Well, I didn’t see this one coming yesterday.

Google continued their assault on Microsoft by launching their new browser, Chrome, today – 24 hours after announcing it! 

I’ve just installed it, and first impressions are that it will be a serious contender in the browser market – as you would expect.

Installation was fast and easy, taking all of about one minute. It imported my settings from Firefox – bookmarks, passwords, the lot.

Another minute later, and I was up and running – actually, make that sprinting. This thing really moves – it’s lightning fast. The sleek interface adds to that feeling, and anyone coming from Firefox will be immediately at home, organising tabs and bookmarks like an old pro.

Text and graphics look great on Chrome – there’s a lovely soft, anti-aliased edge to the display. No surprise, given that the rendering engine is based on Safari’s Webkit.

The launch page borrows from Opera’s excellent quick-dial, giving you instant access to your recently bookmarked and most viewed pages.

There’s also incognito mode – where you can browse safe in the knowledge that no trace of your – ahem – browsing habits will be left on your PC.

All in all, Google Chrome is a frighteningly polished product, given that it’s a beta. The response has been very positive and I can’t wait to see some developer extensions appear to add to its feature list.

You can download Google Chrome here.

Have you tried Chrome yet? What are your thoughts?