Google outs two new education-focused convertible Chromebooks

Google for Education has announced two new rugged convertible Chromebooks designed for education market ― Acer Chromebook Spin 11 and Asus Chromebook C213― boasting stylus input support and world facing or "rear camera".

Both Chromebooks sports 11.6-inch touchscreen (1366 x 768 pixels) display, an affordable Wacom Styluses for note-taking or drawing, with "eraser" function to correct digital mistakes. There's also a 360 degree hinge that will allow students to use the convertible in laptop, tablet, stand or tent mode.

Google is bringing support for handwriting recognition to Chrome OS to support pen input, using machine learning to improve text recognition. Some apps like Google Keep will also support optical character recognition, allowing you to search for notes without first converting handwriting to text.

The Chromebook Spin 11 has 2 x Acer HD wide view HDR webcams including a 1MP camera above the display, and an 5MP camera above the keyboard which can be used in tablet mode. It includes 2 x USB 3.1 Type-C ports, WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, 2 x USB Type-A 3.0 ports and a microSD card slot.

Acer will offer the Chromebook Spin 11 in multiple configurations featuring - dual-core Intel Celeron N3350 or quad-core Intel Celeron N3450 processor; 4GB or 8GB RAM' and 32GB or 64GB eMMC flash storage options.  It has a MIL-STD 810G compliant case that’s been tested for durability and promises battery life of up to 10 hours. It will also ship with Google Play Store and Android apps.

  

The Asus Chromebook C213 supports USB Type-C, Android apps, Google Plays Store and can run for up to 12 hours,. Unfortunately the detailed configuration is not known.

Both Chromebooks will be arriving in the US late spring. 

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Android 7.1 is being developed for Chrome OS

Google started rolling out support for Google Play Store and Android apps to select Chromebooks in 2016. Now Google is said to be working on a new Chrome OS update that will make it easier to view and interact with multiple apps simultaneously.

Earlier this week, Chrome Unboxed shared some picture of a pre-release version of Chrome OS featuring Android 7.1.1 integration. It is being tested on the ChromeOS canary channel, and should be out on the stable channel by the end of this month. Previously Chromebook's Android subsystem was based on Android 6.0.

One of main highlight of Android Nougat was multi-tasking capabilities and support for free form windows. Now this feature will extend and improve ChromeOS's split screen mode. This means, now apart from viewing two Android apps side-by-side in split screen mode, users will also be able to launch multiple Android apps in their own windows, as well as resize them.

Moreover, with Android Nougat's multi-tasking feature on Chrome OS, multiple Android apps can also run in the background even when they're not in focus or use.

This is similar to what is found on Android based Remix OS which is designed to run on PC and laptops. With the addition of multi-tasking capability, ChromeOS is taking one step further to compete with Windows and macOS. 

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Samsung Chromebook Pro, Chromebook Plus with pen support announced

Samsung has announced two new Chromebooks at CES 2017 with identical design ― Chromebook Pro and Chromebook Plus ― featuring convertible design, touchscreen, quad-HD display, stylus support, lightweight metal body and support for Google Play Store and Android apps.

Both Chromebooks sports a premium look with an all-metal design. They come with a pressure sensitive stylus pen with 0.7mm tip that can be used with Google Keep for note-taking and Samsung Art Canvas for sketching. There's also a 360-degree hinge that lets users to use the Chromebook as tablet, or in tent mode and stand mode.

The only difference is the processor utilized. The ChromebookPlus is powered by an ARM based OP1 hexa-core processor, while the Chromebook Pro features an Intel Core M3-6Y30 Skylake processor.

Both feature 12.3-inch 2400 x 1600 pixels LED touch display, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC storage and weighs 1.08kg. They comes with 1.5 watt speakers, 2 x USB Type-C ports, micro-SD card slot, WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0 and headset jacks. Samsung says that the Chromebook can offer up to eight hours of battery life.

The Samsung Chromebook Plus will be available starting in February for $449, while the Chromebook pro will ship this spring. Price is not known yet.

Google Play Store, Android apps are coming to Chrome

Earlier several reports indicated that Google plans to merge its Chrome OS with Android, and recently in the developer version of ChromeOS there was an option to run Android apps on it. Now Google has confirmed that it bring Android apps and Google Play Store to Chrome OS. The announcement was not official, but was spotted in session description on the I/O event website that confirms Android apps are coming to Chrome OS. The description reads, 

"Today we announced that we’re adding the best mobile app experiences in the world, Android apps and the Google Play store, to the best browser in the world, Chrome! Come to this session and test your Android apps for Chrome OS. You will get hands on help from our friendly engineers on how to optimize your Android app for Chromebooks. Oh, and we will also be giving the first 50 developers to show up a free Chromebook so they can get a head start bringing their apps to Chrome!" 

The description suggests that developers will have to tweak their Android apps, in order to make them run on Chromebooks. With the new feature, Chromebooks will soon be able to get access to Play Store and download Android apps. Note that Android apps for desktops can be accessed via Play Store and developers won;t have to add them to Chrome Web Store. Currently a couple of Android apps like Duolingo, Evernote, Sight words and Vine are able to run on Chromebooks thanks to App Runtime for Chrome (ARC).

