Google Book review: Android on a laptop is still Android

Android laptops are here, but Google has a long way to go to make them good.

Google Books fluctuate a lot with hardware.

Android is designed for phones, but that hasn't stopped Google from trying to adapt its operating system and apps to larger machines over the years. After tablets, Chromebooks, and foldables brought little change to how people interact with Android software, Googlebooks are the latest effort. These new Android-powered laptops are designed to pick up where the web-focused ChromeOS left off, offering premium hardware and native support for Android apps.

Google touts Googlebooks as an alternative to Windows and macOS, but those platforms have decades of software and user interface conventions that keep users locked in. Googlebooks has to offer something very special to grab users from any of the dominant operating systems.

For dedicated Android phone users, there's a lot to like about the Googlebook OS, but the Android roots of these devices are impossible to miss. Sometimes it feels like using a Chromebook and sometimes it feels like using a giant phone. It almost never feels like a premium laptop, and that's the problem.

While there were a few premium Chromebooks, the platform really only succeeded in the budget segment. With Googlebooks, the company is almost blatantly ignoring low-cost options. And since most combos top out at over a thousand dollars, Google Books aren't just a new take on budget Chromebooks.

All the introduced Googlebooks have excellent touchscreens, aluminum and magnesium bodies, biometric unlocking (fingerprint or face) and large pads. There's also Glowbar, which doesn't do much at the moment. When Gemini is activated with the word wake and during boot, it lights up in Google colors. It also shows the battery level when you connect the Googlebook. The latter is very useful, but not really a selling point.

There is something in the lineup for most premium laptop buyers. If you want a convertible, there's the Acer. Stylish and expensive? Asus and HP have you covered. Want something a little bigger? Lenovo has a 15.3-inch model with HDMI and USB-A ports.

The least expensive model, the Acer Googlebook 14, starts at $899, and it's a limited-time deal. Even this one fixes a lot of hardware. It has a vibrant OLED display, a metal chassis and three USB-C ports (all of which can charge a laptop). You won't get a touchpad, though, just the old-fashioned kind that physically clicks. The supposedly DTS-tuned speakers don't sound great either. Still, the hardware is at least as good as any $900 Windows laptop. Acer hasn't decided when or what the price will change, but at least it's $899 for the rest of the year.

The next step up from that is the $999 Dell XPS Googlebook, but this model has LCD instead of OLED. If you want Google's most powerful laptops with OLED touchpads and touch, you're looking at spending at least $1,100 for the Lenovo version. The device is solid and the larger footprint allows for vents on the hinge instead of the bottom. But I don't like the slightly wobbly feel of the keys or the bend in the middle of the keyboard. The HP Googlebook 14 has a much nicer keyboard, a better overall look, and a Snapdragon X Elite chip inside. However, it is also $1,300.

I appreciate that Google is pushing for things like touch trackpads and high-resolution OLED screens, but the more expensive Google Books suffer from the same problem as premium Windows laptops – they don't exist in a vacuum. If you're spending $1,300 on a laptop, the entry-level MacBook Air is probably a better option for most people.

All Googlebooks launched have the same keyboard layout, which is slightly different from what you get on other laptops. There is a G button that works the same as the Windows button, and the upper F row has been modified. You get basic Windows tools like brightness and volume controls, but there's also Android navigation buttons and a voice input key that activates the AI-powered Rambler.

Probably the best change to the Googlebook keyboard is "quick insert" instead of "caps lock" (you can still get caps lock with the Fn key). Just press this key to add emoji, recent screenshots, clipboard contents, recently visited URLs and more. Granted, I don't mind using the performance layers on the keyboard, so the extra step to access caps isn't a concern. You may feel differently, and that's okay.

Google Books are available in two types, Intel and Snapdragon. I have used both and the overall performance is about the same. There have been some reports of app issues with Intel-powered Googlebooks, but I haven't come across any apps that only run on the Snapdragon.

The Snapdragon (HP) model seems to have a higher performance ceiling, if you can find a way to reach it. Gaming performance also seems better on the Snapdragon, but even the heaviest Android games look good on the Intel models (Lenovo and Acer). When you're relying on software that was originally designed to run on phones, it's hard to push these devices. Not surprisingly, software is proving to be the biggest hurdle for Googlebooks.

Google has flirted with Android on larger screens on several occasions, mostly with tablets and tablets impersonating laptops. It's the first time it's completely overhauled a laptop OS, but it's still Android under the hood. Sometimes this is good and sometimes not so much.

Setting up Googlebook for Android users is very fast. Just like setting up a new phone, you can scan a QR code with your current phone to automatically copy your accounts, data, and apps. You can be up and running in minutes and your phone will be deeply integrated with the operating system. Well, as long as it runs Android 17. This will be a sticking point, as most phones do not have this system. That update yet

With Google's Better Together services, a Googlebook can access files on your Android 17 phone, sync notifications, remember where you left off in apps, and even mirror apps from your phone. It all sounds great, and when it works, the experience can be good. However, there are various limitations and drawbacks that prevent it.

The phone and Googlebook must be on the same Wi-Fi network to stay connected, and switching to other networks can disconnect in annoying ways. Even when the devices seem to have a solid connection, I've rarely seen a mention of Google's Continue On feature, which is supposed to let you pick up where you left off in a phone app. Mirroring phone apps to your laptop can also be useful, but performance varies, and apps with system-level security features won't work at all. You're also limited to one app at a time, and they don't stay open in the background.

