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Is the Chromebook the New Android Tablet? (computerworld.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report from Computerworld, where JR Raphael makes the case for why it's time to call the Chromebook the new Android tablet: What does a traditional Android tablet do that a convertible Chromebook doesn't? No matter how long you mull, it's tough to come up with much. Nowadays, a Chromebook runs the same apps from the same Google Play Store. It has an increasingly similar user interface, with a new touch-friendly and Android-reminiscent app launcher rolling out as we speak. It's likely to have an Android-like way of getting around the system before long, too, not to mention native integration of the Google Assistant (which is launching with the newly announced Pixelbook and then presumably spreading to other devices from there). But on top of all of that, a Chromebook offers meaningful advantages a traditional Android tablet simply can't match. It operates within the fast-booting, inherently secure, and free from manufacturer- or carrier-meddling Chrome OS environment. The operating system is updated every two to three weeks, directly by Google, for a minimum of five years. That's a sharp contrast to the software realities we see on Android -- and if you think the updates on Android phones are bad, let me tell you: The situation with Android tablets is worse.
In addition to the regular selection of Android apps, a Chromebook also gives you a desktop-caliber browser experience along with a laptop-level keyboard and capable trackpad. (And, as a side perk, that means you've got a built-in multi-mode stand for your tablet, too.) It's the best of both worlds, as I've put it before -- a whole new kind of platform-defying, all-purpose productivity and entertainment machine. And while it won't immediately lead to the outright extinction of traditional Android tablets, it certainly makes them seem like a watered-down and obsolete version of the same basic experience.
In addition to the regular selection of Android apps, a Chromebook also gives you a desktop-caliber browser experience along with a laptop-level keyboard and capable trackpad. (And, as a side perk, that means you've got a built-in multi-mode stand for your tablet, too.) It's the best of both worlds, as I've put it before -- a whole new kind of platform-defying, all-purpose productivity and entertainment machine. And while it won't immediately lead to the outright extinction of traditional Android tablets, it certainly makes them seem like a watered-down and obsolete version of the same basic experience.
https://www.androidcentral.com...
Acer and Lenovo both make ARM powered Chromebooks.
There's probably others too.
My wife's $99 Android tablet is thinner and doesn't have a keyboard. That makes it great for watch a movie while she knits, or listen to music or read an e-book.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Can I use it without it ever having to talk to Google's servers? If not, then it's no replacement for Android.
my android tablet does everything I'd want an ipad to do, at 1/4 the price. nothing shitty about it and quite frankly apple's UI jumped the shark a few years back
If Google could make a proper app ecosystem for Chromebooks, like native apps, I could see them as the permanent of Microsoft in any remaining consumer space. Not that this would be the best for anyone, Google is evil as hell. But at this point I'd take evil as hell over slothful and expensive. I can go out and get an I-Pad pro that's as fast as a good windows laptop, with a much better screen, for $200+ less than the windows laptop. Or an awesome, convertible tablet like Chromebook for $400 less than the equivalent Windows laptop.
If either had even close to the same app ecosystem I'd do so instantly. Or if Linux did (and had the price of a Chromebook/etc.) same thing there. As it is I like to play games and end up using Lightroom, Photoshop, and etc. a lot. But damn am I tired of vastly overpaying for what feels like ever worse tech.
I'm wondering what you're getting at with your multiple AC posts in multiple threads.
You should know that Linux zealots (such as I am to some degree) who are deriving value from Linux each and every day, will never agree with you.
Is it trying to be an irritant (with, I must admit, some success) what drives you? Does that give you some sort of psychological boost?
To each his own. Just don't expect to convert anyone to your viewpoint.
The cheapest Chromebook is twice the price of a low cost brand name Android tablet. But why anyone would pay Chromebook prices for one of the so-called "premium" Android tablet is beyond me.
"This mission is too important to allow you to jeopardize it." -- HAL
and if you think the updates on Android phones are bad, let me tell you: The situation with Android tablets is worse.
100% absolutely true.
Four years ago, our school district decided to pilot devices. And when I say device, it seemed like nothing under $400 was off the table. We bought an iPad, an iPad mini, a Chromebook, a Nook, a Kindle Fire, an iPod touch, a Dell Latitude 10 Windows 8 tablet, and four different Android tablets, a Samsung Galaxy 10, an Asus Nexus tablet, and two white-box $100 Android tablets from Amazon. We gave each one to whoever wanted to try it out, we got feedback, and we choose Chromebooks.
