Android: URL bug in Google Chrome 74.0.3729.157

[German]The current Android Chrome version 74.0.3729.157 browser app has an annoying behavior of the URL input box, I would call it a bug. When tapping the URL box, the search is started immediately and the search field of the browser becomes empty. You have to recall the last visited URL from the history manually by tapping it. Older versions of the app doesn't show this behavior.

Android Chrome App 74.0.3729.157

A few days ago Google released the Android app of Google Chrome 74.0.3729.157 and started distributing it to Android devices (see this announcement). The app should arrive on the devices in the coming days and weeks. On my Motorola Moto G5 this update was done recently.

An annoying bug

I often use the browser app on my smartphone to visit and manage my blogs. During the last days I noticed an annoying bug while browing the internet using the Google Chrome browser in Android. First I thought it was may fault, then I tested it with two different Chrome apps. Here is, what I found. I frequently update the website I've just visited (e.g. the dashboard of my blog) to see new content. Here is a screenshot of my browser windows, the URL box shows the URL of the website, I currently visited.

If I visit a website and tap on the URL/search box of the Chrome app, the current URL should be marked. Then I can use the on-screen keyboard to update or edit the URL. This is shown in the above picture using a Gigaset GS 180 Android smartphone, using the Google Chrome Android app that has not been updated yet. But on the Motorola Moto G5 with updated Android Chrome app there is a different behavior

If I'm using my Android mobile phone Motorola Moto G5 and visit a website in Chrome Browser 74.0.3729.157, the URL is still displayed in the URL box (see picture above).

But if I now tap the URL box to invoke the on-screen keyboard and update or customize the URL, this won't work. The URL box suddenly becomes empty and the browser app is waiting/asking for a search search expression (see picture above). At best, I can try to find the last visited URL within the history and transfer it to the search box by tapping it in the history list. Pretty annoying if you want to refresh a URL more often.

I found the issues under Android 8.1.0 with the Chrome 74.0.3729.157 for Android App. I reported the bug to Google in the bug tracker. Question: Has anyone else noticed this?

Addendum: I've just learned, it's not a bug, it's a feature. I can tap the pen shown below the ominbox, after the search box is shown. Then it copies the last URL to the ominbox, and I can tap the URL box again and tap then the enter key on the keybord. Plain and simple – just a few additional taps and a contradictional behavior to the browsers behavior on iPad or on desktop systems. Thats innovation – </irony tag off>