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PWAs are inching a step closer to feeling native on Chromebooks
App shortcuts further narrow the gap between web apps and their native counterparts
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) have seen tremendous growth over the years thanks to the rapid adoption of modern web APIs. Combined with enhanced capabilities and improved reliability, PWAs are closer than ever to delivering app-like experiences on the web. Microsoft and Google improved upon this even further last year with app shortcuts, offering quick access to a handful of tasks for PWAs. The feature became available for Chrome and Edge last year, but it lacked support for Chrome OS. It looks like this is about to change.
Try these 3 super-useful Chromebook features you didn't even know were there
Google smuggled a few nifty, experimental features into Chrome OS 90
It's been a week since Google launched its big Chrome OS 90 update, and while it's nowhere near as jam-packed as 89, it did introduce a handy new diagnostics app, improved Tote (formerly Holding Space), and more. Since its release, we've been digging into the new update and unearthing even more features that could improve your Chromebook experience. Here are three experimental improvements we've found that you can try right now.
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A week following Chrome 90's release for desktop and mobile platforms, Chrome OS 90 is now arriving on eligible Chromebooks. Although Google didn't stuff quite as many features into it like OS 89, the update still improves Chromebooks with several changes to enhance the user experience. Here are all the important Chrome OS 90 features Google announced today.
Your Chromebook will be getting a massive gaming performance boost soon
Early benchmarks show speeds that rivals native performance
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Linux for Chromebooks has come a long way since Google introduced it in Chrome OS 69 a couple of years ago. On supported devices, it opened the door to an extensive library of desktop apps for users, like video editing tools and IDEs. GPU acceleration was an important milestone that made graphic intensive Linux app usable on Chrome OS. This is thanks to Virgil 3D, a component that allows the Linux container to tap into the hardware's GPU. In exciting news shared by Luke Short from VMware, Google is working on adding Vulkan passthrough into Virgil to improve app performance.
Upcoming Chromebook emoji picker gets fresh design ahead of full release
The emoji picker will also have an inline search box for improved discoverability
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It's no secret that emoji play an integral part in today's daily communication. From a user experience point of view, emoji pictographs make up a universally recognized language that adds emotional nuance to conversations. They've been integrated throughout our digital lives, and in 2018, Chrome gained a shortcut to quickly insert them on the desktop. It poses a problem for Chrome OS users, though — clicking on the context menu launches the on-screen keyboard, which is clunky and unintuitive with a mouse. However, that's changing soon as Google is working on a dedicated emoji picker for Chrome OS.
Your Chromebook's login screen is getting a Material Design tweak
The login screen gets subtle visual changes in the Beta channel
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It's been a couple of years since the Chrome OS UI got any considerable design updates, some of which were polarizing changes that stirred controversy in the Chromebook community. Google has since been steadily updating its core apps and system UI to a more modern Material Design style, including the new Media app and tablet mode experience that rolled out in the Chrome OS Stable channel this year. If there's one component that still feels out of place, it's the login and lock screen—more specifically, the password field. That's changing soon, though, as Google is experimenting with a refreshed text field to make it look more consistent with other system UI elements.
Android’s Live Caption feature is coming to Chromebooks
The powerful accessibility feature will soon arrive on Chromebooks
Live Caption was one of the highlight feature of Android 10 when Google unveiled it at Google I/O 2019. Its ability to generate accurate real-time captions regardless of audio source continues to blow us away — and it works offline, too. Google's Pixel phones were the first to get it, then it followed by expansion to other Android smartphones. Google announced yesterday that Live Caption is available to everyone using Chrome, and with some digging in the Chromium Gerrit, it looks like Chromebooks won't have to wait much longer to get it.
Android 11 is rolling out to Chromebooks on the Beta channel
Sporting a dark theme, better display scaling, and more
It's been two years since the Android system on Chromebooks received a major update. While Android 9 Pie introduced a slew of improvements, growing pains (like app scaling) have continued to make the experience quite frustrating. Google has since been hard at work fixing its issues and reworking the Android system with its ARCVM. The wait may finally be over, as a shiny new Android 11 build powered by ARCVM is slowly rolling out to Chrome OS Beta.
The camera app on Chrome OS has remained largely unchanged since Google first brought Chromebooks to the market in 2011. Although handy in a pinch, its stagnant development is obvious by the lack of useful features. It received video recording only three years ago and recently got a native QR code scanner. While it has improved over the years, its implementation feels too basic to be especially practical. That may soon change, as Google is working to deliver advanced controls to the camera app on Chrome OS.
Chrome OS 89 is rolling out with Phone Hub, native screen recording, and more
Google announces a slew of Chromebook features and improvements
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It's Chrome OS's 10th birthday today, and Google announced a slew of cool new Chrome OS 89 features to celebrate. The milestone update improves Chromebooks with several changes to enhance the user experience. Here are a handful of Chrome OS features Google announced today that are coming to eligible devices.
