Chrome OS Isn't Ready For Tablets Yet (theverge.com) 35
The Verge's Dieter Bohn set out to review Acer's Chromebook Tab 10 tablet, but ended up sharing his impressions of using Chrome OS instead. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from his review: If you're not familiar with Chrome OS, you should know that there are three different tracks you can run Chrome OS on. There's "Stable," which is what most people should use. It's the build I mostly used while testing this device and coming to the conclusions you see above. Then there's "Beta," which is a little on the edge but has been pretty solid for me. Lots of people run it to get slightly earlier access to new features. But because I wanted to see what the future of Chrome looks like, I also looked at the "Developer" build. Most people shouldn't do this. It's buggy and maybe a little less secure. Here be monsters. On a tablet, Chrome OS looks and feels a lot like it does when you have a keyboard. There's a button to get to your apps, a task bar along the bottom, and a system menu in the lower-right corner. In the Developer build, you'll find more squarish tabs and a system menu that's been "Android-ified," so it looks like the Quick Settings you'd see on an Android phone.
By default, all apps in Chrome OS go to full screen in tablet mode. Recently, however, split screen was rolled out. You tap the multitasking button on the lower right, drag one window to the left, then pick another open window to fill the right (or vice versa). You can then drag the divider to set up a one-third / two-thirds split screen if you like. That's all well and good, but it's the next steps that make this whole thing feel not quite baked. If you rotate the tablet 180 degrees, everything flips. So if you had a notepad open on the left and Chrome open on the right, when you flip it, the notepad ends up on the right. I found it disconcerting, but perhaps that's just a matter of it being different instead of it being broken. Different UX strokes for different OS folks. [...] I don't want to be too harsh on the lagginess I experienced because it's unfair to judge software that's still in development. But I did experience a lot, even on the more stable builds. That's a particularly egregious problem when there's no physical keyboard. If there's one thing that will drive a user crazy, it's input lag. And I saw much too much of that, even on the Stable build, which is what most educators will experience with this tablet. I also felt at times that I was struggling to hit buttons with my finger that would have been no problem if I had a mouse.
By default, all apps in Chrome OS go to full screen in tablet mode. Recently, however, split screen was rolled out. You tap the multitasking button on the lower right, drag one window to the left, then pick another open window to fill the right (or vice versa). You can then drag the divider to set up a one-third / two-thirds split screen if you like. That's all well and good, but it's the next steps that make this whole thing feel not quite baked. If you rotate the tablet 180 degrees, everything flips. So if you had a notepad open on the left and Chrome open on the right, when you flip it, the notepad ends up on the right. I found it disconcerting, but perhaps that's just a matter of it being different instead of it being broken. Different UX strokes for different OS folks. [...] I don't want to be too harsh on the lagginess I experienced because it's unfair to judge software that's still in development. But I did experience a lot, even on the more stable builds. That's a particularly egregious problem when there's no physical keyboard. If there's one thing that will drive a user crazy, it's input lag. And I saw much too much of that, even on the Stable build, which is what most educators will experience with this tablet. I also felt at times that I was struggling to hit buttons with my finger that would have been no problem if I had a mouse.
No Thx (Score:3)
How about sticking with ONE interface paradigm? A standard desktop windowing system.
All you need to do is make it scale, and that's not a problem anymore with the high resolution of devices.
You'll still have the unsolvable problem of having to draw a shitty on screen keyboard on top of everything for certain devices, but so what? That's unavoidable.
I don't want a dumbed down interface on websites. I don't want it on my desktop. I don't want it on laptops. I don't want it on tablets. I don't want it on phones.
And yes, I have used phones as displays for my actual desktop computers via RDP and TeamViewer. It's not ideal, but it's totally fine even without scaling.
Re: (Score:2)
Do you not have a trackball or finger mouse you freaking 8-year old technological n00b?
Lemme guess, your script-kiddie ass buys Raazer products.
WIMP needs a mouse (Score:1)
(I'm an Android user, I don't give a flying fook about ChromeOS.)
Windows interfaces need a lot of work to resize and move windows. Lots of small things to click on etc. this needs a mouse. And a mouse needs a stable screen, since you're using your eyes to coordinate hand actions to screen actions, the screen can't move around. So it should sit on a desk.
