Chrome Beta adds universal image search, new gestures for tabs and zooming

Chrome Beta has just received a notable update that changes many of the usage and gesture paradigms in the browser. Most notable are the new ways to switch tabs — a swipe down on the toolbar expands the tab switcher (previously only revealed with a tap of the tab button), and swipe left or right along the toolbar to switch between open tabs. This is a far more intuitive way to manage your tabs, and completely prevents accidental tab switching when scrolling pages.

For navigating the Chrome Beta menu, you can now tap the overflow menu button and keep your finger pressed, sliding down the menu options and releasing your finger on the one you'd like to select. Google has also implemented a new one-finger zooming paradigm that is most memorable from Google Maps — double tap the screen and hold the second tap to either slide up or down to zoom in or out on the page.

Other notable features in this release include universal image search (long press any image and you'll have to option to search Google by that image), access to device motion for developers and more media and graphics API support. If you're willing to put up with frequent changes and some instability and exchange for the latest features, you can grab a download of the latest Chrome Beta at the Play Store link below.