Googlebooks will live or die on the loyalty of a billion Android users

Inbox is written by Daniel Bader. Read previous issues here, and then catch up with Ben Schoon’s excellent Weekender column published every Sunday.

⭐️ Starred

I’ve been covering Google’s multifarious hardware endeavors for nearly 20 years, from the early days of Nexus phones through this week’s Googlebook unveiling, and I see a few important parallels. Google has always wanted to assert some measure of control over the user experience, but that amount has ebbed and flowed depending on where its product sits in the funnel.

The early days of Android were about growth, which meant leveraging established players like LG, Samsung, Huawei, and others to build its hardware while promulgating a free and open-source operating system that quickly supplanted giants like Nokia and Microsoft.

Alongside Android, Google nurtured Chrome OS (which later became, confusingly, ChromeOS) as its laptop (and occasional desktop) operating system, that, like Android, became synonymous with cheap-and-cheerful hardware, particularly in schools. And while Google did the work to rid itself of that budget reputation on the phone side (though, arguably, Samsung did the bulk of the heavy lifting), it never really managed to do the same on ChromeOS despite numerous attempts to build premium hardware.

Now, ChromeOS is being replaced by Googlebook, and its main appeal is quite simple to understand: “Hey premium Android users, we see you. Here’s a product that can bring you Apple users’ ecosystem benefits while retaining the openness and diversity of Android.”

A few questions jump to mind when I hear that:

• Yes, there are billions of Android users out there, but are enough of them clamoring for ecosystem unity to replace their existing laptops in order to entwine their lives even further with Google?
• Is that ecosystem unity actually additive in the same way that Apple has proven with iOS and macOS, or will it be more like the way Microsoft has tried to harmonize Android and iOS devices with Windows?
• Will the legacy of Google killing off seemingly healthy products turn people away from Googlebooks?
• Is this objectively the worst time to launch a new hardware brand?

Also interesting is that Google’s own hardware is absent from this ecosystem launch. Like Chromebooks before them, Googlebooks will be made by familiar companies like Lenovo, Dell, Acer, and ASUS, with internals from Intel, Qualcomm, and soon AMD — another reminder that Google is playing a very particular role here, that of software and AI vendor.

That Gemini Intelligence integration, which has been teased from the start of the Googlebook announcement, is another differentiator not only from macOS and Windows, but also from Chromebooks. Google is positioning the Googlebook as the best place to interact with Gemini, whose increasingly agentic aspirations now tap into every corner of Google’s product lineup. But it’s also appealing to developers and vibe-coders alike with a native Antigravity app and 12 months of Google AI Pro, a subscription that comes with a substantial amount of coding credit.

So is a Googlebook for Android users who want to code? Is it for fans of ChromeOS who want more integration with their phones? Is it for the Android faithful, the diehards who have been waiting patiently for their turn in the ecosystem sun?

We don’t have long to wait: Googlebooks hit the market early next month.

✉️ Inbox

• The camera is my favorite part of smart glasses, but it just feels wrong now. Ben’s Weekender essay grapples with the realities of being a glasshole in 2026.
• Roku adding new apps & subscription bundles, homescreen redesign expanding. Could Roku’s smart TV OS get any more bloated and ad-infested? Of course it could.
• Galaxy Z Fold 8 saw a surge in popularity as soon as Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo. No doubt that’s why Samsung wanted to get ahead of the iPhone Duo’s release.
• Honor confirms list of devices getting its Liquid Glass-filled Android 17 update [Video]. This is egregious, even for Honor.
• Google ‘AI contribution pilot’ tests paying websites when they’re used in AI results. Any more money for publishers is a good thing, but I doubt this will end with more money for journalism over the long term.
• Google goes in-depth, and a bit NSFW, on Noto 3D emoji as Android rollout expands. I love these so, so much.
• Motorola confirms ‘Signature 27’ debut next week alongside new Snapdragon chips. It’s giving old-school Droid Razr in the best way possible. This will be the first ‘Signature’ phone to come to the US.
  • Motorola teases high-end ‘Signature 27’ with a wild-looking design
• Clicks Communicator lands in December with 12GB RAM, two months of free data. We feature Clicks’ Kevin and Jeff in this week’s Sideload episode, and it was a really fun conversation.
• Samsung’s battery upgrades for Galaxy S27 Ultra and Pro leak – is it enough? More silicon, please.
• Gemini app for macOS adding send and read iMessage integration. ChatGPT did it first, but it’s still not a feature I’d recommend enabling if you want your messages to stay private.
• Gmail adds ‘Copy code’ shortcut for 2FA on Android & iOS. This is super handy, and I feel like I’m going to use it all the time.
• Google confirms Gemini hacked into three companies during cybersecurity test months ago. Apparently this happened in May, but Google didn’t report it because the agents didn’t do anything wrong.
• Here’s the OnePlus 16 that you probably won’t be able to buy [Video]. Womp, womp.
• Xiaomi 18 Pro has a Privacy Display that does more than Galaxy S26 Ultra, launches this week [Video]. This phone looks about as over-the-top as you can get (complimentary).
• Apple didn’t give up on stylus support for iPhone Duo; Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold should take notes. Amen.

