Googlebook

Google is rolling out Chrome 156 for Googlebooks with a slew of improvements and bug fixes. This follows the last browser update two weeks ago.

You probably shoudn’t buy a Googlebook. That’s less of an opinion about the platform itself, but more about the bad timing that this launch has seen, and protecting your own wallet.

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HP’s first crack at a Googlebook laptop is a winner, or at least as much of one as the platform allows. While Googlebook as an operating system leaves a lot to be desired, the HP Googlebook 14 checks every single box for a fantastic laptop.

With Chrome 155, Googlebooks now better support web apps by allowing for expanded installation and system integration.

Googlebook was always going to run into problems with app availability, but few expected the platform to regress its support for Linux apps from Chromebook’s fairly robust solution. In a blog post, Google reiterates that the “Linux Terminal Preview” on Googlebook isn’t for using Linux apps, but for building with AI.

Let’s not pretend; if you weren’t sold on a Chromebook, Googlebook isn’t for you either.

All attempts to bring the lessons and benefits of the touch era to PCs have failed, from Windows 8 to the era after the iPad when the Mac gained fullscreen apps. From an experience perspective, the iPad came closest because it was built on iOS, but it still failed due to the locked-down limitations at its core.

After using Googlebook OS for over a week, I think Google has the beginnings of a desktop OS for the Android smartphone generation, but the inherent strategy reset makes for a rough first take.

The big selling point for Googlebook is that it’s a desktop platform that deeply integrates with your Android phone but, at launch, those “Better Together” sync features are in a messy place. Google is now rolling out updates, including the bafflingly-missing support for Samsung devices.

Having been using a Googlebook for the better part of a week, there are any number of headaches I could talk about, but easily the biggest problem I’m running into thus far is the app situation. Frankly, it’s a mess.

Buried in the settings of Googlebook is a “Glowbar Disco” app that activates the LEDs on your laptop constantly, instead of leaving it blank.

Logitech has just launched its Logi Options+ app for Googlebook, bringing support for controlling its keyboard and wireless mice to the Android-based platform.

One of the beloved features of Google’s original big push into laptops, the Chromebook Pixel, is getting a revival in Googlebook’s Glowbar, but it very much feels like a hollow version of what came before.

Googlebooks don’t have the same level of web app support as Chromebooks, as only “compliant” apps can be installed, and that’s not the only regression from ChromeOS, as Linux apps don’t work in the same way either.

Googlebook is pitched as the laptop for Android users but, at launch, the vast majority of Android users can’t use the platform’s best features.

If you are an early Googlebook buyer, you should know that one of the first changes you should make on one of these new machines is to adjust the trackpad speed, because it’s a bit frustrating out of the box.

One of the biggest questions around Googlebook is what app support will look like and, as the platform officially arrives for customers this week, Luminar is debuting a rebuilt photo editing app for Googlebook.

According to a statement from Google, Intel-based Googlebooks will apparently still struggle with some Android apps.

Fantastical has long been hailed as one of the greatest calendar apps available today, but if you’re an Android user, there’s a good chance you’ve never used it. Despite a move from Apple exclusivity to cross-platform availability on Windows, Android has long eluded the attention of development team Flexibits. Today, that’s finally changing, as Fantastical is headed to Google’s mobile OS platform — but not precisely in the way you might expect.