Google has just released a new version of Chrome for Android in the beta channel. This will bump the application to version 44 and brings lots of improvements and a handful of new features.

According to developers, the changes included in this build should apply to Chrome for Android, Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS, unless otherwise noted.

So, the first improvements worth mentioning is related to notifications. One of the previous versions of the browser, namely Chrome 42 allowed users to opt in to receive push notifications from sites even after the page is closed.

Well, it looks like sites may now use a new method called getNotifications to track which of their notifications are still being displayed, as well as Notification.data to store a payload with a notification so they can determine which notification was clicked.

Google also included some improvements to the “add to homescreen” and native app install banners. This means that developers will now be able to offer the banner for their native Android app.
The update brings a fix for multi-column layouts too

A new cancellable command before the banner is shown will be implemented too, so devs will be able to measure user interaction with the feature.

Other updates in the new version include Chrome's implementation of the Push API which has undergone several minor breaking changes, so it can keep up to date with the improved specs.

Google also confirmed that it included a new implementation of multi-column layout, which should solve older issues with incorrect column balancing. For the complete list of changes make sure to head over to Chrome's dedicated website.

You can now download Chrome beta for Android 44 for free via Google Play Store. The application is fully compatible with all devices powered by Android 4.0 and up.