14 DAY TRIAL // With the completely 'unexpected' launch of the Apple iPad, there was some hope that things would quiet down on the tablet front. If anything, just the opposite happened, even more people started to talk about it, every other news story was either about the iPad or inserted some reference to it regardless of its subject. Now, even Google is adding fuel to the fire. After some speculation of whether Chrome OS will have touch support or not, it looks like we've already got our, more-or-less official, answer in the form of mock-up pictures and a video showing Chrome OS used on a tablet device.
Keep in mind that these are just concepts designed to show of some UI choices for a tablet device. Some ideas may end up in the shipping OS, but many will likely be scrapped. The photos and the video are coming straight from Google, apparently created by Glen Murphy, Chrome's designer, so the real point is that Google is definitely thinking about it and working on bringing Chrome OS to tablets.
Here are some of the main elements Google is focusing on when designing the tablet UI: - Keyboard interaction with the screen: anchored, split, attached to focus. - Launchers as an overlay, providing touch or search as means to access web sites. - Contextual actions triggered via dwell. - Zooming UI for multiple tabs - Tabs presented along the side of the screen (see Side tabs) - Creating multiple browsers on screen using a launcher So, yes, Chrome OS will have touch support. Let the Google versus Apple fanboy wars begin. Obviously, the real question wasn't 'if' but 'when' and on that we're as much in the dark as ever. From the looks of it, though, it may be sooner than you'd think, perhaps even in time for its big launch at the end of the year.
Google has said that it is launching Chrome OS first and foremost for netbook computers, ideally aiming at 12-inch devices with full-size or at least comfortable keyboards. The company is also going for cheap machines, so touch screens are likely not an option for these devices. But the company also said that it wanted Chrome OS on any device imaginable eventually and that definitely means tablets.
Are these tablets coming in time for the big launch ahead of the 2010 holiday season or are they set for the second or third wave of the Chrome OS invasion? That remains to be seen, but if the iPad catches on like the iPhone did, which it might despite the somewhat poor reception it got, Google will probably accelerate plans for a Chrome OS-powered tablet device. And if Google doesn't do it, its hardware partners are certainly going to.
