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Google has come a very long way when it comes to the capabilities of Chromebooks. The other day I was discussing how the company has turned a lot of expectations around by helping users unlock the full potential of creative activity on Chrome OS with Perks, and public perception – outside of schools – has dramatically increased. improved over the past five years. As this happens, we see a greater unity between our phones, our homes and our laptops. We used to think that Google wanted to merge the operating systems on Android and Chrome OS, and while that may someday become true despite what you think of Fuchsia, there’s no denying that they’ve gone to great lengths to unify the experiences. of our digital life within its hardware and software ecosystem.
That being said, there are still several things that I have noticed that are not present on the Chromebooks that exist on our portable devices. Some are important, and some less, but the common thread is that adding these five and more features would go a long way to closing the gap in how we interact between devices in our lives in order to get things done. and achieve unity with our digital identities. I hope these elements provide a starting point for Google to consider how it can take its efforts to the next level in the years to come.
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Android 12 notifications
Last week, I encountered a new Chrome developer flag called “Notifications Revamp” that seeks to completely rethink the visual appearance and functionality of the notifications found above your Chromebook’s Quick Settings. After I turned it on and got a new notification, my device got locked in Canary, so it’s not quite there yet. What’s interesting is that the visual design was more frosted and transparent than the current notifications, and each had an arrow icon at the top right to narrow it down if it needed to be grouped with others of a similar kind. .
Redesign of notifications
Enable the redesign of the notification UI and bundled web notifications. – Chrome OS
# enable-notifications-revamp
Android 12 already comes with this clever grouping system, and if you’re already getting it in Beta 5, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I predicted this exact system would come to Chrome OS when I created my Material You mockup found in the image below. It’s amazing to see the developers implement it – not because I pushed them, but because I understood that the portable OS’s natural trajectory was to follow that of its phone counterpart.
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Material You
Speaking of this Material You mockup, here it is. I insist again on this point – it is a mock-up. You can see a video and other photos of it when I wrote it. While we’ve seen rounded corners appear in a lot of system windows over the past few months, the latest being the Google Assistant voice matching setup, the design clearly deviates from my view of it, but it does. remains that my enthusiasm continues to unfold in reality.
There’s no word publicly or internally on the redesigned quick settings just yet, but hopefully we’ll see a commit or something soon that indicates Google is turning those ugly little circles into bigger, more colorful tiles or maps. , as seen below. Let me know what you think about it, and also if you agree that the OS might look like this soon.
“Edit” quick settings panels
Before you look away from the image above, please take note of a little detail that I added in the quick settings panel. The little pencil icon was my idea from Google for Chromebook users to organize their quick-set tiles. Swapping out which ones appear and in what order is still not possible, but as the operating system gains popularity and acquires exciting new features, this section slowly becomes more crowded.
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Providing a way to customize these options seems like the right decision. Oh, and that’s already a thing on Android. In fact, it’s been years. I’m not saying I want Chrome OS to go Android, but I do think a certain amount of cross-pollination, especially where it makes logical sense for the user experience, is inevitable and unavoidable.
Home orders and storage tiles
If you’re already using Android 12, you’ll notice that Chromebooks – which don’t yet have Android 12 – are missing two fairly important tiles that are present on your phone. First of all, there is a new quick settings tile for managing smart home devices. This “Device Controls” tile allows you to add a few smart bulbs, mini Nests, or whatever else you’ve set up in your home. From there, you can go straight to them and turn them on or off without having to open the Google Home app separately.
Personally, I think it would make a lot of sense for Chromebooks. Like the devices that are often found in our homes, having instant access to control our homes from our laptop would be nice, and since the company doesn’t provide a web interface for the Google Home app (fix that, Google!) , that would be welcomed. There’s already been talk of making Assistant a deeper, more integrated part of Chromebooks, and I think that would be a good start on that journey.
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As for the “Storage” tile, the Chrome OS Files app continues to get smarter, but Google’s Files app (I know, confusing, right?). Its locked private folder, storage clearing suggestions, ability to automatically delete stored but already backed up Google Photos, and much more make it an obvious addition for Chromebooks. I’m actually surprised the company hasn’t done this yet. Ultimately, having a way to quickly free up space from Quick Settings makes sense to me, but what do you think?
Digital wellness dashboard
Last, but not least, I’d love to see the Digital Wellbeing dashboard make its way to Chromebooks. It’s only available in beta on Android, but if you’ve used it before, you’ll agree that it absolutely should have a place on a laptop. The ability to see how much time you’ve spent in emails, calls, etc. is already deployed for Workspace users with Time Insights, but the ability to perform personal time management across all apps and web apps would increase user productivity.
Going further, injecting notifications with additional special powers like time limits, blocking, etc. Clever. Either way, this was all meant to turn things around and share some of the exciting thoughts for the future of Chrome OS that I’ve had for quite some time now.
Chromebooks are going to become so much more than something we use to do work – they will become a natural part of our homes and our lives, and Google has already started that journey. I hope these five and more features will be part of this journey soon. If I missed anything let me know in the comments where I hope to chat with you!
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