- Google is bringing some of Android's features to its Chromebooks.
- Android's Bluetooth is faster and more efficient.
- These improvements may eventually appear on all Linux computers.
Google is integrating parts of Android into its Chromebooks, bringing all the mobile efficiency to its laptops, along with a whole bunch of bad-teeth-related puns.
Starting with Bluetooth, Google will replace parts of ChromeOS, the operating system for Chromebooks, with parts of its mobile operating system Android. As we'll see, these advantages are pretty obvious to everyone involved, including Chromebook users and even those who want nothing to do with Google computers.
"From my time managing complex supply chain integrations at Samsung, I have seen the tremendous value of standardized data systems. It minimizes errors and hassles for businesses and consumers alike. This strategic alignment with Google software In delivering[ ] the seamless, worry-free experience that people want," analyst Puneet Gogia, a former supply chain analyst at Samsung, told Lifewire via email.
Both Android and ChromeOS are based on Linux, the underlying operating system for all types of computers. Linux is under the hood, powering and controlling everything, while the user interface (windows, menus, and everything else you see and tap or click on) is on top. Until now, Google seems to have been developing both operating systems separately, which means a lot of duplication of effort. But now, it's starting to integrate the two.
Operating system expert Thom Holwerda wrote on his OSNews blog: "The benefit to Google is obvious: Instead of developing and maintaining two variants of the Linux kernel and various related subsystems, they now only have to focus on one. system, thus saving money and time.”
This makes sense given that Linux is flexible and powerful enough to run anything from a personal computer to the control panel of a fancy refrigerator, and laptops are now as networked and nearly as mobile as phones.
But what benefits does it have for users? Well, another way to look at it is that Google is taking the best parts of Android and putting them into ChromeOS, starting with Bluetooth.
The first change is merging Android's Bluetooth controller into ChromeOS, which will have an immediate and huge impact. As you might imagine, Bluetooth is very important to your phone, so optimizing it for efficiency is important. You want it to use as little power as possible, connect quickly, and be generally efficient. This is exactly what happens when Android's Bluetooth "stack" is ported to ChromeOS.
“Google conducted internal testing to measure the improvements from switching ChromeOS from BlueZ to Fluoride, and the results speak for themselves—faster pairing times, fewer pairing failures, and fewer failed attempts to reconnect paired devices. Less times too. This is a rather problematic technology and any improvements to the user experience are welcome," Holwerda wrote.
Yes, Fluoride is the name of the Android Bluetooth project, haha, the puns don’t end there. The project that brings Fluoride to Chrome is called Project Floss. A billion dads are nodding silently in appreciation right now.
Oddly, Google claims the reason behind this is to bring Android and ChromeOS closer together so that it can deploy new AI features faster, so we think all this AI hype is finally doing some good. But the benefits aren't necessarily limited to Google's ecosystem. Because Linux is an open source project and Chrome and Android are built on top of it, other Linux operating systems can adopt these improvements and incorporate them.
This means that anyone resurrecting an ancient PC laptop or MacBook by installing Ubuntu or another popular Linux version in place of Windows or macOS can benefit from faster, more efficient Bluetooth and, in the future, Google's Any other improvements from Android to Chrome.
This is a pretty radical idea. My ten-year-old MacBook Air currently runs Linux and feels like a new computer, but potentially faster and with longer battery life. The idea is amazing. Under Apple or Microsoft, this might never happen. Come on, Google.
