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GBM Shortcut: Checking Out Google Chrome on a Tablet

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Don’t let the headline deceive you. This isn’t about hacking the Google Chrome OS onto a Tablet. Instead it is running the Google Chrome browser, and more specifically the Google Web App Store, which in essence offers you most of what the Chrome OS will offer on a Tablet. In this case I’m using the Tega v2 running Windows 7 as the Tablet.

I’ve seen some pretty interesting commentary and critiques of the Google Chrome OS since it has been released. Xavier has done a good job of filling us in on his thoughts about what he’s experiencing with both the OS itself and the prototype hardware Google is now sending out for testing. (see here, here, here, and here.) Some, like the creator of GMail think Chrome OS is doomed, some are spending way too much time talking about the hardware in my view. Some see Chrome OS as a big boon for anyone who wants to save some costs when doing computing.

Me? As I’ve already said, I think it is too early to tell but I’m guessing Google is making a play for both the Enterprise market on one end and the lower end markets (like the third world) on the other. The broad middle is where the questions really are. As I said earlier, you can essentially get all the functionality out of the Chrome browser that you can with what we know presently about the Chrome OS. Actually you can get more if you’re running it on an existing PC like a Windows or Mac machine. In my view, far too many folks in that broad middle are going to settle on just such a solution as an option so that they have more flexibility for their computing needs. But those pages are yet to be written. I think the real question about Chrome OS is going to center not only on this broad middle sector but also on how well it might work on mobile devices like a Tablet. Or is that for Android? Or is that just too touchy a question for anyone to answer right now?

For what is worth in a debate that is just beginning here’s a look at how the Chrome browser with the Google Web App Store works on a Windows 7 Tablet. As you can see you’ve can run the same Apps and extensions that you can in a standalone Chrome OS installation.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Johnathan M Camien

    12/18/2010 at 5:15 am

    Good article. I remember reading that one of the google guys had actually said that Chrome OS and Android dont have plans on migrating or anything else of that sort. As far as tablets when you think tablet you think touch aka Android. One of the googlers himself actually said Android is for touch and Chrome OS was meant for a keyboard. I really dont see businesses tossing physical keyboards anytime soon, if ever, but I can see them going to a holographic style instead of “physical.” Just my two cents.

  2. PCLifeguard

    12/25/2010 at 11:21 pm

    Great review of the Tega V2 all the way around. Is there any way to make the WiFi light stay solid? It seems like a blinking WiFi light on the face of the device would be really distracting. It’s sure distracting during all the review videos.

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