Hence it works on the desktop. ChromeOS with its windows version, with a mouse and screen sitting on a desk, that's fine. But I don't want it.
I don't need o
Re: (Score:3)
Well, ChromeOS is the ultimate "browser OS". If you want to use most of your services in the browser, ChromeOS is perfectly suitable. And let us be honest, for a lot of services from Facebook to Reddit, the browser UI is better than the Android app.
Then there is the fact that Android never really convinced on a tablet. Google is great about telling developers to make apps adjust to the bigger screen, but even Android's own settings app utterly fails to do that. Apps for Android on tablets just suck.
And the
Re: (Score:2)
Well, ChromeOS is the ultimate "browser OS". If you want to use most of your services in the browser, ChromeOS is perfectly suitable. And let us be honest, for a lot of services from Facebook to Reddit, the browser UI is better than the Android app.
If you have a stable internet connection. Even the "Chrome-Apps" that could use local caching and stuff uusually aren't anything more than bookmarks with better icons.
It isn't ready for Notebooks even (Score:2, Interesting)
I have a Chromebook. It gets input lag EVEN WITH A KEYBOARD. While just about any app I want to run will run on it, many times, it simply does things the Android way - Even in multitask mode, if I have Camfrog open, and Chrome open, switching from Camfrog to Chrome with a simple mouse click kills my camera in Camfrog, forcing me to unpause it when I go back.
Google's Engineers don't know their heads from their asses. When your Windows chrome Omnibar insists on doing a search on a FULL URL YOU JUST TYPED WITH
Re:It isn't ready for Notebooks even (Score:4, Interesting)
I've used a Chromebook as my daily driver for nearly two years now. Literally nothing you've just said makes any sense at all. I use it for all of my notetaking, academic reading, document markup, research and assignment writing, along with plenty of light gaming (emulators and Android apps), and my Chromebook Plus never misses a beat. Pair that with the literally two days I get out of the battery (if I'm frugal the second day and lay off Youtube), and it is honestly the best laptop I've ever owned.
Now, as for Dieter Bohn, he doesn't think anything without an Apple logo on it is "ready". The Verge is loaded with hacks who can't formulate an opinion not spoonfed to them by their sponsors.
Re: (Score:1)
"Literally nothing you've just said makes any sense at all."
I don't expect 7-digit UIDs to know how to use a computer, either.
Let alone look through Google's support pages and see that my Chrome problem has been in existence since 2009 (Here's a more thorough one from 2012 found on SuperUser - https://superuser.com/question... [superuser.com]) Or hell, just my Own Fucking Screenshot From YESTERDAY Demonstrates [imgur.com] the same goddamned thing.
So with that first part down, do you want me to continue proving you wrong, or would you
Re: (Score:3)
Wow, not just wrong and stupid, but an asshole about it, too. Been a while. Your six digit ID you're so proud of is not so far from mine, buddy. You joined a month before me or something? Try another angle. I was reading Slashdot for years before I bothered to sign up to comment.
As for the Superuser thread, plenty of solutions there. I still thing you and they have installed some dodgy extension that broke shit. Otherwise I'm just some magical creature from a fantasy land where things actually work.
Chromebooks Do Their Job (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry, I don't agree. I've been working with (and programming for) Chromebooks for a number of years now and they are really quite excellent laptops as long as you understand the model in which they're designed.
They're not stand alone systems, they need an internet link. They are Google so that you need a gmail account and understand how to use GDrive resources. Where they really shine is in the classroom and they're pretty good systems for letting your kids work with.
I'm confused by your reference to Camfrog because I don't believe that there's a Chrome Extension for that app - there is one for Android and if you're using that, then you probably will have problems on a Chromebook because Android apps are still somewhat marginal.
Re: (Score:1)
"They're not stand alone systems, they need an internet link."
Apparently you missed the whole VIDEO CHAT part of my statement. Perhaps you should actually READ AND COMPREHEND what I wrote before replying, eh? Because right now it looks like your critical thinking faculties are fucked.
