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It’s been a pretty busy week for Chrome OS and Google in general. Google kicked off the week by officially previewing the upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones. While not directly the Chrome OS news, the Tensor chip made by Google could have future implications for Chromebooks. In the middle of the week, Chrome OS 92 finally hit the stable channel, bringing a host of new features. AT&T has also listed the LTE version of the Galaxy Chromebook Go on its website.
In addition to all the current news, there were also some encouraging developments in the upcoming features of Chrome OS. Chromebooks will soon get native Google Calendar support in the dock. Debian 11 “Bullseye” will be rolling out to Chromebooks soon, available on select devices now. The guys at Chrome Unboxed were also able to get the Vulkan games to work in Crostini on Chrome OS Canary 94. Let’s take a look at everything in more detail.
Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro feature Google’s Tensor chip
On Monday, we all woke up to Google’s surprise announcing the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. It’s pretty common to get official Google “leaks” regarding Pixel phones, but we weren’t expecting them so soon. We already knew the Pixel 6 series would run Google’s new custom SoC. We now know the name of this SoC, called Tensor.
The name makes a lot of sense given Google’s use of the word Tensor in their machine learning platforms. These phones aren’t Chrome OS devices, but the potential of Google’s silicon hints at the possibility of a Pixelbook with the Tensor chip inside. Apple has already started the process of transitioning its Macbook line to all internal chips, Google could easily do the same. The Pixelbook Go is already one of my favorite Chromebooks. A Google Tensor chip in the suite could further improve performance and integration with Chrome OS.
Chrome OS 92 reaches stable channel
The biggest Chrome news of the week was without a doubt Chrome OS 92 on the stable channel. Some of the key features in the update include better video calling on Chrome OS, support for eSim, and a new emoji picker. If you like living on the edge like I did, some of these features have been available in the Canary, Developer, and Beta channels for quite some time. It’s always nice to see the experiences that Google has been working on for a long time stabilize.
Obviously, improving video calling is a big deal right now as many people continue to work from home. Adding support for eSim is exciting, maybe it means we’ll have an influx of LTE and maybe even 5G compatible Chromebooks in the near future.
There are also a few other nifty metrics that come with Chrome OS 92 stable. One of the most useful of these is:
chrome: flags # enable-input-noise-cancellation-ui
This helps cancel input noise if you’re using an external microphone with your Chromebook. For those of us who create video tutorials or record podcasts, this is a great feature to add to Chrome OS.
Galaxy Chromebook Go LTE now at AT&T
Last week we mentioned that the Galaxy Chromebook Go LTE is coming soon, and now it’s here. This week, AT&T put the device up for sale on its online store. Presumably, this device will not be available in physical retail stores, it is most likely online only.
There weren’t a ton of specs surprises, but the price at least shocked me. At $ 349, the LTE version of this Chromebook is respectably priced. I figured there would be a price increase of at least $ 100 over the WiFi variant. You can also reduce the purchase price by 50% if you purchase from AT&T and bundle a qualifying data plan. The data plan costs $ 20 per month, but you still get the hardware for $ 175, which is a steal.
Chromebooks get native support for Google Calendar
It’s crazy to think that Google Calendar hasn’t been integrated directly into Chrome OS from the start. But, we all know Google is making some weird choices. Thankfully, it looks like Google Calendar is finally coming to Chrome OS on the shelf.
Originally spotted in Chromium Gerrit by Chrome Story, this commit suggests that the feature will work the same as integrating the calendar into the system tray on Windows. You can also launch the calendar display widget with a keyboard shortcut, Alt + Shift + C. The experimental flag activating the Calendar widget doesn’t expire until Chrome OS 103, so we might have to wait a bit before that hits the stable channel.
Debian 11 is coming to Chrome OS
If you are using Linux on your Chromebook, you probably know that the underlying container on Chrome OS is Debian based. Currently, the latest version of Debian for Chrome OS is Debian 10, codenamed “Buster”. It looks like that will change soon with the arrival of Debian 11 ‘Bullseye’ on Chrome OS.
Gabriel Brangers from Chrome Unboxed was playing on the Canary Channel with a Tiger Lake Chromebook (I’m assuming the ASUS CX9 Chromebook) and noticed that there is now an indicator to activate Debian 11 on your Chromebook. This brings some kernel improvements and also the ability to run Vulkan games on a Chromebook, which coincidentally is our next topic. You won’t notice much of a difference between Buster and Bullseye if you’re not an experienced Linux user, but it’s an exciting thing for Chrome OS fans.
Vulkan games in Crostini are now a thing
As I mentioned several times in this column, Steam games are coming to Chrome OS, probably later this year. One of the most important steps in getting Steam games to work on Chromebooks is Vulkan support.
In an article published Friday, Chrome Unboxed’s Luke Short detailed his efforts to run Vulkan games in Crostini. The details of this are pretty technical and he apparently tricked his Chromebook Pixel 2 into thinking it was an ASUS CX9 to make things work.
The upshot of this development is that it looks like we are getting extremely close to official Steam support on Chrome OS. Borealis is set to revolutionize the way people think about gaming on a Chromebook. It’s entirely possible that there are metrics available for wider public testing of Vulkan on Chrome OS 94, as well as the aforementioned Debian 11 support.
It’s all for this week. All in all, a great week to be a fan of Chrome OS or just Google as a whole. We have upcoming gaming Chromebooks, Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro this fall, and more fun stuff to look forward to. My ASUS Chromebook CX9 review is complete and submitted, check it out to go live next week. If you want to chat with me about everything Chrome OS and Android during the week, follow me on twitter.
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