Google rolls out Chrome versions on three different channels: the dev channel, the Beta channel, and the stable channel. Earlier this month version 9.0 of Google’s Chrome browser moved onto the stable channel; that is to say a stable version of Chrome 9.0 was released. You can see what it has to offer here.

Now that Chrome 9.0 is out there as a stable release, the version number of Google’s browser on the Beta channel has been bumped as well. The Beta channel now serves Google Chrome 10.0 to Windows, Mac and Linux users. As you may already know, Google constantly touts the fact that its Chrome browser is the fastest out there. This hasn’t changed now that Chrome 10.0 Beta is out.

Chrome 10.0 comes with a new version of the V8 JavaScript engine, Crankshaft, which greatly improves JavaScript performance. Jeff Chang, Product Manager, and Min Li Chan, Product Marketing Manager, said the JavaScript engine is “as quick as a bunny” referencing the fact that this is the Year of the Rabbit in Chinese culture.

The two went on to say that “Chrome’s JavaScript engine V8 runs compute-intensive JavaScript applications even more quickly than before” and that Chrome 10 Beta “sports a whopping 66% improvement on the V8 benchmark suite over our current stable release.”

To put it in other words, the V8 JavaScript engine in Chrome 10 Beta is 66% faster than the V8 JavaScript engine in Chrome 9.0 stable.

Here’s an image to put things in perspective:


If you would like to get Chrome 10 Beta, you can grab it straight from Google here.
Besides a faster V8, this Beta release comes with the other new bits and pieces:

• Revamped look and feel of the settings dialogs. The settings pages open in a tab not in a dialog box.
• Enhanced security: malware reporting, disabling outdated plugins (by default).
• Password sync is enabled by default. Password sync is part of Chrome Sync.
• Includes a preliminary implementation of GPU-accelerated video
• Background WebApps
• webNavigation extension API.