Chrome OS coming to Tablets

Today, the ASUS Chromebook Tab 10 was announced as the newest Chrome OS device, but rather than being a traditional laptop, it is a tablet. This device would be a first of its kind, as it is a tablet-first device running the Chrome OS. Google has attempted with software for the tablet market for many years now, starting with Android Honeycomb.

Currently, the Android operating system is a universal operating system used across all types of mobile devices. Additionally, wearables are also supported with the operating system, as well as car infotainment systems. In addition to the traditional Android found on most smartphones, there is Android One and Android Go for fast-updating and budget devices respectively, as well as Android TV and Android Auto for the television and car infotainment systems. Wear OS (formally Android Wear) is the adaption of the operating system for their wearables.

However, as far as tablets go, Android has had a serious decline over the past few years. Also, the computer and convertible tablet markets have left Android not to long ago to move to Chrome OS, another Linux-based operating system from Google. However, where Android is built as a mobile operating system, Chrome OS was built as a lightweight desktop operating system.

More recently, Chrome OS added support for Android Runtime, and this allows for Android-based applications to be run on Chrome devices. Although only newer devices are capable of this enhancement, it is a change for the better of the Linux-based operating system. Hopefully tablets of the future will also run the Chrome OS operating system, as they are able to have the desktop abilities of Linux, but the same app support of Android. Only time will tell whether or not the new operating system will work well on this type of device.

Android Wear is now Wear OS

Less than a week ago, the Android Wear platform, which delivers an adaption of the Android to wearable devices, was re-branded to Wear OS. With the change, Google also plans to better integrate the Google Assistant intelligent voice assistant into the platform for more hands-free actions. Another change to the platform would be that better support for iOS devices, and possibly other mobile operating systems, will be integrated. This change is one of the more significant ones, as Android devices had a much grater advantage beforehand, as it was made to integrate directly with the Wear platform. The name change was done specifically to show that it works with other platforms. However, there is a possibility the name change was also to compete better with watchOS from Apple. Besides these few changes, Wear OS is expected to be similar to how Android Wear 2.0 was previously.