Last May, I dug the unused tablets out of the drawer, looking for one that I could use to use as a Wi-Fi analyzer. Updated every tablet to its highest-supported version. One Amazon tablet could only run Android Honeycomb (3.2), the other got to Jelly Bean (4.3), the Samsung Galaxy went up to Lollipop (5.1), and only the Asus Nexus tablet could run Marshmallow (6.0). (That Nexus was great for the job...modern OS, still fast, perfect size & portability...needed a new battery, though.)
Four Android devices, all purchased at the same time, and four different levels of Android. None of us would have had any clue at the time how far each would last in terms of a functional cloud-based OS.
But our Chromebook? Samsung 303c. Still works, still can browse the web with it w/o any issues (except for slowness). Updates guaranteed through next March, which means it will still work through the remainder of our school year. And it cost $239 at the time. I'd call that value.
The Chromebook works far better for me if there is any appreciable amount of typing involved. Sure, you CAN put a tablet in a case with a little keyboard, but it's not made for that, and it shows. It doesn't sit comfortably in your lap as you type away like the laptop / Chromebook form factor does.
Chromebooks also tend to have much longer battery life.
I mostly use a large Android phone if I'm not working. I couldn't very well do much work on my phone. On a Chromebook I can (mostly I work in a terminal and a web browser). There is definitely a place for a Chromebook. Most of what I do, for work and play, I can do just fine on a Chromebook. The one thing that comes to mind it doesn't work well for is using Microsoft SQL Server Studio.
I migrated from an ipad to an android (samsung 12.2) tablet, and when that became long in the tooth shifted to a samsung tab s3, which i love deeply. Android tabs generaly have phone functions which you generaly dont find on chromebooks, i dont want to have to have a dongle stuck out the side
Try pairing a bluetooth mouse to an ipad, does not work, but it works just fine in an android tab, you can even use usb, adding a keyboard and mouse to an android tab changes the experience
> Android is Linux
Yep, it is indeed in nature, but there's a lot more in Linux that "they" won't let Android have. It's Linux no doubt, but has been kept underfed.
> and Linux just isn't useful for anything except servers.
Yeah, right. Routers use Linux, supercomputers use Linux, embedded hardware uses Linux (and likewise "things" like robots, toys, etc.), set top boxes uses Linux. Actually I've been using it since 18 years ago -- as a desktop, no less.
Kid, let me tell you one thing. Hear it and wake up: don't use the verb to be, mmkay? You don't know what "is" means.
And if you're somehow related to anything Microsoft, better start learning Linux ASAP. You're some 20 years late. Literally.
> Linux is not a viable desktop, phone, or tablet OS, nor will it ever be.
Why not? Just get a notebook with a touchscreen. You know what? I used to have a SIM card adapter and could send SMS at will from my Linux desktop. I bet someone reading this right now could teach us how to make calls using a cellphone account through the SIM card. That's Linux for you.
You may be used to Microsoft and the phrase "this can't be done" -- but I'm used to Linux and the concept of "that's cool, let's do it".
does Chromebook serve any real purpose anymore when a good Android device can do everything it can do and more.
Chromebooks are widely used in schools. They are way better than tablets if you need to do a lot of typing.
In my neighborhood school, the kids start using Chromebooks in 3rd grade, and they now teach touch typing instead of cursive writing.
It's like trying to do fluid dynamics on a TRS-80.
I wrote a potential flow solver for NACA 0012 airfoil with 50x20 C Grid in an IBM PC-XT you insensitive clod!
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
>"What does a traditional Android tablet do that a convertible Chromebook doesn't?
Let's see how easy that is:
1) It is not as light as a tablet.
2) It is not as thin as a tablet.
3) It typically (but not always) costs more than a tablet.
4) It doesn't have an upside-down keyboard I have to worry about getting damaged, dirty, wet, etc.
5) It isn't typically available as small, like 10", which means even further weight savings, thinness, battery life, and portability.
And when the idea is portability, those matter a lot. Some of us want a tablet because we have no desire to use the tablet as a laptop. I have never, not even once, wanted to type on my tablet or use a trackpad with it. I use it to play games mostly, with some weather checking, music listening, watching video, and photo browsing.
