Chrome Buzz

Wednesday, 22 January 2014

The Chromebook Test: Living In Google Chrome For A Month (Part 26: 1 Day To Go)

With only one day left on this experiment and another two posts at most to go, it's been a great experience using Chromium OS and even though my fake Chromebook doesn't have the Battery life of a real Chromebook and there isn't a working search key on the keyboard and some other things that I'll discuss in the final part that will come possibly on Friday (depending how quickly I get it written).

Chromium OS is a pleasure to use, with its lightweight UI that makes it lightning fast, the only thing that's really holding Chrome OS back is the need to be online all the time, meaning that people who have used Computers since the early days of the Internet won't want to rely on keeping everything online, especially with the small amount of SSD space for local storage.

I'll go into more detail in my Conclusion Post that's to come.

Roland

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Tuesday, 21 January 2014

The Chromebook Test: Living In Google Chrome For A Month (Part 25)

Chrome Web Store

The Chrome Web Store is chock full of Apps, Themes, & Extensions, & the Web Store will probably have an Application that you need or use from Google Drive to games such as Angry Birds & Solitaire.

The Extensions range from Ad Blockers to Twitter Notifications, & there is Google Chrome Themes (Chromium & Chrome Web Browser not Chromium or Chrome OS Themes).

But there is a big problem in that it doesn't always define what Applications are free and which need to be paid for via in App purchase's such as Monthly or Yearly subscriptions. If Google want to see a big take up of Chromebooks then they really need to address this, as Installing an Application on the basis of it being advertised as free could leave some people feeling ripped off.

If the Android Google Play Store can say which Applications are free and which are paid for then why can't the Chrome Web Store? Surely it would be easy to implement, & even get any Subscription info in the Applications description.

Chrome Applications may just be glorified Bookmarks, but it would make perfect sense to display any pricing within the App listing so people know what to expect when downloading, especially when it comes to games where you can get really into the game only to find that you have to pay to unlock the rest of the game.

[caption id="attachment_1765" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

Chrome Web Store Application Listing Page.[/caption]

Roland

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Monday, 20 January 2014

The Chromebook Test: Living In Google Chrome For A Month (Part 24)

Applications in Chrome OS/Chromium OS

There are 1000's of Applications, Extensions & Themes in the Chrome Web Store and unlike Games (Also falls under Apps) they all state whether you have to buy them, unless they're subscription based where you get a free trial or limited feature free version or if they're totally free, Google really needs to bring more parity into the Chrome Web Store and display if there is a cost involved with a Game as a lot of the games what I've tried aren't free at all but are a Demo version where you have to buy the game to continue.

I've even played a game early on in my experiment in living in Google Chrome that let me get all the way to the end, but I was then unable to complete the game without purchasing, the Game is Murder Files (which I'm now unable to find).

Roland

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Sunday, 19 January 2014

The Chromebook Test: Living In Google Chrome For A Month (Part 23)

Gaming in Chrome OS/Chromium OS

Gaming in Chrome OS/Chromium OS is in the Chrome/Chromium web browser, so is mostly small simple games in HTML 5 like Solitaire,

[caption id="attachment_1738" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

Solitaire game selection screen.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1739" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

A new game of Klondike Solitaire.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1740" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

A game of Klondike Solitaire in progress.[/caption]

but there are more complex 3D games. along with a large list in the Chrome Store that I've not looked at yet.

The only thing is that some of the games although they are marked as Free actually need an in App style purchase to Unlock the Full game, but this can be highly miss leading as it makes you think that a game is free when it's actually a demo of the game.

So far out of the games that I've had chance to try Solitaire seems to be the best of the bunch & Cut The Rope seems to be the worst as it doesn't really translate out of Mobile gaming due to the lack of Touch screen Chrome Devices & that it's probably going to be a pain in the rear getting Chromium OS running on a Touch screen Windows 8/8.1 Ultrabook.

Roland

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Saturday, 18 January 2014

The Chromebook Test: Living In Google Chrome For A Month (Part 22)

British On Demand services & Chromium OS

The BBC's on Demand service iPlayer along with itv's itv Player, Channel 5's Demand5 & Channel 4's 4od are other video service that are not able to be used on Chromium OS due to the lack of Flash Player support, even though the Adobe Flash Player website says that Flash Player is installed.

This means that if you use video services such as YouTube as well as listen to music on Google Play Music on a daily basis using Chromium OS isn't recommended, but if you do none media playback stuff then Chromium OS is recommend, but if you do a mixture of Media Playback & none Media Playback on a daily basis then I'd recommend using Chromium OS only as a test to see if you could live with a Chromebook on a daily basis.

Roland

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Friday, 17 January 2014

The Chromebook Test: Living In Google Chrome For A Month (Part 21)

Flash Player Update

I've tried several solutions to the lack of Flash Player support in Chromium OS, and all the solutions that Google turned up haven't worked. So it looks like if you want to use Chromium OS you'll have to live with no Music playback including from Google Play Music, no Video playback including Google Play Movies and TV and partial YouTube playback.

