As we've talked about at length before, Chromebooks generally have the same keyboard layout regardless of the manufacturer. The Acer Chromebook Spin 713 I'm typing this on has the same exact keyboard layout as the HP Chromebook Pro C640 that is on the next desk over. Apart from a handful of … [Read more...] about Upcoming Chromebook keyboards to get a new ‘snapshot’ function key
New & Upcoming Features
Chrome OS “Phone Hub” appears: Enable hotspot, task continuation and more
Google's new project that will create a "phone hub" on Chrome OS has only been in development for a couple of months but work is coming right along at a very steady pace. The latest update to the Canary channel has inserted another placeholder into the Phone Hub menu that gives us a slightly better … [Read more...] about Chrome OS “Phone Hub” appears: Enable hotspot, task continuation and more
Chromebooks are getting a revamped screen capture UI with native screen recording
As it is right now, Chromebooks and screenshots are a pretty simple pair. Hitting CTRL + OVERVIEW will snag a full-screen grab and CTRL+SHIFT+OVERVIEW will allow the user to select a portion of the screen to capture. There's no UI, no real guidance, and little that can natively be done to the … [Read more...] about Chromebooks are getting a revamped screen capture UI with native screen recording
Stadia will soon be a pre-installed web app for Chromebook users
Chromebooks come with a small handful of different apps installed out of the box. Apart from the different selection of bundled Android apps we see on the Lenovo Chromebook Duet, nearly all Chromebooks come with the same out of box experience across the board. The obvious things we've all come to … [Read more...] about Stadia will soon be a pre-installed web app for Chromebook users
This new Chrome OS 85 handwriting-to-text feature is shockingly good [VIDEO]
Sometimes I just can't figure Google out for the life of me. Every version of Chrome OS that ships is chock-full of feature updates, bug fixes, and security patches, but they only can highlight a few of those as the headline-worthy. That makes total sense, and I understand that the minutia of … [Read more...] about This new Chrome OS 85 handwriting-to-text feature is shockingly good [VIDEO]
Global Media Controls coming to Chromebooks to free your notifications area of clutter
When Chrome OS added the rich notifications for media playback - borrowed from Android's implementation at the time - we were pretty excited because it was a nice way to see your current, active media in a graphic-forward way. This happened at a time when Chrome OS was beginning to adopt more and … [Read more...] about Global Media Controls coming to Chromebooks to free your notifications area of clutter
Chromebooks are getting a radical update to the setup process [VIDEO]
In early August, we uncovered work being done to overhaul the OOBE (out of box experience) setup screen for Chrome OS. According to the changes, users will soon be presented with the option of logging in with their own account or a child's account. The big change here is the user flow. Instead of a … [Read more...] about Chromebooks are getting a radical update to the setup process [VIDEO]
More upgrades incoming for the built-in Chrome PDF viewer
A little over a month ago, the new Chrome OS PDF viewer was spotted with some nifty upgrades to its basic functionality. Mainly, the top toolbar was set to be overhauled, simplified, and cleaned up. This new look that we came across back in late July was a nice change, but it didn't do a ton to … [Read more...] about More upgrades incoming for the built-in Chrome PDF viewer
Chromebook Files app gets a useful PDF preview upgrade
I honestly can't remember how long file previews have been part of our collective, digital realities. I'm sure at some point in either the Windows, MacOS or Linux history, the OS developers thought it would be a good idea for users to have at least a snippet of visual info about the file they are … [Read more...] about Chromebook Files app gets a useful PDF preview upgrade
