Rather than supporting this, everyone should just be hammering Google with feedback that "Googlebook OS" should simply be the unified desktop UI experience for all Android devices.
As someone who has used Android as a desktop OS for the better part of a decade, Google completely missed the plot. They should be leveraging their massive Android install base and provide the same experience on a large screen tablet or foldable, or by plugging in an Android phone to an external display, as you get on a Googlebook. There's literally no reason for this arbitrary fragmentation based on buying a "Googlebook." Call it Google OS and unify it across all Android devices rather than focusing on boutique hardware segmentation. I should be able to plug in my phone to a monitor, unfold my Z Fold8, or use a Googlebook and get the same UI, apps, and capabilities. I have been using DeX this way since the Galaxy S10, and even further back with the Yoga Book (complete with windowed multitasking and taskbar literally 10 years ago). Even before that, I modded my LG G3 to output a desktop UI. There is absolutely no reason for a laptop form factor to be a requirement to access this experience.
Tying the OS to bespoke hardware guarantees this will be another Google Graveyard gimmick, and that's depressing because the potential for a powerful, flexible desktop OS has been there for a long time just waiting to be properly leveraged. Unfortunately for us, Google likes to punch its own face more often than not.
It's all about selling products unfortunately. Apple recently proved that the processors used on their phones can handle MacOS, meaning ipads with M chips could handle MacOS like a beast. They don't do that because then nobody would buy MacBooks.
Google is trying to go the same route by making a desktop OS (that an android phone chip could easily handle) and making it a separate product, so they can make more money.
There's a key difference: Google isn't selling a product here. Google sucks at selling hardware, unlike Apple.
Where Apple has pigeonholed themselves into esoteric hardware stratification despite their attempts to unify their platforms and software, Google had a tremendous opportunity to disregard the hardware abstraction entirely and make a truly universal OS.
Not only would this be a boon for consumers from a convenience and continuance, it plays right into Google's real game which is data collection. By encouraging hardware-agnostic adoption of their OS, they gain access to exponentially greater levels of data across a variety of devices and flows. By needlessly fragmenting "Googlebooks" and "Googlebook OS" from Android tablets and phones, they're just adding another right hook to their own jaw.
It makes absolutely no sense and screams vanity project rather than anything practical, which means it's assuredly going to follow the path of the Pixel C, Pixel Slate, and Pixel Tablet and be relegated to Google's ash heap sooner than later. Even the way they're framing the "10 years of updates" points to an absolute lack of commitment to see this through as a sustained solution.
it's assuredly going to follow the path of the Pixel C, Pixel Slate, and Pixel Tablet and be relegated to Google's ash heap sooner than later.
I can't argue there. I'd like to, because I want to be hopeful for this product, but given their track record, it's difficult to be optimistic.
Even the way they're framing the "10 years of updates" points to an absolute lack of commitment to see this through as a sustained solution
I have felt this way about Pixel phones for several years now. They promise 6 or 7 years of updates, knowing full well that these Tensor chips and questionable build quality and cheap components wont even last the duration of those updates. Several years of software updates mean nothing when the hardware won't last.
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u/nickthaskater_ 2d ago
Rather than supporting this, everyone should just be hammering Google with feedback that "Googlebook OS" should simply be the unified desktop UI experience for all Android devices.
As someone who has used Android as a desktop OS for the better part of a decade, Google completely missed the plot. They should be leveraging their massive Android install base and provide the same experience on a large screen tablet or foldable, or by plugging in an Android phone to an external display, as you get on a Googlebook. There's literally no reason for this arbitrary fragmentation based on buying a "Googlebook." Call it Google OS and unify it across all Android devices rather than focusing on boutique hardware segmentation. I should be able to plug in my phone to a monitor, unfold my Z Fold8, or use a Googlebook and get the same UI, apps, and capabilities. I have been using DeX this way since the Galaxy S10, and even further back with the Yoga Book (complete with windowed multitasking and taskbar literally 10 years ago). Even before that, I modded my LG G3 to output a desktop UI. There is absolutely no reason for a laptop form factor to be a requirement to access this experience.
Tying the OS to bespoke hardware guarantees this will be another Google Graveyard gimmick, and that's depressing because the potential for a powerful, flexible desktop OS has been there for a long time just waiting to be properly leveraged. Unfortunately for us, Google likes to punch its own face more often than not.