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In the event that you are seeing this headline for the first time without first seeing our articles from yesterday, let me get you up to speed. The Samsung Chromebook Pro is now available for pre-order from Amazon!
As displayed by the traffic on our post yesterday about the Pro’s availability, this device has been hotly anticipated and of high interest. The date in the listing on Amazon by Samsung is May 28th. So, in just under two weeks, we’ll finally see this all-black Chromebook start shipping out to eager Chromebook users.
If you haven’t already, I’d recommend getting your order in as they will likely go out first come, first served.
Pre-Order The Samsung Chromebook Pro On Amazon
On To The Clue
While we know Chrome OS 59 won’t be available for public consumption until mid-June, we can’t really pin Android apps, Android 7.1.1, or the end of Beta status for the Play Store on any particular OS update. The availability of Android Apps seems to travel freely between updates and channels, so it doesn’t seem necessary for any update to carry the next step in this evolution.
I say all that because in the listing for the Chromebook Pro on Amazon, one of the top features in the main product description is this:
Cutting edge software provides great multi-tasking and multi-window experience.
Doesn’t that wording sound a little like something we’ve all been waiting very patiently for?
Contrast this with the product description from the Chromebook Plus (which is pretty similar, honestly, except for that line) and you’ll see this is a new bit of language in the product descriptor.
Let’s Put On Our Speculation Hats
Hear me clearly: I’m not saying the Samsung Chromebook Pro will ship with Android 7.1.1, Chrome OS 59, or a non-Beta Play Store.
What I am saying is that Samsung delayed this device and are now including a prominent descriptor of the device that sounds a lot like resizable apps on a Chromebook. Multitasking and multi-window are not anything they touted on the Chromebook Plus. It is Chrome OS, after all, so if we were talking windows in Chrome OS, I’d hardly call that a feature as all Chromebooks can multitask with a multi-window experience.
It seems Samsung is alluding to a feature many of us have been waiting for since the first appearance of Android Apps on Chromebooks. Could we actually see Android 7.1.1 on the Pro?
7.1.1 is one of the definitive steps to Play Store escaping Beta and it seems that the Samsung Chromebook Pro could ship with it in tow. Then again, we could be overshooting here as well. My guess is this is the first device to see 7.1.1 in the Stable or Beta channel. For Samsung, it seems imperative that they not ship another device that is teetering the line between stable and beta as a product. The Pro’s that went out for review in January were sorely unprepared for mass consumption.
If they are planning on being the flagship device for 7.1.1 on a Chromebook, I hope they’ve tightened things up considerably since then, because this is a seriously exciting device.
