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Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

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Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#31

Post by izacus »

thescriptkiddie wrote: post #28
bitmapbrother wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most apps ship with multiple binaries for the appropriate architecture. For those apps that don't have the necessary binaries the native code will be translated on the fly to the host architecture instruction set. Since Chromebook's are significantly faster than smartphones the small performance hit shouldn't be noticeable.

Source? On Android and under ARC you're SOL if an NDK app doesn't provide binaries for your architecture. This is rarely an issue though, as most apps just opt to ship with binaries compiled for every supported ABI. https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/abis.html

That's not really true - x86 devices mostly come with libhoudini layer which can load and translate ARMv7 binaries on the fly. Hence if the app ships armeabi code you're pretty much set.

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#33

Post by izacus »

radarsat1 wrote: post #18

I'm curious just on the technical side, what does this mean for the many apps that include ARM code? (i.e. apps that use the NDK) Will there be some emulation, or do apps generally ship with multi architecture? Edit: Ok, the answer is, both. Thanks ;)

1.) Majority of the apps with NDK code will ship x86 binaries as well. It's very rarely a problem.

2.) For those that don't, libhoudini does an ok job even on slower phones. On faster chromebooks that shouldn't be an issue at all.

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#34

Post by Grazester »

sounds wrote: post #25
bitmapbrother wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most apps ship with multiple binaries for the appropriate architecture. For those apps that don't have the necessary binaries the native code will be translated on the fly to the host architecture instruction set. Since Chromebook's are significantly faster than smartphones the small performance hit shouldn't be noticeable.

There are also many Arm Chromebooks.

Are there?

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#35

Post by masklinn »

twotavol wrote: post #30
bitmapbrother wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most apps ship with multiple binaries for the appropriate architecture. For those apps that don't have the necessary binaries the native code will be translated on the fly to the host architecture instruction set. Since Chromebook's are significantly faster than smartphones the small performance hit shouldn't be noticeable.

"For those apps that don't have the necessary binaries the native code will be translated on the fly to the host architecture instruction set" How would this happen?

Via an ARM/Android emulator? There's already one in the android development suite.

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#36

Post by Splines »

Nullabillity wrote: post #20
sharms wrote: post #6

This is a big move and will majorly impact desktop / laptop computing. Now the entire ecosystem of Android apps (even Microsoft Office, Snapchat, Photoshop Express) is going to be available, and arguably this platform is much more complete than say, Universal Apps (Microsoft)

All mobile applications, regardless of platform, are inherently crippled. It's not as bad as iOS (at least there are user-accessible generic files...), but there's still a lot of stuff that's crippled because of crap like "simplicity" or "we don't have enough screen real estate".

Hopefully it will push the Android ecosystem to accommodate larger screen sizes.

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#37

Post by mrmose »

HNcow wrote: post #22
radarsat1 wrote: post #18

I'm curious just on the technical side, what does this mean for the many apps that include ARM code? (i.e. apps that use the NDK) Will there be some emulation, or do apps generally ship with multi architecture? Edit: Ok, the answer is, both. Thanks ;)

I'm not an expert in this field, but I did want to say that I had an Asus Zenfone 2 (x86 phone) for a brief time, and app compatibility was never an issue. I ran into 0 apps that I couldn't run.

I had the Zenfone 2 as well, and the notable exception to that was Snapchat. About six months ago, they stopped making x86 versions of the app, and video was pretty pitiful.

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#38

Post by mdaniel »

tjalex wrote: post #19
marbletiles wrote: post #16

No support for the original Pixel? It's more powerful than quite a few on the list. Damn.

Mine feels like it's slowly turning into a paperweight. :\

I haven't personally tried it, but I think that the majority of ChromeOS is open source, and in theory the bits that aren't (maybe bios, network drivers, video drivers, etc.) will likely be on your existing Chromebook.

Maybe surf around the XDA forums and see if anyone has insight into the matter: http://forum.xda-developers.com/hardware-hacking/chromebooks

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#39

Post by jxy »

sunnyps wrote: post #9
pgrote wrote: post #7

While this is a great step forward, I am disappointed in the list of chromebooks supported. I looked over the list and cannot find a common thread as to what is supported and what isn't. Does anyone know? My Acer C720 with an i3 isn't on the list, but my Toshiba Chromebook 2 with lesser specs is on the list.

Three Chromebooks are supported initially including the Pixel 2015. Other Chromebooks will be supported later this year. Source: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/6401474

I'm disappointed that there is no Cr-48 on the list. I'm still using it as a browser/terminal. It sucks on high-res video now, so I have to force low-res on youtube/HBO/…. I really wished I could run some less demanding android apps. Anyone here hasn't tossed it?

Re: Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

#40

Post by fla »

masklinn wrote: post #35
twotavol wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"For those apps that don't have the necessary binaries the native code will be translated on the fly to the host architecture instruction set" How would this happen?

Via an ARM/Android emulator? There's already one in the android development suite.

Thanks god no :) That would be really slow and painful. It is a translation layer, not an emulator.
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