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Why Google Isn't Pushing Android For Tablets
Brad Linder of Liliputing posted an interesting analysis today about Google's reluctance to endorse Android for tablets. Linder argues that while there may be legitimate concern that Android just isn't polished enough for devices without phone access (because some apps need it), it would be smart for Google to segregate the apps themselves, so users can simply know which apps will work on Wi-Fi-only tablets. But from Google's perspective, he observes, "pushing a version of Android that isn't exclusively for phones could be all it takes for Chrome OS to be dead on arrival."
Someone remind me, what is the point of ChromeOS after all? Because I can't see any.
An actual OS can run a browser, and, in addition, any other program. Having an OS that's an one-trick pony seems to be useless to me here. For flight controllers, that can be good. For non-embedded computers, big or small, not so.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Well ChromeOS is not really an OS so much as an Idea..
From Google's perspective, the underlying linux is not really relevant, what they are pushing is the idea that you can live entirely within the walls of Chrome (the browser) and the underlying OS does not matter.. this in contrast to Android which is far more tightly coupled with the underlying Linux based mini-distro (you couldn't just port the user facing front end to say .. windows mobile or iOS or blackberry and call it a day)
Actually, Android is already shipping on netbooks. Granted they're referred to as smartbooks when they run a smartphone OS, but the device is basically a netbook that runs Android.
I've never been terribly interested in netbooks and have generally viewed them as rubbish, but I'm genuinely interested in the AC100. I'd need to use one before deciding to buy it, but I view it as a better proposition than any netbook I've seen to date. The newest versions of Android have added a lot of polish and can really run well on hardware that's not overly powerful. I can see smartbooks being incredibly popular, especially if they stick with keeping the profile small.
Android-based solutions are already here. ChromeOS isn't. Google should just axe the project and focus on making Android better for these types of devices rather than trying to have two different operating systems. Any other response just makes it appear as though they're well on the road to becoming more like Microsoft where projects are made in different small fiefdoms within the company and dick-waving contests between the kings result in crap products. Set a company goal and get the whole company behind it.
Read this in an interview with Jobs. They basically made an iPad prototype and Jobs said, "let's make a phone out of this". So they did.
The official android market is dependent on a sim card. Even a phone wont work unless it has a sim card in it. The trick that Archos did with their tablets is they have their own market for apps that work with tablets. Android market could detect apps that assume its a phone (in fact it does now, see the permissions system) and just not display those apps for tablets. The problem has more to do with the Android team is not confident because they have not set up the CTS stuff for tablets. That's ChromeOS's realm. The CTS stuff however is set up for Google TV already. It probably would not be too much work for them to be confident in Android's ability on tablets, they just haven't invested the time/money in it.
I've yet to discover an android app that's incompatible with my phone.
Maybe that's because the Galaxy S has a superset of currently available features - but as far as my experience with a user goes, I don't care. All I know is I haven't seen personal evidence of the much talked about fragmentation and incompatibility.
Unlike my previous experiences with J2ME, where pretty much no applications ever worked with my phone, no matter which manufacturer it was from, or if they did work, they were very clunky (like not taking advantage of a touch screen)
Advanced users are users too!
don't blame microsoft. netbooks started out as linux power devices being microsoft wanted nothing to do with them when they started selling like crazy with linux microsoft relised they missed the boat. then jumped in. at that point i would have told microsoft to shove it but netbook makers did not.
web apps just aren’t always going to do the job.
What's stopping them?
The only thing I can think of is cross-site scripting restrictions, but there are workarounds for that
Ayjay on Fedang
Android-based solutions are already here. ChromeOS isn't. Google should just axe the project and focus on making Android better for these types of devices rather than trying to have two different operating systems.
No, Android and ChromeOS are both optimized to run on very different hardware platforms. One is designed for low energy usage, passive cooling, no swap memory, and plenty of sensors. And the other is designed for high energy usage, active cooling, and plenty of swap memory space. Fundamentally, those two types of hardware profiles are very different.
And unless one type of hardware profile completely replaces the other, and it hasn't yet, Google should continue supporting both types. And who cares if Chrome OS is not ready yet, Google is taking the longterm view on this. Take its 'Google Docs' for instance, it's not ready to challenge Microsoft Office head-on yet, and it may never be, but it's slowly improving and it's already miles ahead of any similar online Office features offered by Microsoft -- so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years. The same could be done with Chrome OS. Give it two years. Give it five years, or even ten years. Google can wait. Google can afford to wait. It just needs to keep its eyes on the ball.
Oh well they lost a potential android user here. I've waited for months to have an android tablet but even if you ignore the shoddy hardware sometimes, it is hard to overlook the fact that the App Store is something problematic. Because of the fact that Google don't give access to the app store every frikking manufacture introduces their own. And even in the hypothetical case that Google does let tablet users access the app store here in Belgium it wouldn mean sh*t as for some kind of reason it is impossible to buy paid apps in the android market. It is one big mess at the moment no matter how you put it. I was done waiting and bought an iPad yesterday. The Samsung Galaxy Tab (the one that can make a dent in the iPad market) will cost about 700 euro here , making the iPad look dirt cheap.
Of course - you can have a small-footprint OS without the annoyances of other software LOADING. Your OS can start in 5 seconds. You'll rule the world. You can run everything in the cloud nowadays, and on your own personal cloud, too, like Bibud are trying to do, just more socially. I wouldn't say I needed my audio/video players, my torrent downloaders, my skype, my anything else when that thing is finished. It's just all on a cloud, running wherever you want it to run (not excluding just your own PC). And with the introduction of WebGL, games are moving to the browser. You don't have to have a cloud, but it's there if you want it.
ChromeOS as far as I can judge from what I have seen on the pictures and the emulation is pointless for tablets the entire ui is centered around a mouse and a smallish screen estate. Trying to push chromeOS on a tablet would be a huge mistake. I personally dont think google is that stupid, and I beliefe their arguments the OS simply needs a tablet refinement to work fine. Heck apple did the same for iOS on the ipad, you need to change the aspects of various distances, better even introduce resolution independence, you have to ajust the layout system of the apps so that they can use the bigger real estate better than just presenting themselves blown up (the classical example is the mail menu system on the iPad)
and you also have to adjust the market apps decently.
I would be surprised if google would come up with ChromeOS as solution for Tablets, I rather expect a Gingerbread reference design given first to the Google Employees on christmas with decent Android based tablets following the upcoming months from HTC and co.