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Google announced that they were working on an Android runtime plugin for Chrome OS that would allow you to run Android apps on your Chromebook or Chromebox back at Google I/O. Thankfully the first bit of apps have officially arrived this morning. There are four pretty good apps coming along for the initial ride:
- Duolingo – a fun and free way to learn a new language before your next trip
- Evernote – write, collect and find what matters to you, with a full-size keyboard and touchscreen
- Sight Words – a delightful way for you to help improve your child’s reading skills
- Vine – create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way
The apps should take on a user interface identical to what you’d find when downloading them to an Android tablet. This gives Chromebooks a significant boost in usefulness as many web apps simply don’t cut it. We certainly wouldn’t mind having a vast majority of Android apps already out there over their web-based counterparts.
Google is still in a beta period with this thing for now so they’re still trialing it with select developers, though they promise us that we’ll see more in the months to come. Hopefully it won’t be long before the SDK is released for all developers to enjoy.
Don’t forget that Google is accepting suggestions for which apps you want to see on Chrome OS so drop them a line to make sure your favorite apps are targeted. Be sure to give each app a go by using the links above on your Chromebook. And no, it won’t work with a standard Chrome browser. Sorry!
[via Google]
If this is the future of Chrome, I’m in.
And how exactly will this help Chrome OS?
More offline apps for one thing.
This will make more people consider Chrome OS and it might even match up with the needs of mobile computing for some.
Who cares? I’m going to be able to run Android apps on my CB Pixel!
But in reality, I’m guessing in the future there will be the option to start something on your phone and finish it on your Chrome device and vice versa.
Your digital life becomes more device agnostic. If you’re looking at your watch, holding your phone, or sitting at your Chromebook, you don’t need to go to another device to get the info/input the data. Isn’t this obvious? I’d love a bigger screen for editing Evernote notes.
Put in a suggestion for CoC. A bigger screen would be great for that.
Evernote!!! Yes!!!!!
Call of Duty app would be nice…