Hasta La Gadget!

The Acer C7 Chromebook is the most recent addition to the Chromebook universe and one of Google’s chosen few to be featured on their very own Chomebook portal. This device sits aside the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook as one of three (the other being a slightly higher-powered Samsung Chromebook 550.) This device reduces the baseline price of a Chromebook in general down to $199 and brings with it a slightly thicker and less MacBook Air-looking solution than Samsung’s Series 3 – but where does that extra $50 USD go?

Hardware

Like each of the three hero Chromebooks being shown by Google right this minute, you get 100GB of Google Drive storage for free for 2 years – once it runs out, you simply cannot add any more files to that extra space, but if you want, you can certainly keep your files up there forever (so they say.) Other than this, it’s a whole different ballgame. This machine has an 11.6-inch display that has generally OK viewing angles, but don’t expect to sit anywhere other than directly in front of or to the left or right of it, or you’ll start to see the light.

You’ve got a boot time that’s “under 20 seconds”, so Google says and quotes correctly, leading us to note that yes, indeed, it is a fast machine. It’s quickness should be assumed, of course, due to the very lightweight nature of Chrome OS. It’s essentially a small storage space on your device tied with the Google Chrome web browser – that’s what Chrome OS is, and that’s what it remains here with the Acer solution.

The 4 hours of battery life you’re quoted exists when you’re actively using the device for 4 hours straight, on the web. If you leave the device open and asleep, you’ll easily get several days of uptime. The processor inside this beast is extremely good at battery conservation, that’s for certain. We’ve literally had the device on for three days at a time with no more than 20 percent battery drain – fully asleep, mind you, with no power cord, either.

You can connect this device to a larger monitor via VGA or HDMI if you like, with the second monitor offering you a mirror of what your Chromebook is showing off. This is good for showing webpages to your colleagues as well as YouTube videos – or your Google Play movie collection. You can also connect to other devices with the three USB ports on this device quite easily, and the whole machine works with a dual wi-fi chip that’s able to connect anywhere in your house – with plastic being the main material used here, this machine has no trouble sending or receiving signals of any kind.

You can connect with the Ethernet port on the left side of this device as well if you’re going for ultra-quick web connectivity. This works great to upload or download media to and from your 320 GB of build-in hard drive disk space as well as your full-sized SD/MMC card port that sits just under your keyboard down and to the left. The camera that sits above the monitor on this device is called “HD” but delivers just a generally acceptable web chat experience for Google+ Hangouts – and/or wherever else you plan on chatting via video.

User Experience

This device, much like the Samsung Series 3 solution, is made for web browsing and web browsing alone. If you want the most full-featured computing experience you’ve ever laid your hands on, look elsewhere. What we’ve got here is $199 worth of hardware from top to bottom. It’s not aiming to be the most fantastically simple notebook on the planet, and as its made of primarily plastic, you wont be winning any “wow this notebook feels amazing” awards.

What you will get is a perfectly legitimate web browsing device – and if your primary reasoning behind purchasing a notebook is to browse the web, you’ve got yourself a winner right here. Google has successfully created a user experience here with Chrome OS in its current state that cuts down on everything not necessary to browse the web and have a good time doing it.

The only deterrent you should have here as far as usability goes is the touchpad. It’s not a MacBook, that’s for certain, but it’s just as high quality as the Samsung model. If you’re used to a standard netbook or a low-end notebook running Windows or Linux (with some exceptions), you’ll be perfectly satisfied with this experience tapping and scrolling.

Wrap-up

Acer has succeeded in boiling out all the high-end features that make a notebook cost more than $400 and took Google’s Chrome OS to just about as standard and basically acceptable place as they possibly could, tagging it with a very suitable $199 pricetag. If you only want to browse the web with your notebook, and that’s it, this machine will serve you well.

Be sure to head to your local large-arena showroom store to check how this machine feels in your hands before you pick it up, then be glad you kept the other $300 you’d have otherwise spent on a notebook full of features you might never have used. Use it to buy a Google Nexus 7 and take your best pal out for a nice supper on top.

Acer C7 Chromebook Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In a move that will certainly have those of you thinking about getting a Chomebook jumping for joy, Acer and Google have announced a new C7 Chromebook for $199. This lovely machine is ready to take on the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook with a price that under-cuts that machine by $50! This machine has an 11.6-inch display and many of the same perks that come with the Samsung machine, starting with 100GB free storage for 2 years on Google Drive.

This machine also has a beastly 320GB hard drive, so you’ll have no worries when it comes to keeping all your media safe. The C7 Chromebook comes with an Intel Core processor for awesome power – here with an 18 second boot-up time, so says Google. This device also comes with all the lovely Google Chrome apps you love – the same as every Chromebook, as it were, since they’re all based in the Chrome web browser.

