GoogleĪnd remember: The Chrome browser on a Chromebook, even in that tablet mode, is at its core the same Chrome browser you'd get on any desktop computer. The same will soon hold true for the actual Chrome browser experience on a Chromebook, which is in the process of being updated to feature a more touch-friendly, Android-reminiscent design, with the added element of an drag-and-drop-ready tab strip for simpler touch-based tab management.
#Chrome os tablet android#
There are some Chromebook-specific twists added into the equation - like the ability to swipe up once with a short movement to pull up the now-hidden-by-default desktop dock (which apparently has become the "Quick Shelf") - but all in all, it's very much an adaptation of the Android arrangement, just slightly adjusted to make sense for the Chromebook form.Īnd that's the key: If you've used a recent Android phone, getting around a Chromebook in its tablet state now feels immediately familiar. That includes a swipe-up gesture for returning to your home screen, a swipe-up-and- hold gesture for accessing the system Overview interface, and a swipe-in-from-the-left gesture for moving back a step.
#Chrome os tablet software#
Since then, the trend has only accelerated, with traditional Android tablets becoming a niche-like, barely-addressed footnote in Google's mobile-tech universe and the Chrome OS tablet experience receiving regular attention and support.Īnd that brings us back to this week, when Google released one of the biggest updates to the Chromebook tablet setup in ages: a software rollout that completely reimagines how you get around a Chromebook in its touch-centric form and basically brings it in line with the current Android 10 gesture standard. It was two and a half years ago that I said Chromebooks were effectively the new "Android tablets," with Google putting its weight squarely behind that setup as its large-screen, touch-friendly vehicle of the future.
Over the past few years, the Android-Chrome-OS alignment effort has gained steam quickly - with Chromebooks natively running Android apps, adopting Android-like interface elements left and right, and coming in a variety of physical tablet forms. That narrative, suffice it to say, was woefully misguided and missing the actual reality, which was right in front of our faces all along.) (And yes, I know: For the longest time, all you heard about was how the company was destined to kill off one of those operating systems and combine 'em into a single entity. Google, y'see, has been working to align its two primary platforms, Android and Chrome OS, for years. First, let me back up, 'cause there's a lot to unpack here - and unless you're among the relative few who follow Chrome OS news closely, most of it probably isn't common knowledge. We'll get to that beckoning opportunity in a minute.
And with the latest update, announced this week, the Chromebook tablet experience is suddenly feeling surprisingly cohesive - almost, dare I say it, complete.Īnd yet, despite all that progress, one piece of the puzzle is still conspicuously missing - a massive and thus-far-overlooked opportunity Google and its hardware-making partners seem destined to embrace. With every passing month, almost, Google adds a touch more polish and a smidge more power into the environment. Ready? Here it is: Little by little, bit by bit, Chrome OS on a tablet has been turning into an increasingly impressive experience. It's something those of us who use Chromebooks in our daily lives have known for a while - but something the vast majority of people (and the vast majority of folks who write about this stuff, for that matter) have yet to fully realize. I've got quite the secret to share with you.