Google IO was a great event as usual and was filled with so many announcements on upcoming technology breakthroughs; including advances in developer tools for App Engine/Android, Honeycomb update, Google Music, YouTube Movies, Chrome browser update and others.
One of the most anticipating one among these were announcement of Chromebook – which is a laptop build on the chromium OS from Google, which boasts its 8 seconds boot up time. But there are some other things you should consider before actually buying this new gadget. Check out the list below which highlights some basic functionality that Chromebook actually misses.
Below is the list of 10 things that Google did not highlight in their event.
- Netflix – Oh! Yes you read it correct. Currently ‘Netflix’, which is the most used online movie rental service, is not supported. That means you won’t be able to enjoy your Netflix movies on Chromebook.
- Wi-Fi networks that use security certificates – WPA2 Enterprise with EAP-TLS or PAEP/MSCHAPv2 is the most common standard that enterprises or universities follow to secure there Wi-Fi access. That means if you are an enterprise user and your WI-Fi is among those (chances are they will be for sure) Chromebook will not work for you. According to Google they are working on adding support for Wi-Fi networks that use security certificates. And they talked about Chromebooks for business and education! Huh!
- Bluetooth – Forget about all those funky Bluetooth headsets, mouse or accessories you’ve purchased, and those super-easy file transfers using Bluetooth. Bluetooth is not supported right now.
- SD Card and USB Drives – Although Chromebooks will come with 5 in one card reader and USB ports, users won’t be able to read data from those devices. It is still not supported.
- GPS – Although Chromebooks hardware has GPC chip in it but the GPS services are not currently supported. So forget about Facebook check-ins and location based tweets.
- Volume – Chromebooks do not allow user to change the volume, not only change, users cannot even mute the device.
- No Webcam – The version of flash used on Chromebooks is not capable of handling video inputs. So forget about video chatting or conferencing.
- Java – Java is not supported on Chromebooks, so forget about websites that uses java or run java applets.
- Just one Owner Account – There is only one account that can have owner (or admin) access, although multiple guest logins can be provided but they will have limited access only.
- Account/User Photo – During the initial setup of Chromebook, user can select the owner photo for account. But, if they wish to change if after the setup is complete, it’s just not possible!
The above points are taken from the actual Google support page and all of the above are missing or not working till date.
Yeah, you’re taking these from a “known issues” page about the CR48, which is a test device. Chrome OS has volume control, but some of the pilot machines were having issues. That’s because it’s a test program. This is a pretty ridiculous manipulation. You also can read data from USB and SD
i completely agree with skybarn. The device is still under development. Its not like these are gonna end up in the market just like they are. Software and hardware development takes time. Moreover these issues are already reported issues. You have seriously manipulated information to write a negative article.
if it doesnt work why put it in at the first place ? SD card doesnt work then y the slot ? Google should have said in PR that certain service and function might not work. they didnt even have that much discipline of watever to tell that!
The ultimate thing that Google cannot address is the social shift to putting EVERYTHING on the cloud. Your gas, electric, etc. accounts. Your life, your dreams.
Your dissent. All on Amazon servers, Google servers…Baidu servers.
Beijing gonna love this: All your life are belong to us.
The only route to me accepting cloudbooks is built-in onboard, hardware/firmware, real-time encryption/decryption, controlled by my own protocols, or 3rd party encryption specialists who compete for attention based solely on security for the individual, not the FBI, not Beijing, not $teve Jobs, et al.
I just got one of these chrome books to beta test and I can tell you that the webcam does work via gmail’s gtalk.
I can also change and mute the volume.
Just thought I’d update you on that.
volume control and webcam does works in new chrome book not sure about java though