This device is 1 inch thin and weighs in at 3 pounds. It’s got dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and ethernet access for the web, and both a VGA port as well as a full-size HDMI port for video output. This machine is added to the burgeoning family of next-generation Chromebooks that also includes the Series 3 Chromebook from Samsung and the Samsung Chromebook 550. It’s also got additional bonuses such as 12 free sessions of Gogo Inflight internet – connect up high!

This device is sure to add to the madness that is next-to-free notebook devices, especially and particularly because of it’s $199 price point undercutting the already undeniable $249 of the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook. If you’re thinking about getting a device for web browsing only – this is certainly going to be one of your best bets. Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on the Chromebook universe as it ramps up to the 2012 holiday season.

[via Google]

Acer C7 Chromebook unveiled for $199 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google has launched JAM with Chrome, a new interactive web app intended to further demonstrate why the future of computing is inside the browser, and calling on Keyboard Cat to help demo it. The new toy relies on various HTML5 features to allow four players in different locations to jam together on the same track, choosing from 19 different instruments including drums, electric and acoustic guitars, and synths.

There are two modes for play, with “easy” being – unsurprisingly – the simplest to get started. Set by default, it supports autoplay or users can click on the various strings, drum pads, and other instrument controls for manual play. A “pro” mode, however, turns the keyboard into a controller.

Under the hood its a cavalcade of fancy web tech, including the Web Audio API, Websockets, Canvas, and CSS3.  It all runs on Google’s App Engine, dynamically scaling the more bands join in, and while the graphics may look relatively simplistic, Google is actually using the Canvas graphics engine to accurately model things like how individual strings vibrate in response to band harmonics and how they’re strummed.

For Google, of course, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate how native apps aren’t necessarily required for complex functionality, something the company is counting on for adoption of its Chrome OS. Although off to a slow start, Chromebooks like the Samsung Series 3 we reviewed recently are now impressively capable, even if you don’t have a persistent internet connection.

You can try out JAM with Chrome by heading over to jamwithchrome.com, or alternatively you can watch cartoons of Keyboard Cat and a ram-version of Skrillex getting more than a little excited with some friends in the video below.

Google JAM with Chrome uses Keyboard Cat to demo browser power is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google has released version 23 of its Windows Chrome browser, which includes a feature designed to save users’ battery life. Unlike with previous versions of Chrome for Windows, the latest version provides enhanced video decoding, which reduces hardware usage and thusly increases battery life. This is in addition to a couple of other handy features, including Do Not Track.

This feature works by shifting the process of video decoding from the CPU to the GPU, which requires less power. Google’s tests on the new feature showed a 25-percent battery life increase. Said Google software engineer Ami Fischman, “Now Chrome users on Windows will experience longer battery life so they don’t get cut off while watching their favorite YouTube video on repeat.”

Other new features include the addition of “Do Not Track,” something that has been available on Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera for a while now. Users who enable DNT will provide a simple header notifying websites of the user’s preference. According to Fischman, Google is working “with others” towards an industry standard on handling DNT requests.

Also added is an aggregation of permissions in a menu that can be accessed via an icon next to a website’s URL. When the icon is clicked, a menu will appear detailing various permissions that can be changed, such as access to the system’s webcam and microphone. Previously, users had to navigate through the browser’s “Settings” options to alter these permissions.

[via Chrome Blog]

Chrome for Windows gets battery-saving feature, Do Not Track is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Features:

• Uses your Google account for easy setup of computer and Google services.
• 10 second boot time, near-instant resume from sleep.
• ARM processor keeps power requirements low, computer cool and quiet.
• Comes with 100GB of free Google Drive storage.
• Easily switch and add user and guest accounts.

Pros:

• Price. This is the main selling point of this computer, and pretending otherwise benefits no one.
• Chrome OS is essentially Chrome with a little Android thrown in. Anyone should be able to pick it up easily.
• This is a very portable device, and it’s well-built enough to endure some rough handling.

Cons:

• Chrome OS is very focused, but that also means it’s limited in what it can do compared to Windows, OS X or Linux.
• Quality of display and other build material choices reflect the $249 asking price.
• Limited support for some times of external memory cards.

Short Version

Samsung and Google recently introduced the simply named Chromebook, a $249 computer with an 11.6-inch screen and around 6.5 hours of battery life in a slim and svelte 2.5 lb, 0.8-inch-thick shell. It’s a bare-bones approach to the concept of a Chrome OS notebook, and it’s probably what Google should have done with this type of hardware from the very beginning. But does that mean it’s good?

