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During the summer, we reported on what we thought was surely the ASUS Chromebook Flip 2. Its codename is ‘Cave’ and has become a known entity with an imminent release likely.
But ‘Cave’ isn’t ASUS’ follow-up to the Chromebook Flip. And, while we felt pretty strongly a month ago that ‘Bob’ could be that Chromebook, we now have very conclusive evidence to make that claim.
With our previous post on ‘Bob’, we had to make some logical conlcusions. First, the commits for ‘Bob’ have the same ASUS email that the original flip had all over it. Second, it is a Rockchip device that is likely a convertible. Those things together were enough for us to draw some pretty strong conclusions.
However, we now have a much stronger connection to the original Flip.
In this .dts file, we see reference to a particular display being added for this device. Keep in mind, this device is inhereting many characteristics from ‘Gru’, the board that the Samsung Chromebook Pro is based on. A fingerprint scanner, stylus, and high-res display are all possible with that board.
With this .dts file, we are actually getting a glimpse at the display being put in play for ‘Bob’. It is the AUO B101EAN01. You can use this link to see that there are many variations of this particular display, mainly varying in brightness. There are 9 in total, ranging from 250 nits to 450 nits.
The display comes in at 10.1 inches and 1280×800 resolution. Exactly that of the original ASUS Flip.
As you can see from the .dts file, it isn’t clear which one we are dealing with here. Hopefully, it is the 1.0 version that comes equipped with 450 nits of brightness! (Hey, a guy can dream, right?)
The Connection
As soon as I found this, I immediately went back to the repositories for May of 2015 and found a similar commit, adding support for the same type of display for the original ASUS Chromebook Flip.
The AUO B101EAN01.
To be honest, when I saw a 10.1-inch, 1280×800 display on a device signed off on by the same ASUS email address as the original Flip, I didn’t need much more convincing.
Now that we know the same brand, size, and resolution display is being used, I think we can say that ‘Bob’ is all but confirmed to be the long-awaited follow up to ASUS’ popular, portable Chromebook Flip.
Awesome. When?
Now the question becomes, as it is with all these lingering Chromebooks, when will we see it?
On that front, we simply don’t know yet. What is in this device’s favor, though, is the fact that most parts of its base are being built on a board that has been in development for over 4 months.
Hopefully, that moves things along quickly!
