Google’s
presence in tablets has long consisted of its Android smartphone OS stretched
to fit larger displays.
The marriage has been an unhappy one, leaving Apple’s iPad and
even Windows 2-in-1 devices as the main options for tablets. That makes
Google’s recent improvements
in how well Chrome OS supports pure tablet devices even more
important. Adding tablet-centric features to Google’s easy-to-use, secure, and
easy-to-administer operating system could give the company an important new
weapon in taking on Apple and Microsoft.
It’s timely, then, that Acer sent us the industry’s first
shipping Chrome OS tablet, the Chromebook
Tab 10, for us to check out. The device itself is meant for education,
built with sturdy plastic and priced at just $330. The product itself isn’t
going to compare to an iPad anytime soon, but it provides a pretty interesting
glimpse into what it’s actually like to use Chrome OS on a tablet.
THE GOOD
The core elements of using a Chrome OS on a tablet are solid.
For the most part, Chrome OS lets you get things
done when you’re using it with touch alone.
Swiping and tapping feel reliable and consistent — and the Wacom
EMR stylus included with the Acer Chromebook Tab 10 works well with Chrome OS’s
somewhat limited touch support (compared to, say, Windows 10 Ink). It even
comes with a built-in slot for storing.
Though it’s a bit smaller than we like, the stylus works for
taking notes and creating simple drawings. For the most part, Chrome OS lets
you get things done when you’re using it with touch alone.
One of Google’s first real nods to tablets is a new launcher.
Whereas Chromebooks once showed a row of recent apps to go with a very
Google-like search bar, the new launcher looks suspiciously like the one you’ll
find on an Android device. Hit the button on the taskbar, and you’ll get a
pop-up launcher making all of your installed apps available at a touch. The new
launcher works in standard Chromebook mode as well as in tablet mode — but it’s
better with touch than a touchpad.
Next, Chrome OS tablet mode now supports the same basic kind
of task view and split-screen
mode that exists on other modern operating systems. That means that
you can hit the task view button to see thumbnails of your open apps, long
press on the thumbnail for a Chrome OS or a select Android app, and drag it to
one side or another. You can then grab another app and populate the other side.
It works well enough and makes for a generally productive environment, just
like the feature does on other platforms.
These additions aren’t just nice additions — they’re essential
for making the experience feel more like a true mobile operating system.
They’re the bare bones, but they’re there.
The last addition — and most important — is Android apps
themselves. The Google Play Store came to Chromebooks early in 2018 and began a
real conversation about the future of the Chrome OS platform. The amazing thing
to report is that while we ran into issue from time to time, the experience is
fairly smooth.
You can download any of your favorite Android apps — and with
tablet in hand — use them like you would on an iPad. When you’re in an app,
everything feels fairly normal. When you exit out of it into the world of
Chrome OS, you run into some problems.
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