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Google is going all in on making Chrome OS the all-in-one operating system for the masses and as the days pass, developers are adding more and more features to make Chromebooks more user-friendly and familiar. Linux apps are getting better support with every update and Google continues to woo developers in order to create Android apps that are not only optimized for desktop but created on Chrome OS.
When Android apps were introduced to Chrome OS, millions of users were instantly greeted with an experience that wasn’t quite on par with the behavior they were accustomed to on mobile devices. It really wasn’t a surprise. Google dropped Android apps on Chrome OS out of the blue three years ago and developers have been scrambling (with Google’s help) to play catch up ever since.
Slowly but surely, the entire ecosystem is getting better but now it’s time to start polishing and the latest Canary update has added a feature that I hadn’t really missed but now that it’s here, it makes perfect sense.
Rich Media Notifications
If you’re an Android user or more specifically an Android user that streams all the things, this feature will be a welcome addition to your Chromebook.
Notifications are nothing new. In fact, the Chrome OS team has been steadily evolving and tweaking the system tray for a more unified user experience and personally, I think it looks great. The addition of “rich notifications” will bring more control to the media on your Chrome device.
Currently, in the Canary channel, the new look brings a media preview, player controls and some snazzy gradient effects. I’ve tested this on everything from Google Play Music, YouTube and embedded videos and it appears to work flawlessly across the board despite some services not pulling a preview image.
This is a great feature if you stream music a lot on you Chromebook and want some quick access control to you your music. If you don’t care for the controls, simply clear the notification like you would any other. Pretty dope, don’t you think? I would suspect this will get pushed up the channel tree very quickly and we’ll see it long before the release of Chrome OS 76.
