It seems that the Mountain View company is working to get Chrome to stop draining the battery of smartphones and laptops. The solution is to modify several elements of JavaScript on the background tabs. According to The Windows Club, the idea being considered by Google would be to restrict the operation of Javascripts timers for inactive tabs on Chrome, as well as other unnecessary features on these pages.
The first tests carried out in-house would thus have made it possible to extend the autonomy of a PC battery by two hours, reports The Windows Club on the basis of recovered technical documentation. An extension which is far from negligible. However, the conditions under which the tests were carried out are particular, which makes the results particularly eloquent. During its tests, Google would have opened by less than 36 random tabs, as well as an empty page on the screen.
A significant gain in autonomy
In actual use, users rarely stay on a blank page with so many tabs open in the background. In a second test, the empty page was replaced by a full screen YouTube video and as many open tabs. In this case, the extension of the battery life was about 36 minutes, which remains significant, even if much less than the two hours of the first test.
An important difference that could be further accentuated during actual use. The benefits of the solution considered by Google to reduce the impact of Chrome on the battery of PCs and smartphones still seem limited. Google's research remains interesting and could be deepened in future versions, allowing greater preservation of the battery life of smartphone or PC.
Finally, this solution could be integrated into Google Chrome 86 which should be deployed from the third quarter of 2020. It might also need to be activated from the settings of the web browser, but it is also possible that the Mountain View company is looking for a another solution to make your browser less energy consuming.
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