Yesterday we covered the fact that Chromebook Plus was arriving for all certified devices in the Beta Channel of ChromeOS 118. The move to the Beta channel is an easy one and if you follow the directions in that post and are on a supported device, you’ll have all the new Chromebook Plus goodies at your fingertips in no time.
A sneaky-fun addition to Chromebook Plus
While we knew about all the features on the way for Chromebook Plus and we know that a bunch of fun AI stuff is on the way in the coming weeks, one of the feature additions didn’t really spark much interest in me when we first heard about it: new wallpapers and screen savers.
While I’m very much looking forward to playing with the AI-created wallpapers down the road a bit on Chromebook Plus, I honestly figured a few new, exclusive wallpapers and screensavers weren’t that big of a deal. And while I’m still on the fence about the ‘Dawn to Dark’ wallpapers that change color to match the time of day, I’m absolutely blown away by the two new screensavers on offer.
Both ‘Cloud Flow’ and ‘Earth Flow’ give you an animated screen saver that not only moves the entire time your Chromebook is locked, but both look fantastic doing so as well. Seriously, these slowly-evolving video loops are pretty mesmerizing and the fade in and fade out when they kick in is such a nice overall touch. If you have a Chromebook Plus model up and running, I’d go turn them on right now and check it out.
It’s fairly simple, too. Just right-click anywhere on the open desktop and select Set wallpaper & style > Screen saver > Dawn to dark > ‘Cloud Flow’ or ‘Earth Flow’ and you’re all set. After choosing either one, you can opt to preview the effect up top and see it for yourself without the need of locking your device.
The overall effect is quite nice and one I can’t wait to see replicated by more and more of these gorgeous screensavers over time. The slideshows and such in the past have been nice, but these new screensavers really make me want to take advantage of the feature on my Chromebook Plus for sure. And like I expect most Chromebook Plus features to be in the future, the addition is delightful even if not 100% necessary. The point of Chromebook Plus is to enhance the end user experience, and little touches like this do exactly that.
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