Google's Chrome OS Cr-48 notebook is a fine Web surfing machine, but it assumes too much of people with its slow directional pad. We're not sure people will want to do work with it.
Google's Chrome operating system Cr-48 notebook is a
newfangled mobile Web computing device that does a lot of what a netbook does,
serving Web applications via a browser.
It's how users access those Web apps that is different
than a netbook. Not better, but definitely different.
Cr-48 is the test machine Google is giving to media,
business partners and some lucky consumers as the lynchpin of its
Chrome OS pilot program.
The program is the search engine's consolation offering
for missing its own holiday 2010 deadline for getting Chrome OS machines into
the hands of consumers via computer makers. Samsung and Acer are
expected to ship Chrome OS notebooks in mid-2011.
The CR-48 has a black matte finish that feels chalky to
me. I prefer the feel of the sleek, black plastic encasing my Asus Eee PC
netbook to the Cr-48 shell.
However, the Cr-48's 12.1-inch screen size is full bodied
and pretty crisp for a test gadget. The device has a VGA port on one side and a single USB port on the other.
When you flip open the lid, Chrome OS boots within 6
seconds because Google has effectively removed the BIOS boot layer. It also naps
when you close the lid, fires up in one second when you reopen it, and
reconnects to the Web and your apps/Web pages instantly.
There is a power button on the top right of the keyboard
users can press and hold for a few seconds to officially power up and down when
the lid is open.
Setting up the device is a dream -- 5 minutes start to
finish. Users pick their language, then their WiFi network, let Chrome OS take
a picture of them (this can be skipped), enter their Google Account and they're
ready to go.
When I got online I was pleased to see all my Chrome
bookmarks ported right to the Cr-48, courtesy of Google sync feature in Chrome.
I was greeted with the Getting Started screen, which runs through the machine's
functionality in nine steps. The keyboard functionality is the biggest
deal here. It takes some getting used to.
Laptop users are accustomed to having separate
directional touch pads and execution buttons. In the Cr-48, the two are
integrated.
For a closer look at the Cr-48 notebook, please click here.
As with Apple Macbooks, the directional pad and execution button are one and the
same, and you can navigate the Web and click on content with one hand. Check
that: one finger.
As a PC user, once you get past the initial awkwardness of muscle memory
that has you accustomed to using one hand for the touchpad and one for the execute button, the Cr-48 works well.
To right click, you put two fingers on the touchpad press
down, and let go. Scrolling is different, too. You have to take two fingers and
swipe up or down on the touchpad. This felt very awkward for me, was
unresponsive and, I would argue on the whole, was poorly done. It's way too
slow to respond.
To be fair, you can click the Chrome controls wrench in
the top right of the browser window to adjust the touchpad sensitivity. This
helps a bit, but you're better off plugging in a mouse and being done with it.
How about the other buttons on the keypad? Strange. The caps lock
key has been replaced by a search button, the same one found on Google
TV hardware controllers. Click the button and a new Chrome tab opens.
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