TL;DR: Google solved the android browser problem by putting ChromeOS Chrome on Android, only to recreate the Windows tablet problem: actively blocking touch-friendly Google Android apps and ignoring basic tablet gestures.
I am not exaggerating when I say I have been waiting for a platform like Googlebook OS for years. Over the past few years, I have been looking for the perfect 2-in-1 device where I don’t have to sacrifice either the laptop or tablet experience, and Googlebook seems like the platform that can provide me with my endgame machine (Yes, I am one of the people who were disappointed by the left out of the Lenovo Googlebook detachable at launch). However, with what Googlebook OS is right now, it seems like it’s a platform that’s lacking in both the laptop and tablet experience. It lacks in the laptop experience as it is already expected because it’s a whole new OS based on android, but surprisingly it’s also lacking in the tablet aspect because of some software decisions of Google and a clear lack of care on the tablet side.
Ever since I got my hands on the Acer googlebook and shared my thoughts on the platform, I have gotten the same responses of “just get a tablet with a keyboard and trackpad.” As someone who has used android tablets as my main laptop for the past few years (up until earlier this year when I finally gave up), I can assure you that any tablet with a keyboard and trackpad is far from the experience of a true desktop OS, even for a non-pro, regular user like me. Every 2-in-1 that exists on the market leans one way or the other. With a galaxy tablet, yes Samsung Dex is basically the UI of a desktop, similar to Googlebook OS, but the browser on there just lacks way too many desktop features compared to the chrome browser we find here on Googlebooks. Many websites also just load weird on mobile browsers seemingly because not all sites are tuned for mobile browsers (even in desktop mode). It also lacks some keyboard shortcuts and the ability to remap keyboard shortcuts like other desktop OS (It’s still a little bit short but I’m actually very pleased with Googlebook’s OS’s ability to add keyboard shortcuts to many functions). Similar with iPad OS; even though iPad OS has become quite desktop friendly over the years, it still is far from a desktop experience compared to MacOS. It actually loads websites better than on android tablets, as it seems to load them the exact way as websites load in MacOS safari, but the rest of the UI is still short of MacOS (limited keyboard shortcuts remapability), limited trackpad gestures and customizability, and a file management system that just isn’t desktop-level. Even though Apple can probably make iPadOS as good as MacOS easily, they will likely not ever do that because the two product lines will sabotage each other’s sales, which is understandable. There is then the option of Windows tablets. Surface Pro actually has my favorite 2-in-1 hardware out of all 2-in-1s that exist right now (supreme build quality, built-in kickstand, 3:2 aspect ratio), but it also runs the worst OS for a tablet. The previous two I mentioned leaned towards the tablet experience, and the Surface Pro leans heavily towards the laptop experience. It is honestly mind-boggling to me why Microsoft even makes the Surface Pro when Windows does not even have a tablet mode that actually makes sense for a tablet. But even if they do eventually make a tablet UI for the Surface Pro, the apps supported there would still not have tablet-optimized apps. Perhaps the closest 2-in-1 before Googlebooks would be ChromeOS tablets, a laptop platform with support for android apps. While that is true, those android apps do not run natively (I care a lot about battery efficiency), and there just isn’t a true flagship 2-in-1 chromeOS tablet (I also need one that’s around 13-inch).
When I heard that Aluminium OS (what we called the OS before Googlebooks was revealed) will be built on top of the android stack, I became extremely excited about the platform. I knew it would be everything I wanted in a 2-in-1, and it would probably put an end to my search for a true 2-in-1 device. Since it would be android, that means I can run all of the android apps I want, having as mobile-friendly of an experience as any other android tablet that existed on the market. At the same time, Google is positioning it as an OS for laptops, so I knew that using it as a laptop would definitely not be trouble-ridden as what I have been using (I was using galaxy tab s9+ as my laptop at the time). That is it, an equal emphasis on the tablet and desktop experience, which is exactly what I was looking for! Well, now that Googlebooks are here, and I got my hands on the Acer googlebook, which is a convertible that can be flipped into a tablet, and I am concerned that this may not be it. And it’s not because it can’t be, but because a “true 2-in-1” is just not what Google wants Googlebooks to be. This can be seen in many aspects of the OS, but my biggest one right now is that we are not allowed to run a lot of the Google android apps, but only the PWA versions. The best example of this for me is YouTube. A very good use case of a 2-in-1 is that when I am done with my work on my laptop, I can flip the laptop over into a 2-in-1 immersive YouTube experience. Google pre-loaded the YouTube PWA into Googlebooks, and is also the app that you would find on the Google Play Store. I totally understand that decision of preloading the PWA YouTube, as that is the version that is already intended for desktops. What I am disappointed by is that there is absolutely no way to run the android version right now, not from the play store, not from installing an APK, even when I disable the pre-installed YouTube PWA. That just doesn’t make sense to me, as it is android so I know that it is capable of running those android apps. I also feel like PWA should be installed from the browsers (as it is on any other desktop OS), and I should be able to get the android version app from the Google Play Store. It looks like Google is software blocking the android version of some of their Google apps because it doesn’t work well with keyboard and trackpads; they don’t want the OS to feel like an OS that’s simply android with some tweaks. This, along with some other things such as the lack of a way to go into PIP with only touch-controls when I am in tablet mode or the lack of a gesture to screenshot, shows that Google puts no focus on the tablet side of things even though there is already one right now, the Acer Googlebook convertible, and the soon-to-come Lenovo Googlebook detachable. So, right now, the Googlebook kinda feels like the Surface Pro, a tablet (or at least a device that can be a tablet) with an OS that isn’t designed for a tablet, which is just disappointing considering it’s built on the android stack. It’s also not like the laptop side is completed, as we all know, the OS is still half-baked for laptop use, pro-use or non-pro use.
The selling point of Googlebooks for me has always been the versatility. The mobile-friendly interface that android already is, with the emphasis on the desktop experience. Yet, it seems like my vision and Google’s vision are polar opposites. For Googlebooks to become the dream device I have always been looking for, Google has to decide that they want to look after the tablet experience and not let Googlebooks be only laptops (starting with letting us run all the mobile android-version Google apps). My hope is that this will change by the time the Lenovo Googlebook detachable comes out, which if it does, I am almost completely certain it will be my favorite tablet/laptop I’ve ever used.