ChromeOS

Each year, Chromebooks become thinner and more portable, but this unfortunately comes at the cost of once-indispensable ports like HDMI and Ethernet. Some devices, like the Pixelbook, don’t even have so much as a full USB-A port.

These can, of course, each be replaced with a separate dongle, but many Chromebooks have only two USB-C ports, which would make it impossible to use two dongles and charge simultaneously. The Moshi Symbus Q, which plugs in with just one USB-C port, is able to replace all of these dongles, charge your Chromebook, and wirelessly charge your phone simultaneously.

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With the Google Pixel Slate, Chrome OS took something of a step forward in camera quality, and in fact it was the first Chrome OS device to introduce Portrait mode photos. The feature has since been exclusive to the Pixel Slate, which uses its own custom app. According to a new code change, the stock Chrome OS Camera app will be getting Portrait mode and more very soon.

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In the build up to last year’s Made by Google hardware event, we shared our three leading guesses for the in-development devices most likely to be Google’s Chrome OS flagship for 2018. Two of those, “Nocturne” and its failed predecessor, “Meowth”, were accounted for by the Pixel Slate, leaving “Atlas” unexplained. Knowing Google’s recent history with hardware leaks, it was only a matter of time before Atlas revealed itself. The time has come, as leaked two videos purported to be of the Atlas Chromebook have come to light, offering our first glimpse of what could be the next Made by Google laptop.

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After rolling out to Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, version 73 of Chrome OS is now available. Notable features include Linux support on Chromebooks managed by enterprise admins, settings changes, and improved out-of-memory management.

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With the release of the Pixel Slate, Google has firmly cemented, for better or worse, that Chrome OS is their leading option for tablets, not necessarily Android. One thing these tablets haven’t had that most recent Android phones offer is Qi wireless charging, but that’s changing with the upcoming “Flapjack” Chrome OS tablet.

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With version 73 now available on Mac, Windows, Linux, and Android, the next beta release of Google’s browser is rolling out. Chrome 74 notably brings Dark Mode support to Windows, and can instruct websites to respect any OS-level user preference to reduce motion.

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At the 2018 Made by Google Event, Google debuted the Google Pixel Slate with new-to-Chrome-OS fingerprint support. Before that device has even had the chance to launch, it seems two more upcoming Chromebooks are gaining the same fingerprint capability.

Update: New details have come to light about the two devices.

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After releasing an incremental update for Chrome on Mac, Windows, and Linux last Friday, Google revealed yesterday that it addresses a zero-day exploit. The company’s security team advises users to update Chrome on all platforms immediately as there is evidence of a malicious party actively using the attack.

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Google has been hard at work bringing Fuchsia to a wide variety of devices ranging from IoT devices like the Google Home Hub to more traditional computers like the Pixelbook. According to a new code change, the next devices to get the Fuchsia “tap” will be the newly released Chromebooks built with AMD processors, like the HP Chromebook 14 and Acer Chromebook 315.

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Linux apps have added a new level of utility to Chrome OS, enabling programs that go beyond the typical web and Android apps. However, Chrome OS wasn’t quite ready for certain tasks like video editing due to a lack of audio in Linux apps. That’s changing as of Chrome OS 74, now in the Dev channel, which offers audio playback for the Linux apps support.

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Chrome OS 72 Stable has been available for almost two weeks now, bringing Android Pie to a few devices, but in the past few days, some users have noticed a serious slowdown issue. Thankfully, there’s a few ways to avoid it entirely.

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Following last year’s Google Material Theme and complete launcher redesign aimed at tablets and other touchscreen devices, Chrome OS 72 is rolling out today. This big release brings Android 9 Pie to more Chromebooks and features a handful of other notable changes to Assistant, Cast, and PiP.

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Thanks to improvements Google has launched over the years, Chrome OS is now capable of running four different kinds of apps — Chrome apps and extensions, Web apps (including PWAs), Android apps, and Linux apps — each of which is managed differently. This has made app management on Chrome OS into something of a mess, but Google is looking to unify the platform with a project called the “App Service.”

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Google introduced Instant Tethering in 2017 to let Chrome OS devices automatically share an Android phone’s cellular connection. Initially limited to Google devices, it’s now available on 15 additional Chromebooks and 31 Android phones.

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We learned last year that at least one Chromebase, the official name for an all-in-one style Chrome OS device, was in development from Chromium source code. Acer is the first to unveil their next generation of Chromebase hardware with the Acer Chromebase for Meetings 24V2 and Acer Chromebase 24I2.

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Chrome OS is gaining traction across all industries, especially education, with Google Cloud today highlighting the deployment of Chromebooks at Square. Known for its mobile-based payments reader, the company is offering Pixelbooks to new employees and piloting with the design team.

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If you’ve kept up with Chrome OS in the past six months or so, you’ll know that one of the more interesting new features to launch is Linux apps support. While this has potential to introduce all sorts of new applications to Chrome OS, there are some features missing that hold it back, in this early stage. One of the most anticipated features, graphics acceleration (or GPU support), necessary for running Linux games and some other apps, will be available to test soon on Chrome OS.

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