14 DAY TRIAL // On Tuesday, Mountain View-based Internet giant Google unveiled to the world a series of new details on its Chrome OS, which is nearing the final stages, and which should become available on devices sometime during the next year.
It appears that the company is set to bring the platform to the market in the first half of the next year on devices that would come from Acer and Samsung. Other manufacturers are also expected to release similar hardware solutions soon.
At the moment, the Chrome OS is being tested on a netbook, called Cr-48, where 'Cr' is short for Chromium. However, Google says the OS is compatible with various screen sizes and device form factors.
What all of these devices have in common, beside Google's platform, of course, is the support for Verizon's 3G network. However, these devices won't be confined to work solely on Big Red's airwaves, but they would include world connectivity options.
“The test notebooks exist only to test the software—they are black, have no branding, no logos, no stickers, nothing. They do have 12.1 inch screens, full-sized keyboards and touch pads, integrated 3G from Verizon, eight hours of battery life and eight days of standby time,” Google notes on its blog.
Google and Verizon Wireless have signed a deal to have the Chrome OS devices released on the market with support for the operator's network, and with various data plan options put in place for them
First of all, we should mention that a contract won't be required to enjoy 3G connectivity at Big Red, as a limit of 100MB of free data per month will be available.
Other plan options were also announced, including an unlimited day pass for $9.99, as well as monthly-rolling options, so that owners of a Chrome OS device would have enough data to spend at their disposal.
These options range from 1GB of monthly data for a price of $20 per month, to 3GB of data for $35 per month, and all the way to 5GB of data for $50 per month. These options add to the aforementioned 100MB of free data.
It still remains to be seen when exactly these devices would start appearing on shelves, as nothing officially was announced on the matter for the time being.