We have been talking about the crisis of high-end Android tablets for a long time and speculating about possible plans to Google to bring their desktop operating system to this format, but it seems that we finally have clear indications that the concept of tablets with Chrome OS it may become a reality in the near future. What can they contribute to the Android tablets current?
The tablet that has animated the debate
It was inevitable to speculate that Google could be working on carrying Chrome OS to other formats, when not only have there already been statements in this regard from Mountain View, but we have been witnessing progress in this direction for a long time, with updates to improve the touch control and, one of the most recent and important, the possibility of running with it practically any app that we can find in Google Play.
What is really fueling these speculations, however, are the records that suggest that there are manufacturers working on these types of devices: the news that there could be one between Samsung tablets from 2018 It was exciting enough, but the appearance of a photo of one of what would be the first the first tablet with Chrome OS, has been definitive in this sense.
What the tablets could bring with Chrome OS
The idea of ​​a tablet with Chrome OS It has often been met with quite a bit of skepticism for the fact that it is a desktop operating system, designed to be used primarily with keyboard and mouse. The truth, however, is that with the addition of a good touch control, this is really a virtue and a point in its favor over the Android tablets, thinking above all about the evolution of the high-end range, because Google promised a long time ago to improve Android support for such accessories but we are still waiting.
It would not be the only advantage of having a tablet with Chrome OS on the ground of the productivity, since they would also leave us a much better user experience in the multitask. Let's think, for example, of the possibility of managing several windows on our tablet, completely resizable, with total freedom.
An important extra: updates
There is another factor in favor of those hypothetical tablets with Chrome OS, which they mention in Liliputing when addressing this issue and that we think is also worth highlighting: unlike the rather bleak panorama that we have on Android, and especially with tablets, Chromebooks receive the updates directly from Google instead of the manufacturer and have support for 5 years.
If this update policy were transferred to tablets, which would be the logical thing, with any of them we could enjoy one of the great advantages that we have right now with devices Nexus. In fact, we would be facing an even more attractive situation, because not even the tablets of Google get updates for so many years. Taking into account that the first tablet with Android Oreo is yet to debut (which, by the way, it seems increasingly clear that it could be the MediaPad M5), it is hard not to find this tantalizing possibility.
A substitute or an alternative?
An interesting question that arose with that possible first tablet with Chrome OS is that it seemed that it could be a tablet with characteristics of basic range, although it is true that nothing is known for sure, precisely because it was not an officially presented tablet. In any case, it leaves a bit of what was the safest bet, which was its entry into the field of tablets through the high end.
The Acer tablet may be a rarity if Chrome OS tablets are to become a reality one day, but the plan may really be for them to penetrate every industry. In any case, although there is the possibility that they will end up completely replacing Android in the future, we for the moment continue to bet on the coexistence of the two operating systems: Android in the mid and basic range, for multimedia consumer tablets, and Chrome OS for the high-end, for tablets more focused on productivity.
And Fuchsia OS?
Making predictions, in any case, is even more complicated when we have quite recent the demonstration of the advances of Fuchsia OS in a Pixelbook, the operating system with which, theoretically, Google will replace both Android , the Chrome OS And it seems to really be the perfect solution for tablets, a bit with the best of both worlds.
The question is how long it can take those of Mountain View to have ready Fuchsia OS and how long can it take until Chrome OS start to come to tablets, because it seems that they could be two events not so distant in time from each other. That is, of course, if neither project ends up being abandoned. What are your bets?