the Google signature four-color scheme, all other options are monochrome. While this certainly makes the option more noticeable, it is still not as prominent as Google Play’s ever-present play button, which triggers a similar “Read Aloud” experience.
In the meantime, the Google app browser on Android also gets the “Translate” option. If you’ve used the integrated Google Translate feature of Chrome for Android, you’ll find a similar experience in this browser in the app. A bar appears at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to quickly translate the current page into any language of your choice.
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Google app browser -
Chrome for Android
However, you may feel that Google is opting out of using Chrome’s custom tabs, it looks like this browser within the app is here to stay, as Google continues to provide the full Chrome feature pack. So far, we’ve only identified these new browser shortcuts “Read along” and “Translate” in the beta version of the Google app, currently version 12.4.
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