Google links Android phones to Chromebooks with the new Phone Hub feature

Google is completing 10 years of Chromebooks with the release of new features for Chrome OS today. The biggest addition is a new Phone Hub feature that connects an Android phone to a Chromebook. It allows Chrome OS users to respond to text messages, check their phone’s battery life, enable their Wi-Fi access point and locate a device easily.

The Phone Hub is packaged in a taskbar widget that expands to show the recent Chrome tabs that you’ve been browsing on your phone. It looks like it will be a very useful feature for Android and Chromebook owners. Google is also enabling the Wi-Fi sync feature on more devices, allowing you to connect to Wi-Fi networks already set up and used on your Android phone and other Chrome OS devices.

Image: Google

Another significant addition to Chrome OS is Nearby Share between Chromebooks and other Android and Chrome OS devices. Much like AirDrop, Nearby Share allows people to send and receive files between devices. Google says it will arrive on Chrome OS in the coming months, finally providing its OS laptop with a full AirDrop competitor.

Elsewhere, Google is also adding a new screen capture tool to the Chrome OS Quick Settings menu. As the name implies, this will allow you to save your screen or take screenshots and quickly access them in a “bag” space on the Chrome OS shelf.

Image: Google

Image: Google

The clipboard is also being enhanced in Chrome OS, allowing you to save five recent items to paste elsewhere without switching windows. The Launcher key will provide access to this updated clipboard experience. Quick responses is another addition, which allows you to right-click on a word in Chrome OS to get a definition, translation or unit conversion. It is very similar to what exists in macOS today.

Google is even improving the feature of Chrome OS – Desks virtual desktops. When you restart a Chromebook, it now restores all of the windows on its correct virtual desktops, and you can also right-click on the top of an open window to send applications to other virtual desktops.

Image: Google

Most of these new additions to Chrome OS are clearly trying to catch up with what already exists on Windows and macOS, but they are welcome additions for those who rely on Chrome OS every day. Google first launched a series of Chromebooks in 2011, in partnership with Samsung and Acer. There are now Chromebooks from all the major PC manufacturers, and Google promises that 50 new Chromebooks will be launched in 2021.