Google has released a brand new stable version of its Chrome web browser, which apparently includes a Flash “security” update that, nevertheless, just isn't released yet and, actually, is one of the most considerable Flash player releases so far.

Chrome 9.0.597.0 comes with five security fixes along with Flash 10.2. This Flash version is in front of the Chrome developer releases, which presently include the version Flash 10.1.103.25. According to Adobe, Flash 10.2 isn’t offered as final version yet, but provided like a 10.2 RC2 develop (version 10.2.152.26 at the time of this writing.) Google has kept mum about this release together with its set of features, which apparently goes far beyond the safety update.

Flash 10.2 gets stage hardware acceleration, which tackles the typical complaint that Flash is a resource hog. According to Adobe, complex animations use far less processor resources, which ought to decrease power consumption as well - or offer more performance. Adobe calls this greater “pixel fidelity”. There is also multiple-screen full-screen support together with hardware acceleration especially for IE9.

Google has not said significantly concerning the Flash player update beyond a straightforward “security” note. Nonetheless, our comprehensive browser performance review is overdue and will run the moment we now have our hands IE9 RC and Firefox 4 Beta 12, which should be pretty close to the final releases.