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Chrome OS was kind of disappointing in 2021

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The headline does not tell the whole story so give me a chance to explain. I'll start off by saying this. Chrome OS is my preferred computing operating system and I only use Chrome OS as my personal computing platform. I like how simple it is to use and how reliable it has become. When I'm using Chrome OS I feel like this is the future of computing. With that out of the way, let's get into the topic at hand.

Chrome OS has been evolving over the past few years and things have really picked up the last two. By far, Chrome OS is changing faster than any other desktop operating system, and to be honest, it has to. Of the major desktop OSs, Chrome OS is the least mature thus necessitating the need to adopt new and existing features found on other OSs. This is not entirely Chrome OS fault as the more mature desktop OSs had a twenty or thirty-year head start. Even with that, I believe Chrome OS is in a good place but things have slowed down quite a bit. I'm sure things are being worked on in the background, however, I am only considering what we have at the moment.


The biggest issue for me is that Chrome OS is running a now three-year-old version of Andriod. The vast majority of Chromebooks including the one I have are running Android 9. The current version of Android is Android 12 and Google announced in 2021 that Android 11 will be available to Chromebooks by the end of the year. Now Android 11 is running on some Chromebooks but from what I can remember those Chromebooks are either in the Beta or Dev channels. There are some useful features and benefits in Android 11 we are missing out on such as better app scaling for Android apps. It's unfortunate as scaling and app compatibility are two huge areas of improvement for us users. 


The other issue for me is that the last major Chrome OS update was nearly a year ago when Chrome OS was turning 10 and Google released Chrome OS 89 to celebrate. In that update, we got features such as Phone Hub, Tote, Screen Capture, Media Controls, Enhanced Clipboard/Quick Answers, and more. A huge update for sure but things has been radio silent since then. I mean not completely silent and we have seen some neat features such as Nearby Share, new Video and Audio Player, Scanner app amongst other features in subsequent updates. I guess I was anticipating more throughout the year but that probably has more to do with me than Google. 

It's not all doom and gloom though. I have a feeling that Google has big plans for Chrome OS in 2022. There is plenty to look forward to such as...

  • 4 week update schedule - In Chrome OS 96 Google switched to a 4 week OS update cadence. Hopefully this means new features will be rolling out more frequently
  • Android 12L - Android 12L is focused on making large screen devices better with better scaling and app compatibility (heard that before)
  • Fast Pair - Fast Pair is a feature that enables Bluetooth devices to communicate quickly and easily. Fast Pair enables syncing across your Android and Chrome OS devices
  • New Launcher - Productivity launcher is set to replace the big grid of icons we users are currently used to. The Productivity launcher looks more like the app drawer on your Pixel phone and has features such as a more advanced searching
  • Dark Mode - speaks for itself
  • Steam for Chromebooks - speaks for itself
  • Material You - Google's new design language
  • Human Presence Sensor - To detect when a user is nearby 
  • And much more
I'm excited for what's yet to come when it comes to Chrome OS but I have to call it like I see it. Come on, Google! Chrome OS needs to start shipping some of these features they have been working on that seem like forever. Here's to me waiting patiently and eagerly at the same time. 


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