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With what was a longer wait than usual, Chrome OS has finally arrived on the scene for almost all Chromebooks.
Left out of the party temporarily are the usual suspects: ASUS Chromebook Flip C100, Acer R11 and Chromebook Pixel.
The glaring omission? Android apps are missing across some devices.
So, What’s Going On?
For what it is worth, our ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 has Play Store access in Stable Channel with this update. Yay!
We are hearing reports that other devices aren’t so fortunate right now, though.
While we don’t have official word yet, Chrome OS 56 likely lays the groundwork for many more devices to see Play Store access in the Stable Channel.
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With a slew of devices already having access to Android Apps in the Beta Channel (Chrome OS 56) before this point, there is little reason to believe those same devices won’t see the Play Store become available very, very soon. Keep in mind the ASUS Flip C302 didn’t have app support in any way that was different from others up to today.
It stands to reason other devices will follow suit very quickly.
Also, keep in mind the Play Store can be enabled apart from a major OS update, so we aren’t talking about waiting another 6 weeks for more devices to get added to the list. Through the long, 8-week life of 56 in Beta Channel, many different devices acquired Android Apps over that same time, but at different periods.
What we are seeing, though, are all the Material Design touch ups that make Chrome OS feel way more modern and polished that were only available in Beta Channel up until now.
Additionally, Flash Component Updater for Chrome OS has been added along with the new version of the ChromeVox screen reader now being the default across all Chromebooks.
While I’m a little bummed to see Chrome OS 56 arrive without Android immediately available to a bunch of Chromebooks, I have to hope that we’ll see plenty of other Chromebooks join the ASUS Flip C302 in very short order.
Here’s hoping! And if you see the Play Store icon pop up after this update, please let us know so we can keep everyone updated on Android Apps across the board!
Source: Chrome Releases Blog