Google is expected to make the official announcement at today’s “Bring your Android app to Chrome OS” session of the I/O developer conference. 

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CTL H4 is a $199 Chromebook for education with 4GB RAM

There are plenty of Chromebook available in the market that costs around $200, but the new CTL H4 Chromebook for Education costs $199 and packs 4GB RAM instead of the regular 2GB.

The CTL H4 Chromebook sports a semi-rugged design, it can withstand drop up to 2.3 feet and is water resistant. It has a 11.6-inch HD wide screen LED-backlit display and is powered by 1.8GHz Rockchip RK3288 Quad-Core Cortex-A17 processor aided by 4GB DDR3L RAM. Onboard storage is 16GB, further expandable via microSD card slot. It also comes with 100GB of Google Drive cloud storage free for two years.

H4 Chromebook also include two USB 2.0 port, HDMI port, headphone jack, Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi. Other features include two stereo speakers, Multi-gestured touchpad, Built in camera & microphone and up to 10 hours of battery life.

The Chromebook also has a carry handle that lets you carry it like a briefcase and also has a 180 degree lay flat design hinges. It also comes with built in anti virus protection and Google apps for interactive learning.

CTL said “The H4 is easy to maintain and keep secure and features a lightweight, student-friendly design with carry handle and water-resistant keyboard.”

Google introduces new Chromebox for meetings aimed at large conference rooms

Google launched a new version of Chromebox for meetings , which supports video-conferencing between large group of up to 20 people. To recap, the first Chromebox for meetings bundle, supported up to 8 people was launched in February.

The new Chrome box for meetings comes with additional hardware in order to support larger rooms. It include a USB-enabled full-HD PTZ Pan-tilt-zoom camera, which can zoom up to x10 and has 90-degree field of view with mechanical 260-degree pan and 130-degree tilt.

There are two Omni-direcrtional microphones with noise filter, mute, end call, volume buttons. Speakers with wide-band frequency response and built-in DSP for speed clarity. Also included is a full QWERTY keypad remote.

Chromebox for meeting is powered by fourth-generation Intel Core i7 processor. Connectivity options include HDMI, Display Port++, four USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet and dual-band Wi-Fi. It runs on Chrome OS.

It also has a full-screen mode function for better presentation and is available for any size of meeting room powered by Chrome. In addition there is enhanced dual-screen support, you can now connect two monitors to the PTZ camera and dual microphone and speaker, for rich video conferencing experience.

Lastly Google has added several new management controls to the admin panel. Admins can now remotely monitor the health of Chrome device in one simple view to see which devices are online or offline.Admins can delegate admin rights to other users besides the super admin.

Google says that it got positive feedback from Whirlpool Corporation, Netflix and Foursquare who tested Chromebox for meetings for the large room

The Chromebox for meeting bundle is available for US$ 1,999 (Rs. 1,27,000) and will reach other regions later this year.

Acer unveils Chromebox CX12, All-in-one PCs and Aspire Switch 11 V

At the ongoing Computex 2015, Acer introduced the Chromebox CX12, Aspire Z series all-in-one PCs and the new Aspire Switch 11 V 2-in-1 laptop.

Chromebox CX12 is a desktop PC running ChromeOS. It comes in a choice of Intel Core i3 or Celeron processor paired Intel HD graphics and with up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM. It include 16GB of SSD storage. It houses four USB ports and HDMI out for monitor or display. Connectivity options include WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.0 and SD card reader.

The Chromebox CX12 mainly focuses for business purpose as it come equipped with Citrix Ready, desktop visualization, and has TPM 1.2 security chip with Kensington lock. It is expected to be available later this summber with a starting price of less than $199.

The new Acer Aspire Z series all-in-one PCs come in two models - ZC-700 and Z3-710. The ZC-700 sports 19.5-inch screen while the Z3-710 sports 23.8-inch capacitive 10-point multi-touch screen. Both feature Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) LED backlit display. The screen tilts easily between 5° to 25°with finger tip. 

Under  thr hood there is an Intel Core Pentium or Celeron processor paired with up to 8GB RAM and up to 2TB HDD. There is also an option DVD super Multi optical drive. Both models ship with Windows 8.1 and are supported by Acer for the free upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available later this summer.

It comes with 1080p Full HD webcam, stereo speakers with Acer's TrueHarmony and Dolby Digital Plus home theater technology. It also has built-in dual digital microphone for video conversations. Other features include SD card reader and Acer's BluelightShield technology that reduces eyestrain by decreasing the blue light emitted from the screen. All the above features are packed into a slim chasis of just 36mm thin. The Aspire Z series all-in-one PCs ZC-700 and Z3-710 will start shipping in Q3 2015. 

Lastly, Acer's Aspire Switch 11 V 2-in-1 notebook features 11.6-inch Full HD with Corning Gorilla Class 3 protection, Zero Air Gap and IPS technology. The notebook is powered by Intel Core M processor and offer 8 hours of battery life. It comes with Acer Snap Hinge 2 with magnet design to trasnform the Aspire Switch 11 V into notebook, pad, tent and display modes. It also comes with Acer VisionCare (provides extra care for the users eye) and built-in dual-front facing speakers powered by TrueHarmony and Dolby Digital Plus Home Theater technology.