Instead of using classic Chrome Custom Tabs, the Google app for Android recently started using a custom in-app browser for search results and more. Now the in-app browser for Google Search on Android is testing useful shortcuts to ‘Read Aloud’ and ‘Translate’.
Last month, the Google app browser got a pretty significant redesign, moving the controls from top to bottom. More recently, those bottom controls got a pull tab, with suggestions for other pages you might be interested in.
Tonight, Google has started rolling out a new pair of options in the browser’s three-dot menu. The first, “Read Aloud,” is one more way to access the Google Assistant reading an article to you on Android. It opens to the same activity you would get if you asked the Assistant to ‘read this out’ when scrolling through a page in Chrome.
While the page is being read, the words on the screen will be highlighted and you will also be presented with playback controls, including speed settings. Tragically, this feature doesn’t seem to offer a dark mode.
Interestingly, “Read Aloud” is the only colorful option in the browser menu of the Google Search for Android app. Where ‘Read Aloud’ uses Google’s signature four-color scheme, all other options are black and white. While this certainly makes the option more eye-catching, it is still not as prominently placed as Google Go’s ever-present play button, which activates a similar “Read Aloud” experience.
Meanwhile, the Google app browser on Android also gets a “Translate” option. If you’ve ever used Chrome’s built-in Google Translate feature for Android, you’ll find a similar experience in this in-app browser. A bar appears at the bottom of the screen that allows you to quickly translate the current page into any language.
-
Google app browser -
Chrome for Android
However you feel about Google choosing to move away from using Chrome Custom Tabs, it seems this in-app browser is here to stay as Google continues to provide it with the full suite of Chrome features. So far, we have only seen these new browser shortcuts ‘Read More’ and ‘Translate’ in the beta version of the Google app, currently version 12.4.
More about the Google app:
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links that generate income. Lake.
Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news: