David Briddock investigates one of the biggest stories of 2016
After years of speculation, Google is finally on the verge of merging the native Android app ecosystem directly into its Chrome operating system (OS).
This is one of the biggest stories of 2016. Uniting the Android and Chrome OS worlds will drive already impressive Chromebook laptop sales still higher. And it means Chrome OS devices have become a serious competitor to PC products from Apple or Microsoft.
How has Google achieved this technology feat? What sort of benefits can we expect? And when will it happen? We’ll answer all these questions soon, but first let’s take a look at why Chrome OS has become the fastest growing PC operating system platform.
Tablet Disillusionment
Over the last year or so, there’s been a significant and sustained consumer move away from tablets. Many of us bought one of these alluring touch-friendly devices, despite already owning a smartphone and laptop. Today, the initial gloss has well and truly worn off.
We invariably have a large-screen smartphone, with its essential app collection, constantly within reach. And we’ve come to realise everyday productivity tasks are more efficiently completed with a PC equipped with a proper keyboard and mouse/trackpad.
Consequently, many tablets are left gathering dust on our coffee tables.
Chromebook Momentum
When it comes to buying a PC platform, the flexibility offered by a laptop format makes it an attractive choice, but we’re faced with a question. Do we spend a sizeable amount of money on an Apple Mac or Windows-based option, or go for one of those attractively priced Chromebooks? After all, some Chromebook models are only around £200.
Chrome OS devices are disappearing off the shelves faster than ever. In 2015, year-on-year growth was an impressive 32%. This amounts to millions of consumers, many of them new to the Chrome platform, who could choose from a wide range of devices, from over a dozen different manufacturers, in laptop, 2-in-1 laptop/tablet, desktop and TV-HDMI-port stick formats.
The US in particular is going Chromebook crazy. A recent IDC Worldwide PC Tracker report for the first quarter 2016 showed that US Chromebook shipments overtook Macs to become the second most popular PC operating system. And Chrome OS is now the number one choice for US schools.
These figures leave little doubt that this a seminal point in the maturity of Chrome OS. Let’s take a moment to review why it has become so popular.
Chromebook Allure
Chromebooks are ideal for people who want a fast, simple and secure computing experience. The user interface is based on the popular Google Chrome web browser, so anyone with experience of a modern web browser can jump straight in.
Open the lid, and within seconds you’re on the web, using your favourite apps and being productive. You can also work offline, knowing everything will be synced the next time you’re connected to the internet – a comforting thought when you’re out of wi-fi range.
It’s also a secure platform. Chrome OS updates, including security patches and virus protection software, are automatically downloaded and applied in the background, just as soon as they become available. This admin-free characteristic is a key feature for many users, and is especially popular with schools and other educational establishments.
It’s true to say Chrome OS can’t offer the full functionality of a Windows PC or a MacBook, but many users spend most of their time online anyway, and only need a few basic productivity programs. And those automatic updates keep adding useful new features, like voice-interface access to weather, calendar and other information via Google Now.
However, the range of Chrome OS apps isn’t too inspiring. Consequently, what Chrome OS users really want is a bigger selection of apps. In particular, richly functional apps that make them more productive, improve social communication, target their hobbies and interests and so on, and they want highquality, immersive games.
Early Attempts
Even back in 2013, the Google Play store contained one million apps. Today, there are more than two million, so it makes perfect sense for Google to try to create a technology where Chrome OS users can run Android apps.
The goal was to deliver an enticing mix of Android apps and Chrome OS functionality in a seamless manner. However, it proved to be a rather tricky problem to solve.
Google has had three previous attempts. They included installing multiple codebases, a pure HTML 5 approach and a user installed virtual App Runtime for Chrome OS (ARC). These proved to be too complex, too limiting or too difficult for developers. The result was a relatively tiny list of apps, poor app performance and developer frustration.
New Approach
But Google wouldn’t give up. Instead, it challenged its engineering teams to deliver a better solution. Later this year, we’ll see the results of their hard work.
What’s coming is a new Android app compatibility platform. For the Linux gurus out there, this platform is based on three elements: Linux namespaces, alternate syscall tables and a shared compositor. Put more simply, this new platform offers excellent app compatibility, along with top-notch performance.
Most importantly, this solution doesn’t use a virtual machine or rely on emulation. Instead, there’ll be a complete Android Marshmallow operating system inside Chrome OS. This will be upgraded to Android ‘N’ at a later date.
The app binary code is translated and executed on the fly by just-in-time (JIT) compilation software. This means most Android apps should run at full speed in Chrome OS without any code changes at all. And developers retain full and unrestricted access to the complete Android application programming interface (API), including all system services.
The underlying hardware is still managed by Chrome OS, including things like networking, wi-fi, camera and so on. This also means keyboard, trackpad and touch interaction events are sent through to Android apps, and the Google sign-on information is also shared to ensure consistent levels of user security.
Developer Tweaks
All this is music to the ears of the developer community. Overnight, their Android apps will have a whole new audience and a much greater revenue-generating potential.
As we said, the vast majority of apps should work without any code changes. Where changes are required, Google says it could take as little as one working day to sort out. Nevertheless, developers are encouraged to make a few subtle code changes to optimise the Chrome OS hosted experience.
