First spotted by 9to5Google, and now confirmed by Google itself, that Chrome OS will open up to Android app developers this June. Android would be pulling the Google Play Store, along with its one million apps, into Chrome OS. And Google hopes that within a couple months, apps will move to a stable beta release and finally work on Chromebooks this fall.
Sundar Pichai talked about bringing Android to Chrome OS all the way back at Google I/O 2014. That promise resulted in a limited project, called App Runtime for Chrome and brought a dozen or so apps like Duolingo, Evernote, and Vine to Chrome OS. Now, you’re getting all of them-that is if developers build the apps for the platform.
We can expect that the Android Apps can be shown in 3 different window sizes to allow the best experience. Users can multi-task with multiple Android apps in moveable windows along with a full desktop browser, all within the familiar Chrome OS interface.
As explained by the Android developers, the keyboard, mouse, and touch input will seamlessly work together, and the users will get Android notifications on their Chromebooks. Android apps benefit from the Wifi or Bluetooth connectivity setup by the user or the administrator.
File sharing is seamless between Chrome and Android apps through the Files app. The performance of demanding apps such as games or design apps is excellent.
Chromebooks have been cheap and convenient, but lacked the App Store to make it a true laptop competitor. But now, it has that too. Some apps won’t be tethered to an internet connection like normal Chrome apps, making Chromebooks an online and offline machine. Of course, some apps that require smartphone-specific hardware, like GPS, might not work on a Chromebook at all.
These apps still need some time to be developed and fully compatible. The new feature will first appear on the Asus Chromebook Flip, Pixel 2 (2015), and Acer Chromebook R11 in June.
[adinserter block=”7″]
As a technology lover you may like our daily important technology news series. It’s a playlist and you can retrieve the total day-wise videos. Please consider subscribing our YouTube channel:
Author: Technology and Beyond
