Category: Chrome OS

The Chrome OS Beta Channel, the last step before a new build of the platform arrives to the masses, has been updated with its fourth Chrome 68 based build today.  Build 68.0.3440.59 (Platform version: 10718.50.0) is in the process of rolling out to the majority of devices registered in the channel and should be available today.  As always, you can check for the new update manually by typing chrome://help in the browser bar and then clicking the Check for update button.

This fourth update comes two full weeks after the previous update, a unusually long period of time during the beta cycles.  Most of the time in the Chrome OS Beta Channel, there is an update every 7-10 days.  The delay however could simply be because of the United States Independence holiday which was last week.

Based on a new Chrome OS commit in the Chromium Gerrit, and further support from Chrome OS evangelist François Beaufort, Android App Shortcut support is coming to the platform and likely soon.  The commit points to right-click support for Android apps in the platform to allow for users to access the app shortcuts for apps that support the feature.

For those who may not know, Android app shortcuts allow you to get to a quick action within an app simply by long tapping it on your Android phone or tablet.  The feature became available in Android Nougat 7.1 but really didn’t start to gain traction until Oreo was released last year.

Amazon has once again put the entry level Google Pixelbook on sale to kick off July.  Right now you can pick up the Intel i5 equipped Chromebook with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $830 at the online retailer.  That’s a savings of $169 off the regular price for the premier Chromebook on the market.

The sale at Amazon also extends to the middle and higher end models of the Pixelbook too.  For $1057 you can pick up the i5 equipped Pixelbook with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.  That is a savings of $142 off the regular price.  For the ultimate Pixelbook experience, you can pick up the Intel i7 model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for $1499.  That’s a savings of $150.

Two new commits in the Chrome OS Gerrit suggest that the Nearby Connections API that is currently in Android is going to be coming to the platform.  The first commit points to the actual import of the Nearby API code into the Chrome OS platform while the second commit more clearly outlines the need for classes within the platform code structure to support Nearby.

Right now the Nearby API is pretty limited in functionality on Android.  The idea long term is to allow for devices near each other to quickly share information or, through beacons, get information about a location or event that you happen to be near.  Rarely does it get used these days but Google is continue to develop the API, it is up to version 2.0 now, and developers are slowly beginning to implement it.

A new comment in Chrome OS Gerrit suggests that some older Chromebooks will not be getting updated to the Android P framework, including the 2015 Google Chromebook Pixel.  It isn’t entirely surprising, and not entirely confirmed for that matter, that Google would begin to pear back updates for the framework.

For those who aren’t familiar, the Android Framework is more-or-less the underpinnings that allows Chrome OS to install and run Android apps.  Right now that framework is based on Android Oreo but testing has long been in progress with Android P.  But, like some phones, there comes a point where the devices themselves can’t support the new framework or it causes performance issues.  While not confirmed, that’s likely the case for some older Chromebooks that can run Android apps.

A new comment and code commit found in the Chrome OS Gerrit suggests that a merger of Google Assistant and the native notification are of the platform are to be merged.  The merging is aimed to make the notification the one area where you interact with all your notifications and Assistant and could be paving the way for a broader Google Assistant rollout in the platform.

Today, Google Assistant is only available on the Google Pixelbook and has both a dedicated button to access (although it can be configured to respond to “Hey Google”) and a dedicate area where it pops up when accessed.   There is a screenshot after the break for those that don’t have a Pixelbook.