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Introducing Pixel C

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Re: Introducing Pixel C

#11

Post by bobajeff »

throwaway000002 wrote: post #2

Why is this running Android instead of Chrome OS? Internal politics are clearly at work. Moreover, why isn't there a stylus. I really, really, appreciate 1:sqrt(2), but without an accurate, ultra low-latency stylus you can't treat it like a pad to express ideas on. The build looks fantastic, though. Arrrrgh, so much promise...

If anything running Chrome OS instead of Android would be a display of internal politics at work. As Android is way more popular than Chrome OS. Plus, Chrome OS aligns better with Google's primary business.

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#12

Post by dragonwriter »

Once there is some information this might be interesting, but just the visual sneak peak doesn't seem special: its clearly a not-too-small Android tablet with a (standard? available?) keyboard case, but what makes this different from, e.g., Samsung's top-end Android tablets?

I'm sure there are technical features that distinguish it, but this sneak peak isn't highlighting them

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#13

Post by [deleted] »

dragonwriter wrote: post #12

Once there is some information this might be interesting, but just the visual sneak peak doesn't seem special: its clearly a not-too-small Android tablet with a (standard? available?) keyboard case, but what makes this different from, e.g., Samsung's top-end Android tablets? I'm sure there are technical features that distinguish it, but this sneak peak isn't highlighting them

[deleted]

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#14

Post by gaara87 »

As @bsimpson had mentioned, i see this as a smart(political?) move to be the first hybrid chromeOS running android apps (or Android OS itself).

I've tested Android apps running in Chrome and it seems very promising. Excited to see if there is going to be a convergence/overlap! :)

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#15

Post by berntb »

Does "Linux Deploy" work?

I am an iOS user, but I would go Android (a clean one, with O/S security updates) if I can have a tablet GUI with a working Emacs, Bash etc under Debian.

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#16

Post by bergie »

bsimpson wrote: post #6

The rumors expected this to run ChromeOS because its codename is apparently Ryu. If that's true, there are still changes being pushed to the ChromeOS codebase regarding this device: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/platform/ec/+/1... which tells me there's still more to know about this device. I'm curious what it is. Even though I'm typing this on my first generation Pixel, is there really enough of a dif…

Devtools and Crouton would make this a pretty interesting device

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#18

Post by ac29 »

p4bl0 wrote: post #5

I was recently whining about the lack of a modern Sony VAIO P replacement. If this has a built-in 4G/LTE modem, I may want one, especially if it is possible to run Linux on it (maybe via Deploy Linux?). That's something else I recently whined about: why there is no 4G/LTE modem in any ultrabook (except for one or two unaffordable chromebooks not available in my country anyway)? It seems to be only in tablets and high…

The Lenovo X series Thinkpads have an optional LTE modem.

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#19

Post by fpgeek »

throwaway000002 wrote: post #2

Why is this running Android instead of Chrome OS? Internal politics are clearly at work. Moreover, why isn't there a stylus. I really, really, appreciate 1:sqrt(2), but without an accurate, ultra low-latency stylus you can't treat it like a pad to express ideas on. The build looks fantastic, though. Arrrrgh, so much promise...

> Why is this running Android instead of Chrome OS?

Because you can already get convertible touchscreen Chromebooks (e.g. ASUS Chromebook Flip, ThinkPad Yoga 11e Chromebook). Yes, a Chrome OS Pixel C would add a detachable keyboard, but overall it would be a much smaller step from existing Chrome OS devices than the Android Pixel C is from existing Android tablets.

Re: Introducing Pixel C

#20

Post by fpgeek »

georgemcbay wrote: post #7
throwaway000002 wrote: post #2

Why is this running Android instead of Chrome OS? Internal politics are clearly at work. Moreover, why isn't there a stylus. I really, really, appreciate 1:sqrt(2), but without an accurate, ultra low-latency stylus you can't treat it like a pad to express ideas on. The build looks fantastic, though. Arrrrgh, so much promise...

One could argue that internal politics (in the form of the rise of Sundar Pichai) are what propped ChromeOS up to the point where it was even a question whether a device like this should run Android or not given that ChromeOS's functionality is theoretically a subset of Android (given a full-featured Chrome browser for Android). I realize that in practice many people buy ChromeOS devices primarily to run Crouton or t…

I disagree. I see them as very different value propositions.

Chrome OS is about giving you a baseline (80-90%) computing environment with as little administrative overhead as possible (easy to setup, easy to share device, no driver issues and so on). That's why Chromebooks are doing well in the education sector.

By contrast, an Android convertible like the Pixel C is about giving you a general-purpose Android environment in a different form factor.

There's some blurring around the edges (Android has a Chrome browser missing some desktop features, Chrome OS can run some popular Android apps), but they're nevertheless aiming at very different targets.

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