Google’s LTE-equipped Chromebook Pixel to start shipping April 8th

by Jeff Causey on Mar 26th 2013, 12:22pm
tagged chrome os, Chromebook, Google, LTE, pixel

Last month when Google announced the new Chromebook Pixel, they promised an LTE equipped model would be available in April. Google is on track to live up to that promise as they have updated the Play Store order page for the top of the line Pixel laptop. Priced at $1,449 for the LTE version, Google indicates units will ship by April 8th. Compared to the WiFi only version, the upgraded version has LTE service provided by Verizon and more memory, tilting the scales at 64GB available. The wireless plan provided by Verizon is included for two years for no additional cost and includes 100 MB/month of data service, with options available to upgrade to more robust plans.

To get more information or place your order, hit the source link.

source: Google Play Store

Google releases Chromebook Pixel, a Chrome OS based touchscreen laptop

by Jared Peters on Feb 21st 2013, 3:29pm
tagged chrome os, Chromebook, Google, pixel, Play Store

Just yesterday we covered a bit of speculation over whether or not Google would release touchscreen laptops this year. Apparently, Google took the hint and released a fairly powerful laptop dubbed the Chromebook Pixel in the Play Store. It’s a little different from the usual suspects in the Play Store, primarily because of the whopping $1299 price tag. It’s definitely a different breed of the cheaper Chromebooks we’re used to seeing, but it also features some pretty lofty specs that the lower end models don’t offer either. You’ll also get a free 3 years of 1 TB Google Drive space, as well as 12 free GoGo in-flight internet passes.

The Pixel sports a 12.85-inch touchscreen display at 2560 x 1700 resolution, 32 GB flash storage, 4 GB of RAM, Intel’s mobile i5 processor with integrated HD4000 graphics, and 2 USB ports, among the other standards like an HD webcam and SD card slot. The screen has adopted an odd 3:2 aspect ratio, but does offer the highest resolution available on a laptop. In April, a (Verizon) LTE version will hit the Play Store with a bigger 64 GB flash memory, however. And, of course, it runs Google’s open-source Chrome OS. It’s definitely a niche product, and the high price tag only reinforces that. We’ll just have to see how well it does in the next few months. Anybody plan on picking up one of these?

source: Chrome Blog

Play Store Link

Google possibly developing touchscreen laptops running Chrome OS

by Jared Peters on Feb 20th 2013, 11:45pm
tagged chrome os, Chromebook, Google

We’ve heard rumors here and there about Google bringing a touch-enabled Chromebook to the market, but so far nothing has really materialized. Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is definitely preparing some touch devices slated for release later this year. There’s no word on exact release dates, or what manufacturer Google will be partnering with to make these devices, but after the recent marketing push for Chromebooks in the Play Store, as well as Google’s efforts on polishing up Chrome OS, I wouldn’t expect these plans to fall through.

This does put Google in an odd position, however. On one hand, these Chromebooks could potentially eat up some Android device sales. On the other hand, after Android’s wild success, the next market for Google to attack would be the desktop computer market, which is almost exclusively dominated by Microsoft’s Windows. Personally, I think the Chromebooks, if offered at a decent price like Google’s Nexus devices, would make a great addition to Android powered smartphones and tablets. And after Microsoft’s less-than-stellar Windows 8 debut, Google has a shot at turning these niche devices into something mainstream. We’ll just have to wait and see.

source: Wall Street Journal

Unified messaging feature to make possible debut in Chrome OS

by Jared Peters on Feb 4th 2013, 9:49pm
tagged chrome os, google plus, Google Voice, messaging

We’ve seen Google push more and more for complete desktop and mobile integration through it’s popular browser, Chrome. Now, we’ve got a sneak peek at some brand new features to be debuted in Chrome OS, including some new notifications and an unnamed icon sitting pretty in the task bar. The notifications appear to pull from both Google+ and Google Voice, cleanly keeping everything in one place. As far as that mysterious icon goes, we don’t have much information on it, but since Google has a plethora of different communication apps in their portfolio, it isn’t too much of a stretch to assume it’s going to tie all of those together, or consolidate them. Personally, I think getting an application to text via your PC built into Android natively would be a great addition.

source: The Verge

Crafty User Successfully Ports Chrome OS Onto Nexus 7 Tablet

by Roy Alugbue on Nov 3rd 2012, 10:06am
tagged chrome os, Nexus 7, ports, roms, tablets

It’s no secret that that new Samsung Chromebook is one sweet little toy, especially since it features that awesome Chrome OS. But don’t you get the idea that the awesome Chrome OS would be even more awesome on our tablets instead of Jelly Bean? Well that’s what a crafty indie developer Hexxeh believed and took it upon himself to create a fully functional port of Chrome OS onto his Nexus 7 tablet. Now while the port has its fair share of bugs and is incomplete at this time, you can clearly see in the video below that it does in fact work— and pretty well at that with the Nexus 7 and connected keyboard.

