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Google Unveils Beta Chrome OS Notebook
adeelarshad82 writes "Google has unveiled a beta version of its Chrome OS notebook, dubbed CR48. The device will have a 12.1-inch screen and full-size keyboard, as well as an oversized, clickable touchpad. It will also include world-mode 3G and 802.11 dual-band Wi-Fi. Google promised eight hours of active use and eight days of standby, as well as a webcam.Those hoping to get their hands on a Chrome OS device, however, will either have to wait until mid-2011 or obtain one through one of several Google-backed giveaway options. Google plans to release two, Intel-based Chrome OS notebooks from Acer and Samsung in mid-2011, with Verizon Wireless providing cellular connectivity which comes with 100MB of free data per month for the first two years. According to Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, CR48 is not and will not be for sale. All Chrome OS devices will be launched and priced by their partners, who will hold their own launch events in the future with more details."
With all the flavors of Android out there will google do something different to make this hardware can take upgrades?
Hopefully google will keep Chrome OS in house and not sell it to vendors to cover with their unremovable crap.
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
A tablet and major JS engine overhaul wasn't enough, on a whim they just threw a notebook into the mix or what?
Experiments and other stuff
Oversized touchpad == Macbook Wheel???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA
(Yes this is a joke folks)
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The PICTURES show it as black. With a name like "chrome," shouldn't it at least be shiny?
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
Chromium is 24 on the periodic table of the elements. The element that's 48 is cadmium. Maybe they're going for some sort of esoteric Chromium Chromium == 2 * 24 == 48 kind of thing?
I think...I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check. -M.C. Escher (1898-1972)
Either they're quick with the invitations, or someone's quick with the phishing. I got an "invite" in the mail before I saw the notice on /. Free notebook...sigh.
End the FUD
Well it does have a screen, hinge, keyboard, and trackpad.
Naughty Google! Very Naughty!
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Well they said:
The device also features a jail-breaking mode. It's fully available for you to break into.
So it will require jailbreaking, but they'll provide the ability to do that. Of course, since they're planning on having other integrators actually produce these machines, it will probably end up like Android-- theoretically open, but by many practical measures the devices are closed.
I will give you advice:
1. Install Ubuntu
2. Install Chrome
3. Chrome OS equivalent obtained!
... why are they not just making the OS free for all? The Hexeh Chromium builds have shown that it can run on a variety of hardware... I don't understand why Google is partnering with device manufacturers instead of just letting this into the wild for everyone...
If you are usually using it places with WiFi connectivity and only occasionally need access over 3G, probably enough to satisfy many users (or at least to make the 100MB monthly free usage + 1-2 $9.99 unlimited day passes a better deal than the $20-50 2-5GB monthly plans.)
If almost all of your use is out of WiFi coverage, you'll probably want a higher limit than the free plan.
100MB isn't there to be useful, it's there to persuade you to buy more data. Mind you, it has WiFi, so if you only use it outside WiFi range occasionally it's probably not so bad.
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What's left that doesn't run in a browser?
I've run Linux for years and besides vim and zsh, the only native app that has impressed me as much as the best browser-based apps is Inkscape.
I'd love to run even more stuff in the browser. I hate that I access most resources through bookmarks and the browser's smart location field, but other resources I have to go through the GUI toolkit's file "browser", and then launch external apps that usually lack all the browser's niceties (View Source, Ctrl-+ to zoom, bookmarks/back/forward/history, tabs, etc.). Browser-based doesn't mean using the cloud for all my files; browsers don't care if they load resources from http or file:/// URLs. ChromeOS has a Content View to show you local files, supposedly integrated with the Open/Save dialog; I wish Firefox Places had a directory view along with its bookmarks and history view. I don't want Firefox to integrate with my Linux desktop toolkit's crappy file handling and half-hearted semantic efforts, I want Firefox to subsume them.
=S
T-Mobile recently came out with their dirt cheap (for an Android phone) "Comet". The phone costs about $150 to buy outright, and you can use it on their pay-as-you-go plan (10 cents per minute calling). A "Web Day Pass" can be purchased* for $1.49, and it gives you unlimited 3G data access for 24 hours on the days that you need it.
You should also be able to use a nicer, more expensive Android phone on the pay-as-you-go plan, if you don't mind paying $250 or more up front for the phone.
I've been waiting for a long time for a pricing model like this to come along before purchasing a smart phone. $80 a month (or even $50 a month on some of the cheaper carriers) is just too much for me to pay for a smart phone given how much of my day is spent sitting in front of a desktop computer and land line. I would love to see T-Mobile be successful with with this pricing model, and to see other carriers following suit.
* Currently T-Mobiles servers are crapping out and you can't actually buy a Web Day Pass. Pretty sloppy - but I assume it's just a temporary problem as they roll out the new system.