"I'm confused by your reference to Camfrog because I don't believe that there's a Chrome Extension for that app - there is one for Android and if you're using that, then you probably will have problems on a Chromebook because A
Re: (Score:2)
Lol. "Proof". Chrome doesn't do that at all. I've been using Chrome since it was released, and it has never done that to me. What did you break? What shitty extension did you install to cause it to do this? If that's true that is. All this really proves is you googled a URL for a screenshot.
Re: (Score:2)
Gee golly, this ANDROID app I'm emulating does things the Android way. News at 11.
What's next, you going to start complaining that programs you run in WINE want to save to locations just like they were running under native windows?
Here, I'll translate it into rude so you can understand it: The fucking moron here is you.
Re: (Score:2)
"I've been working with (and programming for) Chromebooks for a number of years now and they are really quite excellent laptops as long as you understand the model in which they're designed."
Bet 20:1 every one of your apps is bloated garbage made with Electron, so you really can't notice any real performance issues because you're bound by shitty slow bloated-library software in the first place instead of proper native fucking code. It's like using DirectX instead of Vulkan - you're stuck on DX, pros like me
Re: (Score:2)
"Sorry, I don't agree. I've been working with (and programming for) Chromebooks for a number of years now and they are really quite excellent laptops as long as you understand the model in which they're designed.
They're not stand alone systems, they need an internet link"
That's why they aren't excellent laptops. Internet links go down and then you have a worthless lump of plastic.
Chrome OS only exists because Google is too incompetent to port chrome to Android correctly. The Android version is total garbage
Re: (Score:2)
When your Windows chrome Omnibar insists on doing a search on a FULL URL YOU JUST TYPED WITH THE INTENT TO GO DIRECTLY TO THAT SITE, you know Google doesn't even have the bare basics done right for a fucking web browser, let alone a full-blown OS.
possibly this "feature" is quite purposeful. They want to make sure every URL you type is sent home to the mothership in the form of a search query. Perhaps?
Re: (Score:2)
When your Windows chrome Omnibar insists on doing a search on a FULL URL YOU JUST TYPED WITH THE INTENT TO GO DIRECTLY TO THAT SITE,
I hate to say this, but Chrome doesn't do that for me...on Linux, just tested it out.
They don't call it Lagdroid for nuffin. (Score:1, Interesting)
Seems Chrome OS ain't any different to Android: laggy as fuck.
Google, it seems, are totally incapable of making proper OSes. Who knew?
They seriously need to give higher priority to system and user input apps.
Even I have experienced it on my tablet a few times when running a fairly heavy task while editing a text file at the same time, and input could be laggy by about 0.2-4 seconds. That's jarring as fuck.
Why is that still not fixed and we are 8 damn versions in and across 2 separate OSes?
Seriously guys.
Might be on the horizon (Score:1)
Not an Inaccurate Review (Score:2)
Looking at the comments and I feel like they've been taken a bit out of context - I don't think you can judge ChromeOS by a tablet application.
Touch screen operation on ChromeOS is not great and I would agree that a tablet based on it is somewhat premature.
Chromebooks are really quite nice Google based thin clients with a keyboard and a trackpad/mouse.
The review got off track in a number is instances (ie describing Stable, Beta and Dev channels) but I would agree with Dieter Bohn that ChromeOS tablets aren'
Re: (Score:2)
"Looking at the comments and I feel like they've been taken a bit out of context - I don't think you can judge ChromeOS by a tablet application."
When Google explicitly enables a multitasking mode and tosses in Android Support for ChromeOS (as of last month?) thus tablet-ifying the whole thing, yes we sure as fuck can judge them by this. Especially when it CONSISTENTLY FAILS HARD.
Seriously, Windows XP with a Pentium 4 and 1Gig of RAM runs literally all of my programs faster than a goddamned Lenovo Thinkpad C
Re: (Score:2)
the windows versions STILL OUTPERFORM THEIR CHROME/DROID COUNTERPARTS. Camfrog runs faster, notepad runs faster, calc runs faster. The fucking Chromebook has a goddamned SSD and spinning rust from 2005 still beats its ass in the majority of load times. Calc on Chromebook - 4 seconds to show on screen. XP? As soon as I fucking hit enter the calculator is on-screen.
Have you compared the speed with that of a standard Android tablet/phone? Because those apps load fairly quickly on standard android.