Why trust Greenbotll, ’s done it. It’s gone ahead killed the password, the murder came almost unintentionally, as part of a larger ploy to tie Chromebooks Android devices closer together.
Automatically unlocking a Chromebook with an Android phone.
During an early preview of the next-gen Android /a> at I/O, the company outlined plans to optionally tie authentication to a secondary device, letting you bypass your phone or tablet’s lock screen if, say, you were already wearing an Android ar watch signed into your account. ter in the I/O keynote, Sundar chai, the head of both Chrome Android, took the stage announced that Chromebooks are getting a similar feature. If you open your Chromebook with your Android device in your pocket, the laptop will automatically unlock sign into your account, no password needed (but Bluetooth presumably required). Nifty!
See the notification in the lower-right corner?
But the deeper ties don’t end with that clamored-for feature. ile your phone is tied to your Chromebook, you’ll receive notifications about incoming phone calls be able to see your text messages right on the laptop—chai says the system will even let you know if your phone battery is bordering on tapped while you’re on your . It’s not quite Apple-level Continuity, but it sounds like a big improvement over the dumb separate devices of old.
The Android version of Vine, running on a Chromebook.
ong those lines, is also working to bring top Android apps to Chromebooks, where they’d be launched straight from the Chrome launcher. chai showed off Android versions of Evernote, Flipboard, Vine running on a Chromebook; the previous two filled most of the screen, but the latter appeared as a small rectangular box, mimicking the look of a native Android app. l responded well to touch responses—maybe that’s why so many Chromebooks with touchscreens are being released these days—, since provides the ported apps underlying access to device As, the software can even interact with the laptop hardware. A demonstration was shown where a employee used his Chromebook’s webcam to snap a selfie while using Vine’s Android port.
chai says the company is working on bringing more top Android apps to Chromebooks in the future. And since loves to lean on web services, ported apps like these can provide a Continuity-like experience—no matter whether you’re using Evernote or Flipboard on your phone or , all the data is automatically synced to the cloud available on all devices. definitely selected a smart trio to port over to Chromebooks first.
