Google Appears To Be Working On Bringing Android Apps to Chrome OS

The Wall Street Journal reported late last year that Google plans to merge Chrome OS and Android. The search giant, at the time, had refuted such claims while adding that it continues to work on "bringing together" the best of both operating systems. It appears, one such step is adding the Google Play (Android's marquee app store) to Chrome OS. Several users are reporting that they have seen an option -- "Enable Android apps to run on your Chromebook" -- which would understandably allow them to run mobile apps on the desktop platform. Unfortunately, the feature isn't working just yet. Bolstering this theory is another such instance in the source code, which says "over a million apps and games on Google Play" will be made available to Chromebook users.

A report on Ars Technica speculates this move as the demise of Chrome Web Store, the marketplace for extensions and themes for Chrome, which hasn't received any significant improvement or feature in years. At any rate, the timing of this discovery is interesting as Google's developer conference -- I/O -- is just around the corner (May 18-22).

Re:No benefit to Chrome OS

[Bromrrrrr]

Most of your opinions are highly inferior to my counterparts. Many of my best opinions aren't even available to your puny brain. You have a lot of opinions but pretty much all of them are pretty bad. Most are ill-thought out, don't work, lack logic or are otherwise awful, Quantity does not mean quality.

Re:

[Big Hairy Ian]

There is bias among App developers towards developing for IOS. Mostly it's down to the relatively few platforms running IOS compared to the huge http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2... [thenextweb.com] number of platforms running Android. Nothing at all to do with the quality of the OS

Re:No benefit to Chrome OS

[MightyYar]

Well, that and people with IOS seem more willing to spend money for apps. Which makes sense, since except for the few "flagship" Android phones, most are very inexpensive.

(I'm cheap, so I generally have an Android. I can't justify $600-700 for something that is, for me, a toy that has a sketchy phone built-in.)

Re:

[rickb928]

An app that isn't available to the majority of users is mislabeled 'best'.

As in 'if i can't even use it, how is it best'?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Correction: Most apps are vastly inferior to *real* software. Period.

Not sure if that's a good thing.

[Qbertino]

Minimalism and focus on the web is what Chrome OS is all about. I don't know if bloating it with junk from the Android store will improve it's overall perception. Right now Chromebooks are the poor mans MacBook Air and impress with a clean slate concept - this image could suffer from Android integration.

Ah, too late for me...

[Mal-2]

Unless there is a way to convince Google Play to cooperate with GalliumOS, I'm afraid this announcement comes too late for me. I (irrevocably) reformatted the Chromebook a couple weeks ago. Just last night, I chopped the unnecessary shell length off a SDXC card so that it almost disappears into the slot rather than dangling out hazardously because it was much cheaper than buying a JetDrive that is essentially the same thing.

If not having Google Play is the cost of having a full Linux system (and whatever Wi

Re:

[malditaenvidia]

and whatever Windows apps I can get working via Wine

Which would be none, Wine is not an emulator.

Re:

[MightyYar]

Why would he need an emulator when his Chromebook has an x86 processor?

Re:

[Mal-2]

Ah yes, GVOX Encore 4.5, Hoyle Board Games, Hoyle Card Games, Hoyle Puzzle Games, and Hoyle Casino all count as "none" I suppose.

Office 2010 and Skype for Windows are out, but some things work.

Old News

[Luthair]

Google announced this at Google IO in 2014 - http://www.zdnet.com/article/g... [zdnet.com]

Re:

[msmash]

That was different. The company was making select Android apps available to Chrome OS users. And "the tools" that developers could use didn't include Google Play.

Need local printing

[ITRambo]

Web printing is a pain to set up. We have dozens of elderly customers (75+) that we could quickly move to ChromeOS/Android from Windows if only printing were plug and play. That's very important to many people. Otherwise, ChromeOS/Android is going nowhere on the desktop. It'll stay in elementary schools and not expand much farther.

Re:

[kaiser423]

I have a Brother, an HP and a Canon printer hooked up to my Android phone. Often times I'll print directly from my phone, even if my computer has the same content up just because all of the horribleness that HP and Canon put in their drivers to make it an actual pain to print. I get a more streamlined experience from just printing on my Android phone. My wife does the same -- the Canon Multi-function print driver installed about a half dozen Canon devices that pop up when she hits print, and half the tim

Re:

[basscomm]

I have a Brother, an HP and a Canon printer hooked up to my Android phone.

It must be really difficult hauling all of that equipment around.

Re:

[fhage]

It will never happen because the whole platform's purpose is to provide the NSA with copies of all your documents and a log of all your Internet activities.

If you print directly, the NSA won't get a copy. Google docs and printers are the NSA's wish come true.

The NSA believes everyone should store their login credentials on an always-on Internet connected device inside their LAN.

Queue the Google shills who will tell us that we have nothing to worry about because the data is transferred via https.

Re:

[rickb928]

When was printing last plug n play?

I have my Canon MP620 hooked up to my Android phone and my wife's iPhone, and the 12 YO's Chromebook - via Google Cloud Print. Yes, all we have to do is open my Windows 10 laptop and turn it on - not even log in. that;s as good as it will get until we spring for a new printer with all the internet exploits built in.

Try getting printer manufacturers together.

[tlambert]

Try getting printer manufacturers together.

There's no damn reason you need a driver for what is (essentially) a frame buffer that relocates itself to paper. The only reason for a driver is to lock you into using a particular printer.

Re:

[110010001000]

Uh oh...this looks like malware! Beware!

So basically...

[sd4f]

Google is going to try what MS is doing with their Universal Windows Platform, where MS is using their desktop dominance to bolster developer support for their paltry adoption of windows phone/mobile, meanwhile, google is attempting to use their mobile dominance to bolster the paltry adoption of chrome OS.