CTL CBx2 review, one month later: A good Chromebox at a compelling price
CTL’s next-generation Chromebox is perfect for casual use
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It’s been over two years since CTL released the Chromebox CBx1, its first Chrome OS desktop designed for the classroom and corporate use. That Chromebox exceeded our expectations when we reviewed it, offering good performance at a low price. Now, the Oregon-based company offers the CBx2, upgrading the processor, storage, and networking performance, making the CBx2 a solid upgrade at an affordable price.
Chrome OS is getting presentation-ready with new native tools
Projector adds screen recording, Android's powerful Live Caption, and more to Chromebooks
It's been around a year since the global pandemic forced students across the country to shift to distance learning and online presentations in a virtual setting. With schools rapidly adopting Chromebooks thanks to Google's attractive platform, the developers at Google are working on native tools for Chrome OS to help students and teachers amp up their online presentations.
Chromebooks are about to get more secure with enhanced external peripheral protection
Chrome OS will soon support data access protection for PCI devices
USB has come a long way since Apple made the I/O mainstream with its iMac in September 1998. The technology rapidly replaced a wide range of aging connectors on PCs and became the universal standard for wired data and power transfers. With USB4's versatility opening the door to broad external PCI adoption, Google is working to protect your Chromebook from unauthorized access to your data.
Google may finally add a simple calendar widget to Chrome OS
Incredibly useful change is coming to the everyday user
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The system tray has been an integral aspect of the desktop experience since Windows 95, holding app icons and system information useful to the user. While the Chrome OS tray is tidier than Windows', a few areas are perhaps too simplistic. For years, many Chrome OS users have been requesting the ability to show the date next to the clock. It looks like Google is finally listening to feedback, as new code confirms changes coming to the Chrome OS system tray.
Google Photos may finally be integrated into the Chrome OS file manager
Managing photos will be a lot more streamlined than before
It's been two years since Google decoupled its Drive and Photos services for a "simplified experience," preventing pictures from syncing to its cloud-based storage. For many, managing images from Google Photos became a lot less streamlined on Chrome OS: you'd have to download your pictures from the Google Photos app to organize them in the file manager. Several users have expressed frustrations about the lacking synergy between Photos and the files app, citing how frustrating it is to import a selection of images to Chrome OS. However, that might be changing soon, as we discovered a pair of work-in-progress commits that hint at deeper Google Photos integration into the file manager.
Phone Hub for Chrome OS is slowly rolling out to Beta and Dev channels
You'll need Google Play services beta on your phone and some luck to try it out
It's been a few months since we covered Google's ambition to bring tighter integration to two of its core hardware products. Dubbed Phone Hub, the feature aims to enhance the relationship between your Android smartphone and Chromebook. Shortly after a visual prototype made its way to the Canary and Dev channels via a Chrome flag, it mysteriously vanished from the system tray and—until recently—has not made a return. While we still don't have a functional version of it today, Phone Hub received many visual and backend updates that give us a glimpse of what Google is cooking up to bring your phone and Chromebook closer together.
Here's every new Chrome OS 88 feature and improvement we've found
Everything from the new screen capturing tool to a light system theme
The Chrome OS Stable channel received a significant milestone update recently, from 87.0.4280.152 to 88.0.4324.109. As with every big new bump, this brings substantial changes, offering several new features, bug fixes, and security enhancements to improve your Chrome OS user experience. There are around 19,000 changes total in this release, so there may be a few things we missed. Here is everything new in Chrome OS 88 we've found so far.
Chrome OS 88 is here with screen savers, improved virtual desks, and more
A solid update that improves Chrome OS with new features and improvements
Just a week after Chrome 88 launched on desktop and mobile platforms, Google is rolling out Chrome OS 88 to the Stable channel, the first significant update for 2021. Like the former major milestone, the new software update improves Chrome OS with several new features and improvements to enhance the user experience. Here are a few of the things Google announced today that are coming to eligible devices.
Google adds a microphone toggle to the Chrome OS screen recorder
The new setting lets you record microphone audio with your screen captures
Let's be honest: searching for a decent screen recorder for your Chromebook sucks. Most "free" screen capture software found online requires you to pay an expensive subscription to unlock essential features, like unlimited and high-resolution video recordings. Although a video capture card will give you full control, like the ability to record using your Chromebook's native resolution, not everyone wants to invest in a costly desktop computer. The developers at Google seem to have realized that people don't want to pay a subscription to get decent screen recordings, so they finally decided to add a native solution to Chrome OS.
Every new Chromebook and Chromebox announced at CES 2021
A handful of neat devices to look forward in 2021
CES 2021 has come and gone, and with it came a slew of announcements showcasing cool and wacky gadgets like LG's Rollable smartphone and Chamberlain's $3,000 smart pet door, coming later this year. Typically, not many Chromebooks are announced at the event as they are a niche product in a broad spectrum of laptops, and this year was no exception. But here, we've compiled a list of all the new Chromebooks announced at CES 2021 for your convenience, so let's jump right in.