Can't believe Chrome OS is 10 years old already. Time sure does fly.
I regret nothing going all in on my Pixelbook - using only it or Android in my house. I don't miss a thing from Windows and I'll be honest, I've never tried Mac, but never saw the need neither.
Now that it's turned 10 Chrome OS has some new tricks up its sleeve to make working on it even better.
Let's check out the new features
Phone Hub
Oh yeah, this is neat. Linking your phone to your Chromebook meant that you could access text messages and use it to log in to the laptop (if your phone is unlocked, that means your Chromebook could unlock.
But now, it goes a step further.
Once connected you have a little icon in the tray that you can click and set it up for either more notifications (couldn't quite figure that out, so I disabled it... don't need my phone going and the Pixelbook), you can quickly set up the hotspot, find your phone AND you could see some recent tabs open. So no more having to quickly google something or try to dig up history on other devices.
Neat.
Easier Screen Capture and now Record
Screen capture on my Pixelbook was tough, and especially as I use a second monitor now - trying to remember that it's CTRL+SHIFT+□|| button is hard.
Now, it's just a button in the little system tray. Click it and you're presented with an option of taking a clip, full screen, or just a window. Also... and this is my favourite, we now have an option for recording ... no 3rd parties, something built in!
Tote
Recently download files or screengrabs now have their own place on the bar. For those of you with Windows, think of it like 'recents'. Can't remember where you downloaded that PDF, or which folder that JPG went? Well, it's in the Tote now, easy to access and you can share from it.
Don't need it? Well, you can just right click on it and 'hide previews'.
Enhanced Clipboard
Everybody knows how to Copy / Paste ... just simply CTRL+C then CTRL+V where needed.
Well, like Google Keyboard you have access to not just what you recently copied, you can see a bunch of the last few copied items and past as you need.
So, hit CTRL+C as you need to put something in the clipboard, and then when you need to recall something, instead of CTRL+V you use the 'everything key' instead of CTRL. That's the ◉ key...
Hit ◉+V and you'll be met with a clipboard option of your last few things you had copied in to the clipboard (screengrabs, URLs, paragraphs). Just pick which you wanted to paste and bingo bango.
Tho', it's a little hard to do with an external keyboard as you won't have that everything key.
More Searching with Related Info
This one I didn't quite get to work.
When browsing the web you could highlight a piece of text and it should come up with some bubble of what it thinks is something related to that highlighted text.
You're supposed to be able to go into the settings and make sure 'related info' is turned on for the Assistant.
I didn't see a difference in my use unfortunately.
More Desks Power
This is a feature I never really used on even Linux desktops, but something I might start trying.
The idea being is that ... if you've not used this type of thing before ... is that you have a desktop and there's a ton of windows open, some of them are work, some of them are hobby, some music playing... you could have different windows having different tabs, or there could so be 'tab groups'.
With Desks you can create a whole new 'desktop' you can switch between ... some windows and tabs on one desktop, switch to the 2nd and it's a different configuration of tabs. Great once 430 rolls around and you just switch over... keeps your work where you leave it ready for when you return to it tomorrow, meanwhile you have your desktop with Stadia and blogs all up ready to read.
Bring it up by hitting that multi-window button and you'll see the DESK option up top. You can now name your desktops and more.
But... alas, again with an external keyboard without that □|| key you can't access it from what I can tell.
Multimedia Control
Sure, there would be a notification in the tray for media controls... but it was amongst your other notifications and easily lost or dismissed.
Now, it's a permanent notification easily right there for access.
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A great update, packing a bunch of useful features in and they included Wifi sync and lock screen (but that didn't change from what I had seen earlier).
Love my Chromebooks and they just keep getting better and better.
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