The bottom line is that I use chrome (especially the Stand-Alone Desktop Apps) quite a lot. But there are plenty of things that Firefox (still?) does better. See below for more
Here is my evaluation so far.
1. It's fast. Without actually timing loading times it seems to open most sites quicker than Firefox 3.0.3 (and of course a lot quicker than Internet Explorer 7
2. It has some neat features
For example:
You can move around the tabs and change their order by dragging them out of the line of tabs and then back in, or simply across the row.
You can save websites or applications from the Gmail suite as stand alone desktop applications which go right to that URL and provide a nice icon on your desktop by which to identify that specific website.
I have found this handy e.g. when I want to go straight to GCal or Google Docs and instead of having to open GMail and navigate to these applications pressing on the icon takes me straight there.
(Clicking the document icon on the top right hand side and selecting "create application shortcuts" will do this)
Also, the sparse design maximizes screen real estate and gives a clean no-nonsense look. Bycontrast opening Firefox afterwards makes one feel like it's a bit cluttered.
However this advantage is in some ways a disadvantage as a lot of the control which Firefox's fuller dashboard affords is missing from Chrome.
For some reason the way the web app works is that it makes a desktop looking program out of the web app. This means that there are no navigation controls so if you want to open a new tab you need to remember the keyboard command "Cntrl" + "t" which then opens the chrome. browser in a separate window. Each time you hit "Cntrl" + "t from the web app window it will open another tab in the other Google Chrome window. This is all a little strange. It would be more convenient if the web app window had some controls and if the new tabs opened up in the same window rather than in a different one.
There are some key areas of functionality lacking from the Chrome Browser at this point which will hopefully be addressed soon.
Firstly, whereas you can always open Internet Explorer for those (annoying) websites which only work with IE inside Firefox without opening another program or window, there is no such option for Chrome. So I find myself having to open Firefox and copy the URL from Chrome when this happens.
The integrated Google Notebook in Firefox is really good and makes it a breeze to open and add new entries, whether URL's or highlighted text with a neat little sidebar to allow navigation between folders.
In Chrome, although the notebook can be placed in the bookmarks bar, (it appears as an icon of a page with the words "Note This" next to it) the navigation is a hassle.
Also, without the functionality of Firefox's tabs open relative extension, Chrome opens all new tabs at the end. So although you can drag them around, as I mentioned above, they don't open where you want them.
Also the Save and Exit and Quick Restart buttons which are so useful in Firefox are sorely missed in Chrome. This is especially true of the former. I find myself having simply to keep Chrome open when I have opened lots of tabs and don't want to loose the session.
More generally, you can't yet get all the essential buttons I've discussed for Firefox which is a significant drawback.
And that's not to mention all the themes and other goodies like colorful tabs which make Firefox a visually pleasing experience. Not to mention cool enhancements like CoolIris
If lots of developers jump on the bandwagon and address the issues I mention here then Google Chrome has a bright future. But as of now for all the reasons I mentioned above it can't be my default browser.