Naturally the port isn’t ready for anyone yet, but the fact that it’s in the wild makes way for big optimism for the cool OS appearing on not just Nexus 7 owners, but tablet owners everywhere. You can check out the video in its entirety below.

source: Hexxeh
via: Droid-Life

Android and Chrome OS are separate for now but will slowly converge

by Robert Nazarian on May 31st 2012, 8:14am
tagged chrome os, Google

TechRadar recently sat down with Google’s Vice President of Engineering, Linus Upson, and he said that the company isn’t working on a Chrome OS tablet, but you can expect to see a slow convergence with the Android OS.

“We have our hands full in delivering a wonderful experience on dektop and laptop and the Android team have their hands full bringing a great experience on phone and tablet. But the two teams are working together even more closely,” said Upson.

» Read the rest

Android picking up Chromium practices?

by Jim Farmer on Aug 24th 2011, 12:55am
tagged browser, Chrome, chrome os, Google, google tv, Honeycomb, open source

Many have wondered why Android does not feature the Chrome browser, or for that matter, why Google developed Chrome OS alongside and separate from Android. Thus far Android has simply featured “Browser,” which like Chrome is based on the open source WebKit. Unlike Chrome and its Chromium counterpart, however, Android’s browser comes in only one flavor; closed source. That is about to change.

We plan to start by setting up a webkit.org build bot that will compile Chromium’s DRT for Android using the Android NDK, SDK and toolchain. We anticipate a reasonably small set of changes to the Chromium port to achieve this. We’re fully committed to maintaining this new flavor of the Chromium port of WebKit and having a build bot up and running as soon as possible will make this an easier task. At the same time, we will be removing the existing incomplete Android port. This includes the Android-specific code in WebCore/platform/android, as well as any code guarded by the PLATFORM(ANDROID) macro.

The Android team is committed to releasing a slightly modified Android browser to be fully open source. Certain Android specific code will likely be removed before that release, but it’s obvious that Google is trying to reunite the projects in a move that could herald the arrival of branded Chrome on Android. Convergence between the Android browser and Chrome is practically inevitable. Aside from Honeycomb tablets bringing a more PC-like experience to browsing, Google TV, soon to be updated to Android Honeycomb, has a browser that sports the Chrome brand. With that pending, how long can Google keep them separate? Besides, having a WebKit based Chrome on Android devices will make work easier for web developers to get content on Android, and of course I’m sure Google would love to see their Chrome browser advertised on every Android device.

[via Techcrunch]

Chrome or Android – Will Google Merge Them?

by Jesse Bauer on Nov 7th 2010, 5:32pm
tagged Android, android 2.3, android os, Chrome, chrome os, Gingerbread, Google, google Chrome OS, hardware, netbooks, operating systems, pc, smartphones, tablets, theory

There’s a convergence coming in the mobile OS market with respect to mobile technology, platforms and consumer demand. Google aims to capture the best of all 3 areas. We can see it happening right before our eyes. The popularity of Android OS on mobile devices, the announcement of Chrome OS and Google’s partnerships with manufacturers to build Chrome OS proprietary hardware.

After Chrome OS was announced last year, I’ll admit, I was pretty damn excited….in fact, I may have peed a little. That was right around the time I got an Android device and began to realize how deadly it was, especially after updating to Eclair. Now, I’m not sure that I have a real need for Chrome OS. I mean, won’t it essentially be doing what I’m doing on my smartphone already, with respect to cloud computing and application use?

Acer D255 Netbook Seen Running Android OS!

by Jesse Bauer on Nov 7th 2010, 2:51pm
tagged Acer, Acer D255, Android, android os, Android Tablets, chrome os, Google, Netbook, pc, smartphones

The PC market is in trouble with the onslaught on tablets gaining popularity. How do you battle smartphones and tablets in sales? You install a mobile OS on a PC, in particular, if you’ want to make a good run at increasing your PC sales, you install the most popular mobile OS available…Android.

Here you see an Acer D255 netbook running Android. It looks like it’s Android 1.6, but we can’t be sure as they may have had to alter many areas of code to get it running on something that doesn’t have a touchscreen to begin with.

Galaxy Tab to Use Chrome OS, Not Android?

by Chris Moor on Sep 20th 2010, 6:45pm
tagged Android, chrome os, galaxy tab

The Galaxy Tab hasn’t even reached our shelves yet but rumours are already flying about the future of the device. One rumour that is going around today is that the device will be able to not only run Chrome OS, but ultimately will use it instead of Android.

Apparently, the Galaxy Tab’s stock OS (Android) “can be replaced with Chrome, when that arrives, though owners who aren’t tech savvy should have this upgrade carried out by a professional“. That was written in a subscribers-only report of the Sunday Times yesterday and was then picked up by a number of other sites.

While this rumour doesn’t exactly scream credibility, it certainly is an intriguing one. We have not got a copy of the Sunday Times article that mentions this, but reports say they do not provide a quote or source for the information.

Whether true or not, the idea can still be discussed. Will the 7″ device be big enough to utilise Chrome OS fully? Would the device be powerful enough? Would Chrome OS in fact limit the devices capabilities instead of making it better?

[via Yahoo!]