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The Pixel Slate launched to less-than-stellar reviews in part thanks to some serious animation jank present in overview mode on Chromebooks that has been present for quite some time. To be fair, this issue wasn’t just an issue with the Slate, but because of its status as a tablet first, the overview animations are a more prominent part of the user experience overall.
At this point in the Stable Channel on Chrome OS 74, the stuttering animations are still present when using overview mode and split screen, making even the Core i5 model we have in the office feel sluggish and slow when being utilize as a tablet. Let me be clear, however: when using a single app at a time, performance has never been an issue. Honestly, getting between apps isn’t really slow, either: it just looks terrible and gives the impression that the system is bogged down.
With Chrome OS 75, however, it seems the long-awaited remedy for this stuttering mess is finally being realized. Kevin Tofel over at About Chromebooks pointed out the fix after seeing reports of an improved multitasking experience on Chrome OS 75 over on Reddit. After we’ve taken it all for a test drive, we can say that the end result isn’t perfection, but it is FAR more usable and easy on the eyes than the current iteration in Chrome OS 74.
As we do with many things, we documented the jump from Chrome OS 74 to Beta 75 to give you a look at the two versions one after the next. From what we can tell, the animations are smoother, the transitions are cleaner, and the overall experience just feels faster across the board.
I’d be willing to bet this isn’t the final product and we’ll likely see more tweaks on this moving forward, but this is a pretty big step forward and if you’re anything like me, this makes me want to use tablet mode quite a bit more in the future.
