Want Gboard, SwiftKey or another Android virtual keyboard on your Chromebook? The Dev Channel of Chrome OS 79 will let you do that, but bear in mind, it’s a bit of a work in progress at the moment.
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At long last, Google is bringing the ability to sideload Android apps to Chromebooks. The feature is planned for Chrome OS 80, helping both developers and power users alike.
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Earlier this year there were references to a “Click to call” feature for Chromebooks and it appears that Click to call will arrive in Chrome OS 78. Once it arrives, clicking a hyperlinked phone number will place the call on a supported Android phone.
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Last year I said every Chromebook user should carry a USB stick in case they need to recover Chrome OS. That advice may be going out the window because your Android phone could be used in the future for recovery.
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The Chromium team is working on a new feature for Chrome OS 79 that will scale down CPU resources for Linux apps running in the background. That should improve browser and Android app performance on Chromebooks when needed.
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Do you have the Android version of Amazon Music installed on your Chromebook? Better check and see if you still have it: Amazon has been removing it from devices and the Play Store doesn’t show Chromebook compatibility.
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I’ve been pondering what a Chrome Phone would look like since 2013. We’ll probably never see one but if you want to get an idea for the concept, look no further than Samsung DeX, which bridges the mobile and desktop computing paradigms.
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After four months in a preview release, Android Studio arrives on Chromebooks with official support. There’s still no Android device emulator, but the USB debug feature of Chrome OS lets you install and test apps on your connected phone.
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Between offline file synchronization, Android and Linux apps, and smart prepping, you can do more than ever with a Chromebook when you’re not online. Here are 4 strategies from ComputerWorld and 2 of my own to make it happen.
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Recent Geekbench listings suggest the next Pixelbook, likely Atlas, will use the same chipsets as the Pixel Slate. That doesn’t make sense for a few reasons.
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Most people don’t need a super high-end Chromebook but if you do, there’s a new choice to consider: The Acer Chromebook Spin 13 can be had with a Core i7 U-series chip and 16 GB of RAM.
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