I like parts of this but don't understand the addition of the google search box in the new tab page. Isn't one of the big "innovations" of the chrome UI the unified address bar you can search from? I use chrome as my primary browser and every time I use firefox or IE the first thought that comes to mind when I open them is, "What's the point of the separate search box, why not search in the address bar like chrome?" Now every time I open a new tab in chrome I think, "What's the point of this search box right below the giant address bar I'm supposed to be using to search from?" And to top it off, as soon as you start typing in the search box on the new tab it moves your cursor to the address bar and the logo/search box disappears from the page which is a truly WTF-worthy UI decision.
Your last sentence answers the question you pose: the new UI is attempting to train users to use the browser search bar.
A huge number of Chrome users go to google.com to search for things; if the new page looks like the Google search page, and it moves your cursor to the address bar, Google hopes these users will learn that you can just search from there. Maybe it's an experiment that will fail, but it seems like it might work.
In Firefox at least, I've learned that the regexp isn't as fast if you type a search query in the URL bar. It takes slightly longer for the browser to decide if the text is a URL or not. That's why I reenabled the search bar in Firefox (it's not required).
>It takes slightly longer for the browser to decide if the text is a URL or not
I had the same problem which forced me to enable the search bar. But I've since discovered that if the text you entered into the search bar starts with a "?" character, Firefox immediately assumes it is a search query.
