Microsoft has released Chromium Edge Dev Build 78.0.262.0 for developers to test out before it gets made public, and the new version shows how the company aims to differentiate its new web browser from Google Chrome – its biggest rival.
Since the announcement that Microsoft was reinventing its unloved Edge browser to be based on Chromium – the same engine that Google Chrome uses – many of us have been wondering how Microsoft aims to take on Chrome when so much of the underlying technology is the same.
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However, with this new version, which introduces a number of exclusive features for Edge, we’re beginning to get an idea.
New features
New features added to Chromium Edge include the much-anticipated Collections feature. Collections is an innovative way Edge users can collect and organise information while browsing the web.
So, if you’re browsing for a new laptop and find one you like the look of on Amazon, you could add the product page to a Collection. Then, you could head to our best laptops guide and add that as well, allowing you to build an easy-to-read collection of information from a variety of sources.
You can also export your Collections to Microsoft Word, and Chromium Edge will also support Windows 10’s native Share feature. It’s these two features that hint at how Microsoft aims to really differentiate Chromium Edge from Chrome, by tightly integrating it with Windows 10 and Office in a bid to win over Chrome users.
Other features introduced in the new version include updated user interface elements, various tools for emulating Internet Explorer (handy for older websites) and has enabled the built-in abusive ad blocker that was added to Chromium last year.
There has also been a large amount of stability fixes to help the browser run better. Microsoft has the full list in its release announcement, where the company also explains what happened with last week’s dev build, which was postponed.
As we mentioned, this new update is for people signed up to use early versions of Chromium Edge – but hopefully regular users will see these features in the final public version of Chromium Edge.
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Via WinCentral
