SAN FRANCISCO—Here at Google's annual I/O developer conference, attendees were excited when Sundar Pichai, senior vice president for Chrome, promised that everyone in attendance would receive a new Chromebook. But the audience hid their disappointment well Pichai said we'd have to wait until June 15 to order one."Chromebook" is Google's new term for laptops that run Chrome OS, and two real-life models from Samsung and Acer were announced at the show. The term dissociates Google's Web-only computers from the fading reputation of netbooks, which were the rage three years ago.
Key features Chromebooks must have, according to Pichai, are instant startup, constant connection (Wi-Fi and mobile), all-day battery, the ability to access your data anywhere, built-in security, and features that get better over time. The motto for Chromebooks is "you can do everything on the Web"—a great strategy if you're a company that makes its money by selling targeted ads on the Web.
Chrome OS product manager Kan Liu gave the audience a rundown of some new capabilities that could make the operating system a whole lot more useful. For starters, it can now handle USB storage, includes a file manager, and offline app capabilities, though the biggest candidates for this—Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar—will have to wait until this summer. The Google execs didn't clearly specify whether these features would be included in the Cr-48, instead emphasizing the new Chromebooks. Since those aren't available yet, I'll take you through the announced features, along the way noting if they work or not on the Cr-48 (which I made sure was updated to the latest version of the OS available).
File Manger and File Handlers
I have to confess that I hadn't played with my Cr-48 much since first testing it at its launch. Right away, I saw something new since then—a message box titled "Content Browser" in the lower right corner of the screen that said "Scanning device." When the Cr-48 launched, you could hit Ctrl-O to see downloaded files and screenshots, but that's been enhanced since the debut with this Content Browser.
When I hovered the cursor over a filename, a down-arrow gave me the single option of deleting the file. Presumably in the future more actions will be available. For example, opening the slideshow or importing the image would be good options.
Perhaps even more interesting than the ability to browse files or import them from a USB storage device is Chrome OS's new file handler capability. This allows Web apps like box.net or Picnik to claim a file type, open it, and store it online for the user to access and share. Unfortunately, again, this was not a capability available in the Cr-48.
One of the biggest shortcomings of the original Cr-48 was that nothing happened when you plugged in a USB device. Now something happens, thankfully. A welcome surprise greeted me when I plugged an SD card into the Cr-48's slot: Another box popped up with my camera's storage folder name, EOS_DIGITAL. I could browse to subfolders, which opened more small windows, and when I finally double-clicked on an image file, a Web page opened to a slideshow viewer—pretty desirable behavior for images. The only problem was that instead of displaying my JPGs, I got a black screen.
For MOV video files, a promising Media Player window opened, but on the Cr-48 I only saw a black screen and the message "Error Playing Back." I was, however, able to play YouTube HD videos full screen, but it was incredibly slow and staggering, thanks to the lack of graphics hardware acceleration in Chrome OS.
Improvements in the Browser
Some of the new capabilities we can look forward to in Chrome OS come from improvements to its main component—the Chrome browser. At I/O, Google demonstrated graphics hardware acceleration using an early build of Chrome 13, which should help with the full-screen video problems just mentioned. It will also mean serious 3D video games will be possible in the form of Web-based apps.
The Chrome Web Store has evolved, too, which should make Chromebooks more appealing. In-app payments will allow simple purchases that won't interrupt users from enjoying the app. For example, Graphicly Comics will let users purchase a graphic novel without interrupting preview samples. And Google is only charging developers 5 percent of the purchase—far lower than Apple's 30 percent cut for software sold in the Mac App Store.
Let's hope that the Cr-48 is truly nothing to go by for Chromebooks. Even with the new features, though, I think people accustomed to using full-fledged Macs or PCs will miss a lot—for example, the Dock or Taskbar for easily navigating apps. And don't expect to run apps that need serious to-the-metal hardware support—think Photoshop or video editing—to feel comfortable as browser-based apps any time soon. If you're not a hardcore media creator, but more of a consumer of content, Chrome OS could be a good bet, especially if the benefits of quick startup and everything stored in the cloud appeal to you.
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