Nearly precisely 15 years since Google introduced Chromebooks and ChromeOS—which ushered in a wave of low cost, purposeful, web-based laptops that will come to dominate the US training market—the corporate has introduced a brand new laptop computer platform referred to as Googlebook. It is constructed round synthetic intelligence and Android, and whereas it is not changing Chromebooks, it might give the corporate a extra significant foothold within the premium laptop market.
Google introduced the platform on The Android Show on YouTube, the place it additionally detailed new options coming in Android 17 and Gemini Intelligence (you’ll be able to read more about that here). Google is purposefully not sharing the working system’s identify but (it was codenamed Aluminium OS internally); Googlebook is the platform, and Dell, Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo have all signed as much as produce Googlebooks coming later this fall.
The corporate says it is going to share extra info later this yr, however I spoke with Alexander Kuscher, senior director at Google main Android tablets and laptops, to glean extra particulars. Kuscher says there’s an immense quantity of innovation within the Android ecosystem proper now, and it interprets rather well into laptops.
“You wish to make the most of the truth that this ecosystem is innovating so quick that you simply be sure that laptops are on the tip of that innovation wave—constructing on high of Android applied sciences makes that a lot simpler for us,” he says.
Till now, when Google rolls out a brand new set of options for Android or its Gemini assistant, it typically additionally publicizes a few of these capabilities for different platforms, like Wear OS smartwatches, Android Auto, or Google Residence. Chromebooks have been hardly ever a part of that image as a result of they have been developed on a special tech stack and had their very own growth cycles. Nevertheless, with Googlebooks, you’ll be able to count on to see new options that pop up on Android accessible on a Googlebook laptop computer, the place it is smart.
Working example: Create a Widget. It is a new generative AI characteristic coming in Android 17, permitting customers to generate their very own widget by talking naturally with Gemini. You possibly can ask it to make a widget that exhibits the day’s trade charge in case you’re touring, or a customized climate widget that additionally exhibits wind velocity. This characteristic will additionally be accessible on Googlebooks.
However the spotlight characteristic Google is teasing on the gate is the cursor, which the corporate calls the “Magic Pointer” on a Googlebook. Constructed with Google’s DeepMind team, it lets you wiggle your cursor whereas hovering over an app or picture to get contextual solutions. For instance, you’ll be able to wiggle the cursor at a date in an e-mail, and Gemini will recommend organising a calendar occasion. Or choose two footage within the Information app, wiggle, and Gemini will ask if you wish to merge them.
Courtesy of Google
The Play Retailer is the place you may entry your entire apps. However you may surprise how Google is getting across the traditional Chromebook limitation: In ChromeOS, you’ll be able to’t obtain desktop-grade apps like on Home windows or macOS—you’ll be able to solely set up Android apps from the Play Retailer or use internet apps. That is a deal-breaker for individuals who depend on particular apps that won’t have as highly effective an online shopper or Android app.
The reply is adaptive apps. Google has been encouraging app builders to make apps react to the scale of the display screen for a couple of years now, and that now interprets to encouraging app makers to make desktop variations of their Android apps for Googlebooks. However Kuscher says issues shall be totally different from the “constrained” Android app expertise on Chromebooks, which have been initially constructed for a web-first period.
