After rumours of a new merged OS of Android and Chrome called Andromeda leaked over the weekend, it seems Google is also prepping new hardware to launch it on in the shape of a new ‘Pixel’ laptop.
The report from Android Police says that the board, known internally as Bison, will be the first hardware device to show off the new operating system.
The laptop, which Android Police are fairly confident won’t be marketed as ‘Chrome OS’ will be a fairly high-end device with 12.3″ display that will support a ‘tablet’ mode that could be a convertible form factor similar to a Microsoft Surface Book with a detachable display, or possibly even a form factor with a 360-degree hinge allowing for a tablet form factor – though with a proposed 10mm thickness proposed the latter is likely.
Under the hood, the device will apparently be highly specced. The Pixel 3 may have similar consumer configuration options under the hood as the Pixel 2015 had – i.e 2 models – with Android Police talking about either an Intel m3 or i5 Core processor, as well as either 8 or 16GB of RAM. The storage size of things will include either 32GB or 128GB of storage – no mention of an SD card slot.
Peripheral wise, the so-called ‘Pixel 3’ may have the same 2x USB-C ports that the Pixel 2015 had, with a 3.5mm headphone jack (yaay), a fingerprint sensor, Wacom Stylus support (Stylus sold separately), stereo speakers, quad microphone setup and a fingerprint sensor. Additionally the battery will be large enough for a full day of use at 10 hours.
Similar to the previous Pixel Chromebooks, the ‘Pixel 3’ will have a backlit keyboard and a glass trackpad, though haptic feedback and force detection will be included this time around.
While Andromeda may be shown off at the October 4th (October 5th at 3am AEDT) event, it’s apparently only going to be a tease, though it could be a watershed moment at least if all goes to the plan of current head of Android, Chrome and Chromecast, Hiroshi Lockheimer who tweeted this past weekend:
We announced the 1st version of Android 8 years ago today. I have a feeling 8 years from now we'll be talking about Oct 4, 2016.
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) September 24, 2016
According to Android Police, the device, and from the sounds of it Andromeda itself, is a real attempt by Google to take on both Microsoft and Apple. The price point for the ‘Pixel 3’ will be aggressive at $799USD (that’s still over $1,000AUD). If the device and software deliver, it could truly be a defining moment for Google, but this just makes us more excited for next weeks event and what we’ll see.
I’m kind of wondering if there are two competing groups working on merging chromeOS and android. One seems to be bolting chromeOS bits into android, and the other android in chromeOS. They seem to have wildly different timelines, as well as hardware targets. It’s almost as if the PHB of google have said, we want to get ‘here’ – compete against each other to do it fastest/best and you get to rule. There’s one thing for certain – this time next year things will look very different. ‘Oreo’, ‘Orange’ or whatever they call the next android OS is going to… Read more »
Will fuchsia os be andromeda? People from the chrome are now working on Flutter,
mobile apps from android an ios from a single code base. Flutter apps are developed using google dart lang. Fuchsia os sys ui seems to have a lot dart and flutter stuff.