Hidden full screen browsing mode in latest Chrome Beta discovered

Full screen browsing is top of many an Android fans wish list for Google's mobile version of the Chrome browser. On smartphone screens in particular, display space is important. It seems it might not be all that far away, as a recent discovery has shown off a hidden full screen browsing mode. 

Shared by Reddit user smackel, there is a bit of light work to be done to bring it about. So, while there, our thinking is that this is something to be rolled out properly in future updates. It's also a little buggy, but doesn't take any genius level work to enable. Click on past the break and we'll walk you through it. 

As we know, the latest beta build brought about support for WebGL in the mobile browser, and the first thing we need to do is go ahead and enable it. Type the magic line -- "chrome://flags/ -- into the address bar, and scroll down the list presented before you until you find WebGL. Tap on enable, then follow the prompt to restart the browser. 

When Chrome has restarted, you want to head on over to the Chrome Experiment Boids and Buildings. Tap on the "launch experiment" button, then the "run" button when the main screen pops up. Then it's simply a case of sitting back and watching. You don't need to let it run right through, but it is pretty cool to watch this city get drawn out and constructed in front of you. At this point it's also worth noting that it seems to run pretty well in the mobile browser. 

When you come back out of the experiment though, you'll notice the status bar at the top of the screen has vanished, and the address bar in Chrome has gone a little translucent. After a couple of seconds of doing nothing it just disappears completely. And there we have it, full screen browsing. 

It is buggy, but it does work, and expands your web pages to take up the full display -- on screen buttons not included. To get the address bar back takes just a swipe down from the top, although said swipe doesn't bring the status bar back with it. Full screen mode seems to stay in place until you exit the app completely. 

So, it's a nice little hidden treat, and though buggy works pretty well. The fact it isn't something we can just turn on leads us to think that it's there on purpose, but isn't ready for the big time just yet. Looks like its on the way though. If you go ahead and play around with this, be sure to jump into the comments below and share your experiences with us. 

Source: Reddit