I suppose this is the only drawback of using Chromium OS as it doesn't have the same level of support that Google puts into Chrome OS as relying on a third-party to compile a generic build of Chromium OS is asking too much. The version of Chromium OS that I'm using hasn't been updated by the dev Hexxeh since he put up Build 4028 on the 20th of April 2013, so I'm not holding my breath at a newer version or even a way to get Flash working.

I've asked Hexxeh on via his Google + Profile if he's going to bring out a new build or if it's possible to get Flash working, but I'm not holding my breath for a reply.

Roland

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Thursday, 16 January 2014

The Chromebook Test: Living In Google Chrome For A Month (3 Week Review)

I originally intended this series to chart a month of me living entirely in the Google Chrome Web Browser then do another month of me living in Chromium OS via a virtualbox Chromium OS Virtual Machine, but after not being able to get the Chromium OS Virtual Machine to work properly I decided to go and nuke my Windows 7 Ultimate Install and use Chromium OS only. This post will review my two weeks of living in the Google Chrome Web Browser & one week living in Chromium OS.

Two weeks of living in the Google Chrome Web Browser

The two weeks of living in the Google Chrome Web Browser was easy, but it provides the option to go back to Windows 7 Ultimate with it being at its heart, and things like being able to take Screenshots had to use Windows Paint to save them . I even themed my Windows install to look a little like Chrome OS to help with the experiment.

[caption id="attachment_1511" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

Chrome OS Styled Windows 7 Desktop, Showing Windows 7 Taskbar[/caption]

Working with a Chrome OS themed Desktop helped with the experience a little, and the two weeks I spent living with this setup was enough to convince me to have a look at living solely in Chrome OS and attempt to Install Chromium OS.

One week of living solely in Chromium OS

My full week of living in Chromium OS has been really easy as I've not had any distractions from Windows or Windows Programs.

[caption id="attachment_1627" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

Chromium OS/ Chrome OS Desktop[/caption]

Chromium OS is more minimalistic & lightweight than Windows with my 1TB HDD having 908.2GB of free space left when I'd first booted into Chromium OS. The Chromium OS Desktop isn't as cluttered as the Windows 7 Desktop with just your Desktop Wallpaper and the Taskbar (Known as the Shelf in Chrome OS/Chromium OS), Chromium OS also has a fast Boot time along with a fast Shutdown time which means there is no need for a Hibernate function like in Windows, you also are more productive as you're not waiting as long for the OS to boot.

Battery life is also increased, but not to the quoted level that you get with official Chromebooks, there is also the lack of updates that you will get with official Chromebooks & Flash Player doesn't work in Chromium OS. ~~Sound will vary depending if you have a Sound Card that's compatible with Chromium OS (Which the Sound Card on my Toshiba Laptop isn't compatible with Chromium OS)~~ Sound actually works in Chromium OS, it was that I was using my USB Microsoft Life-Chat Headset that doesn't seem to work with Chromium OS/Chrome OS and will need an official Chromebook to verify if there is support for USB sound or not.

Printing in Chromium OS

Printing is handled via Google Cloud Print in Chromium OS, so as long as you've got a Google Cloud Print ready Printer or a spare Computer with the Chrome Web Browser Installed to use as a Print Server you'll have no problem Printing in ether Chrome OS or Chromium OS (a feature that I've not used from my Chromium OS Install yet).

Applications in Chrome OS/Chromium OS

There is a wide choice of applications that can be Installed in Chrome OS/Chromium OS, from the Chrome/Chromium Web Store. Chrome OS/Chromium OS Applications aren't traditional Applications and are just bookmarks to Websites.

All the Google Services are present such as Google Search, GMail (including GMail Offline) Google Calendar, Google Keep, Google Maps, Google Drive/Docs (With Offline Support), Google Play (Music, Books, Play Website), along with a large list of other third Party Services such as Microsoft Outlook (outlok.com) and Games. If you're a Microsoft Office user you'll need to use the Microsoft Office Website (http://office.microsoft.com) and use the Microsoft Office Web Apps.

If you need more powerful Software such as Adobe PhotoShop, Premier Pro, After Effects e.t.c then your out of look as there are only basic photo editing Applications, unless you can find Online services that allow you to do what you want you'll be out of look.

Files in Chrome OS/Chromium OS

before you start using Chrome OS/Chromium OS you'll need to make sure that your files are on a FAT 32 formatted external HDD, USB flash drive, SD Card or online using Microsoft SkyDrive, Dropbox, Box or Google Drive otherwise you'll not be able to use them when you switch. Storing your files on Google Drive is the easiest option as there is Google Drive support built right into the Chrome OS/Chromium OS File Browser. Chrome OS/Chromium OS allows you to store your files locally. In the case of Chromium OS you'll have whatever is left of your HDD/SSD after you've Installed Chromium OS. If you're using an official Chromebook then you'll have whatever is left of the 16GB SSD that's installed. Chrome OS/Chromium OS has limited offline video & music playback functionality and some basic photo editing as well as limited Document creation & editing using Google Drive Offline.