All about Googlebooks

• Google fully details Googlebooks: $899+, October launch, & more
• Googlebook OS hands-on: It’s Android, stupid
• Googlebook hands-on: What makes a laptop, a laptop? [Video]
• What do you actually use a laptop for, and would Googlebook be able to do it? [Poll]
• MediaTek’s flagship laptop chip is the Dimensity CX C10 Max, debuts in a Lenovo Googlebook.

🤝 Cc: Kevin Michaluk

Welcome to a new project I’m calling Cc:, where I ask interesting people in the community about what’s making them happy both inside and outside the world of tech. This week, I’m speaking with Kevin Michaluk, Clicks co-founder and former BlackBerry superuser.

Who are you?
Kevin Michaluk aka @crackberrykevin / CBK

What do you do for work?
How It Started: Founder at CrackBerry.com & Mobile Nations (spent 15 years in tech media); How It’s Going: Founder & President at Clicks Technology. 

What do you do for fun?
Depends on the season! This summer picked up golf again (my obsession in my teenage years) and pickleball for the first time. I spend so much time working that some physical activities out of the house/office and away from screens for a few hours a week feels like a necessity for my mental and physical health.

What is your relationship like with technology these days?
More intentional than ever. I wrote the first book on Smartphone Addiction back in 2008 and have been more acutely aware than most of the detrimental effects on individuals and society that smartphones, social media and tech can have. That’s part of the reason we launched Clicks in 2024 and Communicator this year. We’re building purpose built tech that helps people restore some of that balance with tech by building tools that respect their time. It’s not about being overly restrictive, but building experiences that people love and ideally lead to a healthier relationship with their tech. 

What are a few apps you can’t live without and why?

• Whoop – I’ve had an on again / off again with fitness trackers over the years and have literally used them all… but this past year have grown to really love and rely on my Whoop. I jive more with their use of recovery score and strain goals over step count goals or trying to close rings, and I like that they have accessories to wear the tracker in. Sleeping with a ring or band on my wrist annoys me and ruins my sleep – with Whoop I literally own several pairs of their “Whoop underwear” that I put the tracker in and wear to bed. And as a guy who loves wearing real watches, I just don’t like wearing a smartwatch on my wrist that could be better occupied by a mechanical watch. And even Whoop’s new AI Chat feature I use more than I thought I would… it’s come in real handy for when I’m traveling internationally and trying to map out the best sleep and workout schedules to help me balance the time zone changes.
• Shopify – I mean, when you’re building a company and one of your biggest sales channels is DTC, it’s hard not to spend a LOT of time in Shopify. 
• TOP SECRET – No, that’s not the name of the app… but ask me about it again in early 2027 and I’ll share the details on the newest app I’m using that I actually can’t live without. It’s changed my life – I can’t imagine not having it on my phone. I’m not allowed to talk about it right now, but as an early private beta user can’t wait for others to start using it too! 

What is a gadget that you love right now?
Clicks Communicator, obviously!

What’s a recent song or album you loved?
My song of the summer was literally Summer on the Inside by warner case. Puts me in a good mood whenever it comes on 😉 

What’s a recent TV show you loved?
Reacher… cuz.. Reacher.

What’s a recent book you loved?
Grow by Mike Fata. Written by a local and successful Winnipeg-based entrepreneur and friend of mine (who I like to golf and/or drink Chianti with!), and it’s just an easy and motivating read for founders, whether aspiring or already in the thick of it.

What’s a recent movie you loved?
Watched MayDay on a whim (had no expectations when I hit play) and laughed a bunch. Ryan Reynolds meets Top Gun vibes.

What’s a recent game you loved?
Building Clicks! I think of business as a Team Sport. Every day is like a new match – with a new challenge or opportunity presented and you play with your teammates to try and win the day. I love the people I work (err…play?!) with and while it is a lot of work, it’s also a ton of fun.  (Ed. I’ll allow it.)

What’s something offline you do every day that brings you joy?
Hanging with my wife and dog… don’t ask me which I love more! 😃

Thank you, Kevin, for reminding me that you can always turn onions into lemonade.

➡️ FWD:

This section has some of our favorite stuff from around the internet. Great videos, weird memes, fun reads, recommended apps, whatever. Send us your recommendations!

I’ve always admired Aaron Sorkin’s ability to elevate dialogue into an identifiable characteristic. You can immediately tell when he’s the writer behind the characters in a show or movie, and you can see where that naive optimism comes from by watching this recent interview with the NYTimes.

On the eve of Sorkin’s new movie, The Social Reckoning, it’s also a good idea to revisit The Social Network, a brilliant movie that boasts one of the best scores ever.

👋 P.S.

Over the weekend, CNN reported that back in the spring, a US intelligence report partially created with AI hallucinated that a Chinese boat was carrying nuclear weapons components through the Middle East and “almost started a war.”

Meanwhile, Netflix just released the newest trailer for David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino’s THE FURTHER MIS-ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH (yes, that’s how it’s written), which looks incredible.

And Xiaomi just released MiMo-V2.6, its latest set of low-cost, high-performance AI models that, along with DeepSeek-4.1-Flash, should keep the American labs sweating for a few more weeks.

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Thanks for reading, and have a great day. Talk to you on Thursday.

-Daniel