12 days with Chrome OS

Wow, I feel bad. I've been really bad about posting any sort of updates here. Sorry about that.

I've had the CR-48 for 12 days now, and I feel like I'm getting a handle on what I like and what I don't, in hopefully a more perceptive way then just first impressions.

First of all, connectivity. This computer is still really pretty great when I have internet, but it's really rather silly when you don't. I finally activated the 3g a few days ago while I was on vacation, but that was just to check for new emails. For the most part, it seems silly to really try to use it when you don't have wifi, if for no other reason then I hate trying to count bytes. There are no notable offline apps yet, although I've been using Scribble to write offline. It's a good app to have around, for really any portable computer, chromeOS or otherwise, if just because it can be always available and one click away for quick thoughts and notes and stuff. I use mostly evernote for in depth stuff, but Scribble is nice to have too.

I really cannot wait for more offline apps, that have actual features, too. Reader and Gmail really need offline access, as does of course Google Docs. Yeah, we know it's coming, but that doesn't make me want it any less. Get here already.

Secondly, and in a related vein, media. Media is the suck. Youtube sucks, and netflix is non-existant. That is the fault of flash, which is supposedly being worked on. I'm not really sure why it was that it sucked in the first place, but I can't wait for that to get fixed. Silverlight or some other change will be necessary for netflix However, flash video aside, there really needs to be some sort of concession for media access. It's kinda absurd that I need to a second device to listen to music when I'm on a computer. Whether that is this mysterious Google Music service that we all keep hearing rumors about or whatever, we need a way to listen to our music. It sure would be nice if that allowed for offline access of at least a gig or two at a time, too.

The hardware honeymoon is wearing thin. Chips on the external corners of the case are starting to appear, which is odd, considering the plush pocket this thing rides in when on the go. I have a Timbuk2 messenger, and I really cannot think how this has hit anything hard enough to constitute chips.
The track pad is sometimes awesome, sometimes infuriating. Two finger scrolling is just not smooth, and will bounce you all over the place. Two finger-right clicking hardly ever works properly, and just right pisses you off.
Yeah yeah, it's not a consumer machine, it's for testing. Regardless, the trackpad ought to be working better.

I have yet to find a single way to activate my webcam besides gtalk. I mean, what the heck. Maybe I'm missing a trick here, but I doubt it. And I'm kinda following a method of refusing to actively hunt the internet for solutions to things like that. If I have to google around to use a major feature for anything other then gtalk, then something is not right.

The lights on the mute button or the caps lock light on shift dont work. Who knows why.

I really really really really love power management. I have an ipad, as well as an android phone, so I'm used to/in the habit of being able to instantly have the device ready to go, rather then entering passwords and unlocking or powering on or resuming. Having a full keyboard available instantly is really great. I'm actually preferring to have my cr-48 as my "google stuff while watching movies" device.

Fonts could use some love on here. They're not terrible. Just not good.

I love love love love love love love love love love persistent gtalk. Great idea, great implementation, done. awesome stuff. They need to open that up to facebook and other services, though. that'd be great. Calling works well, although I had trouble at successful file sending on it.

As a whole, it's an impressive little machine, but it's not displaced my iPad just yet, at least as far as portability.

Day 2 - Digging in

Now that I've had a full day on the system and a bit more time to get familiar with it, I'm able to spend a bit more time using it as an actual computer, instead of just getting excited about touching it.

Today I got rid of my other laptop, trading it for a new desktop. The lack of familiarity with this laptop made this quite a frustrating experience, although technically it was my own fault. My USB stick had been corrupted, and so I had to format it and clean it up, which meant I lost my Live Disc that I had intended to use to install ubuntu. This laptop, obviously, could do nothing, so I ended up having to install Windows and go through that whole process so that I could create an new Live Disc and delete windows. Definitely frustrating, but I should have done more then a spot check before formating.

This led me to realize just how many limitations are currently in place. While I can still access things like Transmissions web interface on this computer, I cannot remote access into my home server, or use it for any real diagnosing of issues on other machines. Unless it involves googling something online, this computer is no help in a situation where there is a technically difficulty. Bummer.

My hand is starting to cramp up from using the touchpad, but I think that's probably because I haven't used anything besides a standard desktop mouse for 6 or 7 months now, and I'm just out of practice. I still like the feeling of the touchpad; I'm just unused to it. 2 finger scrolling is starting to get annoying, though, as it either lags and then jumps or is simply jumpy in the first place. Hopefully smoother scrolling drivers will be released, as well as the addition of momentum.

Reporting bugs is easy as pie. The settings pages and other 'system' pages show a high level of polish and simplicity that make them easy to use and get back to what you were doing.

As of yet, I've made no use of being able to open multiple windows, which behave like Workspaces. It just seems almost silly to do so, at least when I'm just doing basic browsing and internet stuff. I mean, when it's all in the browser anyway, the I can just ctrl-tab through them, right? Alt-Tab scrolls through the other open windows, if you're using any.

I haven't charged it yet (although I haven't used it a whole lot up to this point) and I've only dropped it to 70%, which is pretty cool.

Other then that, I'm starting to get into the app store and figure out some solutions for consuming media. My sort-of personal goal is to try to get it to do all that my iPad does for me, like reading books and playing music and video. I doubt those will happen well, but I'm going to try.

Day 1 - A few more pictures and thoughts

I'm really enjoying this laptop.

In spite of some of the hate that it is receiving, I really think that this laptop and change in style of computing is totally possible. If nothing else, the freedom that Google has given themselves with ChromeOS is going to lead to some cool solutions. I love that they got rid of traditional Fn keys, and things like num lock and scroll keys or whatever. I know some people will miss them, but the fact is, Google has made a clear statement that they don't mind changing anything and everything to come up with a good experience.

Now, again, many people have realized that, and many aren't happy. But guess what guys? You're not losing out on anything. Google isn't breaking anything by experiementing with something totally and completely different. So chill.

A couple more pictures of the hardware:

Day 1 - The Good, the Bad, and the Broken

I just got my CR-48 delivered to my front door step. I have been waiting for it to arrive all day, and have been strung along all day by any moderately loud vehicle that drove by, fooling me into thinking it was the delivery truck.

Opening the box was a few moments of untempered bliss. The clever drawing on the box, the packaging itself; it was opening a Christmas present, and it was good.

The pictures you've all seen (here or elsewhere) don't do the hardware justice. This laptop is thin, much, much thinner then I expected. The bottom half is almost exactly the size of the VGA jacked into it. This laptop looks amazing and feels amazing, no doubt about it.

I had my phone out, video taping it for your viewing pleasure.

 I set the battery in, turned it over, opened it up.... and nothing. There was a light on the power button, and nothing else.

Well, it's been out in the cold, right? I decided to let it get to warm temperature and plug in the power, to get it fully charged.

I finally managed to get it running on an external monitor, but hopefully this will only be termporary. It would be a shame to only use a laptop on an external monitor until they send me a new one or whatever they will do.

That said, the hardware feels and looks good, hopefully I can get it all working. The OS itself? I've only had a few minutes, but it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect: Chrome, full screen. I haven't really dug in yet, but everything's behaving well and snappy.

Anyhow, that's all for these first thoughts. I'l write some more in a few hours.