Chrome OS is minimal; it’s a web browser, essentially, with features added that make it possible to access local files and work more easily offline. Hardware for an OS like that need not be overly complicated, or overly powerful. It really just needs focus, and that’s mostly what Samsung and Google have delivered with this new bargain-basement notebook.

Long Version

User Experience

The Chromebook is as easy-to-use as Chrome the browser itself – which is to say very easy. In fact, there are a good numbers of users who aren’t comfortable doing much outside of their web browsers, and that is the ideal target audience for this device. If what you want is the web, Chrome delivers that, with a very functional keyboard with web-focused functions like dedicated reload, back and forward buttons, and a trackpad that does its job better than those on most Windows computers, even if it does move the cursor when scrolling once in a while, which is surprisingly annoying over time.

Thanks to Chrome’s large app and extension store, there’s plenty of software here to meet basic computing needs, and even handle some more advanced tasks including photo editing. For daily casual computing, and even a good chunk of my work tasks, the Chromebook is a device that meets my needs. It doesn’t go very far beyond, and there are some tasks that are less frequently part of my gig that I’d have to go back to a more capable computer for (like video editing for instance, or anything other than light retouches for photo work). But for remote web workers on a shoestring budget, Chrome OS running on Samsung’s intelligently pared down hardware is a heck of a combo, providing a user experience that’s hardly frustrating, and definitely spends a good amount of time in the ‘enjoyable’ range, too.

Hardware

The Chromebook’s hardware is about as far away from high-end ultrabooks as you can get: it uses plastic, the screen feels taken directly from a netbook released around 2008, and it feels like it’s got quite a bit of flex in the body. But it’s also incredibly small, slim and light, and while ports (save the SD card slot) are around back, they’re there, and with USB 3.0 and HDMI out, they’re modern and capable. In other words, Samsung cut corners where it should have on this design and made sure not to when it was important to how the notebook handles.

If I had to sum up the Chromebook’s hardware in one word, it would be “smart.” The screen (which appears low-contrast and somewhat washed out compared to more expensive contemporary devices) is its greatest weakness, but it’s far from unusable. And there are other areas where the Chromebook actually pleasantly surprises, like with the built-in speakers, which are actually pretty good so long as you don’t crank the volume up too high. The camera for video chat also does the job, and an included USB to Ethernet dongle makes it possible to connect to a wired router. Even the keyboard is a good one, with dedicated buttons for browser-specific features, and comfortable, well-spaced and placed keys, though keyboard backlighting is understandably missing.

The Chromebook’s battery is maybe its key hardware feature. Google says it gets around 6.5 hours from a full charge, and in my usage that turned out to be right. Plus, when sleeping, it sipped energy slowly enough that I could close the lid, pick it up a couple of days later and still jump back in. For a computer like this, that’s meant to offer instant-on convenience, a good battery is a crucial measure of success, and one that’s impressive on its own at this price point.

Software

If you’re a Chrome user, which I am, then Chrome OS is like an old familiar friend. All that this has over a traditional Chrome experience is the addition of a simple file browser and user account switching. If, like me, you spend 95 percent of your day in Chrome, then that means what the Chromebook can accomplish is significant, but not all-encompassing. For instance, plugging in SD cards from my DSLRs had mixed results; an older 8GB standard version was recognized immediately, and I could open JPGs (not RAW) for viewing and editing, but a 128GB SDXC wasn’t picked up by Chrome OS.

Still, with instant on, and customizable settings for the trackpad (I’ve gotten used to Apple’s so-called ‘natural’ scrolling), the Chromebook’s software offered everything I needed for light use at the airport or on the couch, and I can easily see it meeting the entertainment and casual needs of a huge swath of everyday users. Chrome’s app store has grown considerably since its introduction, helping out with a variety of social, productivity, gaming and entertainment apps to satisfy most needs for those who aren’t hardcore gamers or working on the next Dreamworks masterpiece.

Chrome’s Remote Desktop feature is also very useful if you’re adding the Chromebook to a network of existing computers and want to access them for any reason, but I found it had trouble with more complicated multi-screen setups like the one I run in my home office. Still, for basic remote access, it’s a good tool to have around.

Summary

At $400 or $500, the Chromebook always struck me as an unusual device aimed at an enthusiast market; after all, who would want to pay as much as you might for an entry-level Windows machine for something with a far narrower, less capable software ecosystem? But now at $249, the Samsung Chromebook makes perfect sense: it’s a cheap, effective portable web browser with a full keyboard and nearly all-day battery life. If you’ve got four or five times the asking price, buy a Mac or a PC. But if those machines are overkill for your needs, you won’t regret picking up a new Chromebook, either now for $249 or when the $329 version brings cellular connectivity to the mix.