Google promises faster search with Chrome, Android browser

Company announced the setting up of an independent company, Sidewalk Labs, which will focus on developing new technologies to improve urban life

Technology giant Google today came out with a new feature of its Chrome and Android browser for smartphone users to access Web pages faster, which will be available in India and Brazil in the next two weeks.

Separately, it announced the setting up of an independent company, Sidewalk Labs, which will focus on developing new technologies to improve urban life.

The new feature, which was launched in Indonesia last month and is available only to smartphones, is designed to make Web pages faster, lighter and a less costly affair.

"We believe everyone should have fast and easy access to information online. However, many people still have slow and costly mobile connections. In two weeks, we'll start to roll out a new feature that will help pages load a whole lot faster, while using far less data, via Chrome or Android browser from Google's search results," Google Search Product Manager Hiroto Tokusei told reporters via a video conference.

When a user logs onto Google search and clicks on a link, the landing page is optimised using this tool.

Similarly, Sidewalk Labs, with a focus on improving city lives for residents, businesses and governments, is an attempt to develop technology combining both physical and digital worlds, Google said in a statement.

The new entity will be headed by Dan Doctoroff, the former CEO of Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor of Economic Development and Rebuilding for New York, it added.

"Sidewalk will focus on improving city life for everyone by developing and incubating urban technologies to address issues like cost of living, efficient transportation and energy usage," Google CEO Larry Page said in his blog post.

He added that this is a "relatively modest investment and very different from Google's core business".