A couple of weeks ago, Google announced its first Chrome OS tablet, the sleek-looking Pixel Slate. To fit the form factor of that device, Google debuted a new user interface for Chrome OS, which makes it much more touch-friendly and bears some resemblance to Android itself. While the Slate is Google"s first tablet based on this operating system, there are a number of Chromebook devices with touchscreens and convertible form factors, so users may have been wondering if and when they would be able to use this interface on their existing devices.
Today, Google released version 70 of Chrome OS, introducing the new touch-oriented interface alongside a handful of other improvements. The release notes from the company are actually fairly short - and they don"t even mention the new UI - but 9to5google detailed a number of changes in addition to what"s mentioned in the changelog.
In the new update, you"ll find that the app dock at the bottom of the screen, featuring your pinned and open apps - now features bigger icons and centers them rather than aligning them to the left. The left side is where you"ll find the launcher, which includes a search bar and a bunch of suggestions. Swipe up from there and you"ll get to a full-screen app drawer to access all of your installed apps. On the right side of the dock, the control center now features a design that very closely resembles the drop-down notification pane in Android Pie, with rounded corners and circle-shaped icons.
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There"s also a new virtual keyboard in this update. It"ll usually take up the entire width of the screen, but there"s a button that allows users to reduce it to a smaller size so that it"s possible to type with one hand. In this one-handed mode, the keyboard can be dragged anywhere on the screen for easier access. The camera app also features a redesigned interface, and photos and videos are now saved to the Downloads folder.
In addition to the design changes, there are a couple of minor improvements as well. Support for SMB file sharing, new privacy and security enhancements, and the addition of a decoder for the AV1 video format round out the list of changes. Chrome OS 70 has begun rolling out and should reach compatible devices over the next few days.
Source: Google