Now, if it has a completely REMOVABLE keyboard and then was exactly as thin and light as a typical tablet, and available in several sizes/prices from 7" to 12", then yeah, it could replace a tablet for practically everyone. Until then, the concept of a "tablet" isn't moot.
No, it really is. Android is every bit a Linux distribution as Ubuntu or Fedora.
What it is not, is a GNU/Linux distribution. As if that mattered.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
You failed to demonstrate that they don't have a functional cloud based OS, or won't continue to have the same in the future.
Then let me elaborate. It's all about anticipated value.
The key variable here on each device is its web browser. Web browsers are critical for any schools dependent on Google Apps for Education. That Honeycomb tablet can't even run Chrome browser, and Ice Cream Sandwich only supported Chrome up through v.42, which lost its support around the end of 2016. All the websites teachers depend on daily would, bit-by-bit, lose their ability to function in these old browsers. At the time of purchase, did we know the software limitations of these devices? Absolutely not. There was nothing in any documentation telling us how long Android would remain current with these tablets, making it impossible to gauge an anticipated value at purchase.
With Chromebooks, Google clearly communicates to the world that the software on a Chromebook was guaranteed to stay updated for five years. Therefore, our anticipated lifespan of four years was only physically limited by the wear and tear our students would put on it. We could anticipate its value and budget accordingly. But with Android, half the devices we tried had OS's that would not have lasted us four years, without our knowing which of them would. That makes it impossible to plan a device's anticipated value, and our district already experienced devices that fail sooner than they should, and didn't want to go through that again. (That experience involved LearnPads, but that's a whole different story.)
And I didn't praise the Chromebook at all for its performance. That 303c was slow as molasses out of the box, and it only got worse with time. But its browser still works, making it still useful for its intended purpose. If you like using older Android tablets because it still serves its intended purpose for you, then good for you, you're getting good value out of it. I'm praising the Chromebook because it's delivering our district good value.
What [Android] is not, is a GNU/Linux distribution. As if that mattered.
I agree that GNU proper isn't essential, as other free userspaces such as BusyBox or that of FreeBSD can substitute for GNU. What makes Android less useful for some people is that it's not even a POSIX/Linux distribution, as it doesn't attempt to provide the programming languages and core utilities specified by POSIX unless you install GNU as an app.
What about the opposite question. Why do you want a Chromebook?
Because makers of traditional laptops designed for GNU/Linux have as of late left the compact laptop market underserved. System76, for instance, doesn't sell anything smaller than 13 inches. People might be tempted to work around this by installing the "GNURoot Debian" and "XSDL" apps into a Chromebook's Android subsystem.
Most signatures are just chicken scratches anyhow. I learned cursive in second grade and never used it again after fifth, it was a complete waste of time.
Google are working on "Fuchsia", which some speculate could be the replacement for both ChromeOS and Android.
Eat the rich.
Chromebook is Intel, not ARM.
??!? Huh?
Sorry, but I'm writing this on an official ARM Chromebook and things are working just fine, thank you. Wether Chrome OS or Android is running on x86 or ARM makes just about no difference at all for the upper layers, OSes included.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Worst haiku EVER!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I suspect the Computerworld article author has assumed that a typical Chromebook has the same specs as a tablet and *then* has a (hopefully detachable) keyboard on top of that. I just spent $230 on a 10.1" Android 7 tablet that has 4GB RAM, 64GB of local storage (that's rare for a Chromebook because of its cloud leanings), a 2560x1600 touchscreen (again, very rare for a Chromebook to have that res and not all Chromebooks have touchscreens either) and the usual GPS/accelerometer stuff too. I suspect you're talking *big* money to match those specs with a Chromebook.
Yes, I have a bluetooth mouse and keyboard I can optionally use with the new tablet (which will give a better experience than most Chromebooks' trackpads and keyboards) - it has mini-HDMI too if I wanted to hook it to a bigger screen. The tablet form factor is so much better for media consumption, particularly when you're on the move and don't have anywhere to rest your device on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
> if you think the updates on Android phones are bad, let me tell you: The situation with Android tablets is worse.
Oh yes, I bought a few years ago the $$$ top of the line Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro tablet, it came with Android 4.4, it never had any update.
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
These days, I sign my name on some electronic doodad. I don't think I've signed on paper in nearly a century. Everyone's signature is chicken-scratch on those things, even if it isn't on paper.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.