Update 9/15: Five months after we first spotted this feature in the works, it seems Google has managed to get it to a working state in time for the recently released Chrome for Android version 85. When enabled, tabs can be moved to the secondary display. Like most other new Chrome features, the work is getting started behind a new flag in chrome://flags, though it’s likely the wording below will change before we see it live on a device. Additionally, there are new protections in place to merge your two sets of tabs back together when your second display is turned off or disconnected. In a new code change uploaded today to Chromium’s Gerrit source code management, work has properly begun to use Chrome across multiple displays, building on early work started in 2018 for early dual-screen phones like the ZTE Axon M.Īccording to the code change’s description, you’ll be able to use your second display to open a second, separate tab, possibly using Chrome’s “Move to other window” option, first spotted back in the Nougat days. With the advent of foldables, Google is now getting Chrome for Android ready for multitasking primetime on these new devices. Instead, dual-screen phones are currently offered an expanded view of a single Chrome tab. On the desktop versions of Chrome, it’s easy to just open two windows side-by-side to work in one while keeping the other open for a reference.ĭoing something similar on Android has, to this point, never been easy, though there are almost certainly hacky ways to make it happen. One of the best aspects of using multiple displays, whether on a laptop or a phone, is the ease of multitasking. Update: This feature is now live and working in Google Chrome for Android. It looks like Google Chrome for Android is now looking to improve the latter kind of foldables with support for multiple displays. Learn more about how you can get started with optimizing your app for large screens.In the Android world, two different types of “foldables” have been on the rise - those that have a foldable display like the Galaxy Z Flip, and those that have two separate displays like the LG V60 ThinQ and Microsoft Surface Duo. The team has future plans to further improve the Chrome experience on large screens to help their users be more productive. “ This app is fabulous □! You can split screen, change tabs, and much more. They also had very positive feedback from their large screen users in the form of app reviews. This usage demonstrates the functionality resonated well with Chrome users on large screen devices, and that it was worth investing in building these features to enhance the experience for Chrome users on large screens. This is a new feature, and the Chrome team has already seen that multi-instance for the Chrome app is used 42% more on tablets and foldables than on phones that support the feature. They saw multi-window usage improve by 18x. Having this feature be more prominently displayed in the product greatly improved the usage. They used the new capability of intent flag combo LAUNCH_ADJACENT|NEW_TASK to create this shortcut. The team wanted to make it easier for their users to take advantage of this feature, so they added a “New Window” shortcut in the menu. They determined people could comfortably use up to five windows side by side on large screen devices, and the team updated their app to support this functionality. The team researched usability best practices, observed other multi-window experiences on large screen devices, and thought through limitations to ensure optimal device memory usage. They wanted to balance allowing people to use many windows at once with making sure the feature was still usable. They utilized the singleInstancePerTask launch mode to build the side-by-side functionality. They took advantage of 12L features such as the taskbar and also took advantage of the Samsung edge panel. The team first decided to focus on building a way for people to open multiple Chrome windows (instances) side by side. While the team built this for phones as well, they wanted to especially focus on implementing these features where people would use them the most: large screen devices such as tablets and foldables. To meet these needs, the team decided to invest in building features that encourage multitasking capabilities. Many Chrome users have been requesting more productivity features on their mobile, tablet, and foldable devices to better match the capabilities of Chrome on desktop. Google Chrome is the most widely used browser globally, and the Chrome team wants to ensure their users have a great experience across all devices.
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