Chrome Beta on Android Helps Prevent Downloading Duplicates

Face it, we all have a downloads folder that dates back to the beginning of time. Most browsers will let you download unlimited amounts of the same file, cluttering up your storage and taking up valuable room. However, the Chrome development team have released a nifty new feature into their beta version of the popular web browser to solve the problem. Instead of all your files having a (1) or (2) appended to the file name, the browser will now offer to replace the existing file or create a new one before downloading it, helping you save valuable storage space, as well as preventing you from wasting bandwidth.

The change is very minor, yet very welcome addition on a platform where device space is like gold dust, especially so on mobile platforms. It’s very surprising that this functionality hasn’t come already to the browser, but it is nice to see the functionality added to the largely used application, after all, virtually all of us use internet browsers and download files.

The application has had over 1 Billion downloads off the Google Play store, and is responsible for over 30% of the market share. What browser do you use and do you think this feature will come in handy, or should be just be thinking before we click that download button, again.