For instance, integration with Chrome’s user-friendly Backup and Restore capability would be a welcome feature, while some apps may benefit from offering multi-user sign-in on a single device, especially if they target the classroom.
There are a few things an Android app running in Chrome OS can’t do. These include custom inputs, live wallpaper, home screen access, plus device and user management. In reality, this will affect only a tiny percentage of Play store apps, and even then, the code could be changed to ensure they’re Chrome OS compliant.
Play Store Icon
What does Android app compatibility mean in practice? Well, the Google Play store icon will appear on the Chrome OS desktop, giving users access to over two million Android apps with a single click.
Some of these apps will already be familiar to those who own an Android phone or tablet, but they’ll take on a new lease of life when paired with a larger screen, keyboard and trackpad or mouse. This is especially true for apps like Google Docs, Microsoft Office or Photoshop Mix.
The bigger screen also benefits Android games like Minecraft, Candy Crush, Hearthstone or Clash of Clans, and by taking advantage of the host graphics processor (GPU) these apps can deliver a smooth, responsive gaming experience. Even better, Android functionality includes in-app purchases, allowing gamers to add levels, buy weapons and so on.
In short, developers now have an even bigger incentive to create Play store apps, which means everybody wins – Google, developers and consumers.
Promising Demos
Demonstrations at May’s Google I/O event looked promising. They clearly showed this new approach gives Chrome OS users a seamless Android app experience.
Windows appear in landscape orientation by default, but can be switched to portrait mode. You can also change the window size via the maximise and full-screen mode buttons. Messaging and other notifications appear as small pop-up windows around the edges of the desktop, and there’s even a sleek, unobtrusive inline messaging window to type in your responses.
Only one Android app is live at any one time, with others placed into the ‘onPause’ state. However, you can have multiple instances of the same app, each in its own window. App performance seemed excellent, with games able to take advantage of the host device’s central and graphic processors power.
Things get even better when full Android ‘N’ support arrives, with enhancements like inter-app drag-and-drop operations and a new mouse cursor API for developers to use.
Rollout
Google Play for Chromebooks will start rolling out in the developer channel with Chrome OS build M53. This build is at developer status during June and July, with the beta version appearing sometime in August. The full release of M53 is targeted for September 2016.
However, for the moment, this rollout is limited to just three hardware platforms; the Asus Chromebook Flip, the Acer Chromebook R 11 and the Chromebook Pixel (2015 model). Google says it will add the Google Play icon to a range of other Chromebooks later in 2016.
Of course, buying an official Google Chromebook is the best way to ensure full support for future Chrome OS enhancements. These devices tend to be quite expensive, but the good news is that there are more than 50 Chromebooks listed on the official Chrome OS build M53 device support web page (goo.gl/s2QMdn).
All these devices will receive Android app support via the Chrome OS auto-update capability. After all, Google’s ultimate company goal is to encourage as many of us as it can to spend as much time as possible searching the web and using Google apps or services.
However, Google is aware that some Chrome OS users may decide they have no interest in Android apps. It doesn’t want to upset these users, who are already accessing Google services on a daily basis, so they can simply change a configuration setting to switch Android app support off.
Boundary Blur
With the M53 update, your Chromebook, Chromebox, Chromestick device desktop could have web apps (like Google Docs), Android apps (like Skype) and ChromeCast-enhanced apps all open and running at the same time.
While great news, this blend of Chrome and Android apps has the effect of blurring the existing app and platform boundaries. This might confuse the buying public, who suddenly struggle to see a clear distinction of what to expect from an Android device versus a Chrome OS device.
After all, we now have an amazing range of mobile device formats: large-screen smartphones that verge on small tablet territory, large tablets that come with keyboards, 2-in-1 touchscreen devices that aim to be both laptop and tablet, and large-screen laptops marketed as desktop replacements.
It’s not going to be easy to say where the Chrome OS versus Android boundary falls across all these products, and that raises an interesting dilemma for Google.
Will Google need to relaunch the Chrome OS platform with a new marketing campaign? Is there a need to create a new ‘ChromeDroid’ device category to clearly convey the functionality that’s now on offer? And will it lead to Android tablets being replaced by Chrome-centric ones?
And what about the apps themselves? Does it make sense to use a platform moniker prefix, as in a Chrome app or Android app? Maybe it’s clearer to say there’s a single ‘Google App’ category, especially when all these apps are accessed from the same Google Play store.
Regardless of what approach Google takes, the impact of this platform merger could reverberate through its entire mobile marketplace. Consumers who see the Chrome brand applied to a large range of mobile devices might wonder why they can’t buy a Chrome OS smartphone or wearable. And who knows, we may be able to do just this in a few years time.
What Happens Next?
Of course, this Chrome OS and Android merger is bound to agitate Apple and Microsoft. As we said earlier, Chrome OS is already eating into their sales revenues, even without access to Android apps.
Over the years, there have been many rumours about a merger between Apple’s Mac OS laptop/desktop operating system and the far less functional iOS, installed on its iPhones and iPads. Maybe the Google announcement will hasten the day this to actually happens. At the very least, we might well still see an iOS emulation mode built into a future Mac OS.
Microsoft is also suffering from buoyant Chromebook sales as it tries to encourage buyers to purchase Windows tablets and 2-in-1 devices, including its own rather expensive Surface range.