Accessing files on your phone from your laptop is a good idea, but transfer speeds are often slow. More annoyingly, the connection is only one-way - the Files app on Googlebook can see your phone, but the Google Files app on the phone can't see Googlebook. Speaking of the Files app, it shows just how far behind Google is with desktop software. The app lacks essentials like tabs and network sharing support. It's nice that it can access my phone, but it's very limiting if you're used to the Finder or Windows Explorer.

At least Google has done a good job of making Android look like a desktop operating system. There's a proper desktop that you can fill with app shortcuts, folders, widgets, and files. There's a folder in the storage tree where you can manage that content, or you can simply drag items into it from a file manager. You also get ChromeOS-style split-screen support and multiple desktops. These features work, but they're not as intuitive or powerful as what you get on macOS or Windows.

Artificial intelligence is a big part of the Googlebook experience. Google talks about the Magic Pointer, which you can activate by moving the cursor. This allows you to feed Gemini any content you have on your screen, but calling it magic is a bit silly. You can ask it to translate text, create images, create calendar appointments, and more. You basically give Gemini screenshots and ask him to do things.

The Magic Pointer can be useful at times, but simplifying the process of feeding page content to an AI by hooking it up to a mouse is hardly revolutionary. You still have to fight the inaccuracy of Gemini. Even adding calendar appointments can fail, meaning you'll have to double-check almost everything the AI does.

Magic Pointer is an optional feature and you can adjust the motion sensitivity. However, I never found a surface that I was completely happy using. Hypersensitivity, and the gesture is triggered when you don't mean it. Too little, and you have to move the mouse so hard that the cursor is probably nowhere near what you want to highlight.

Rambler, which debuted on the Pixel 11 series, is available on all Googlebooks. This AI-powered voice input feature works in any text field on the laptop, which is useful if you want to add a lot of text without typing and not sound like a robot. It's been popular on phones, and most people using it on a Googlebook will likely be impressed.

However, Create My Widget is another interesting tip. The thing is, you can simply describe the widget you want and the AI will place it on your desktop. It sounds cool, but in reality, the content you can use is so limited that it makes the feature largely useless. Great if you want a calendar countdown and sports scores. If you want system information or app content, you're out of luck.

Googlebooks come with the Play Store, which is packed with all the Android apps you could ever want. But desktop apps? Google says it has worked with developers to optimize apps for Googlebooks, and some of the software has just been built from the ground up for the desktop experience. For example, Chrome on Googlebooks is a more desktop-class experience. It lacks a few special features like split windows, tab groups, and multiple profiles, but it works with all your extensions.

On other platforms, I've typically used desktop clients for Dropbox and Drive to sync files. I was hoping something similar would be possible on these Android laptops, but no such luck. Dropbox runs on Googlebook, but it's not optimized. The interface is clunky, and even if you save a folder offline, it only updates when you manually refresh the app (just like a phone running the app).

The Drive app, meanwhile, isn't even an Android app — it's a Progressive Web App (PWA). So you can't set it to sync a folder with the device. All you have is the ability to make individual files in Drive available offline. Without the actual desktop app experience here, you're actually getting a lot more performance from Google's cloud storage system on Windows and macOS.

Drive isn't the only Google web app that appears as a native app. Gmail and Calendar are also PWAs on Googlebook and offer the same experience as when you open them in a browser tab. Gmail is available as a large screen format Android app. Why not adapt it for Googlebooks? Real operating systems have email programs. If you want to finally get into a web app, why not get a Chromebook for a third of the price?

The Play Store uses labels to let you know which apps are best on your laptop, but most Play Store apps are built entirely around the phone experience. Google is in a tough spot here. Developers only build for what people use, and so far no one has asked for desktop-style Android apps. As you peruse the Play Store, you'll see a few of those "optimized" tags, but there are a lot more "desktop compatible" tags, which means you can expect only nominal keyboard and mouse support.

The most problematic apps in the Play Store are flagged as "made for mobile" or even "better on the web". Some popular programs fall into these categories. For example, Slack's team chat app is an awful experience on anything other than a phone. It runs on Googlebooks, but the web interface is much more suited to the desktop. You're supposed to be able to install Slack as an advanced web app, essentially what Google does with Gmail, Drive, and other apps. However, this is currently not working for unknown reasons. Again, if you want to have everything in a browser tab, you can use a Chromebook.

Even apps that are optimized for the desktop can be boring on a Googlebook. These apps know you have a keyboard, but they can respond to button presses in ways you wouldn't expect. Photoshop is a big offender here. The app has a poorly scaled mobile interface that's switched to landscape, and there are only a few keyboard shortcuts. Sometimes, you'll see a UI element that looks like it should be controlled with the arrows or the Enter key, but you end up moving the cursor around and selecting the wrong thing. To be fair, the Photoshop Android app is free, while the real Adobe suite costs money on other platforms. But it is difficult to call this a desktop application.

You'll find many pbone-first apps that don't fully recognize that you have a touch screen and ignore hover interactions and right-clicks. Many apps also expect you to repeatedly enable Android's back gesture to navigate the UI. At last count, Google has a solution. Googlebooks have back, home, and multitasking buttons on F1-F3. So you can activate phone apps, but reaching for F1 is constantly annoying.

The Android generation of the Googlebook OS also means that even apps made for the desktop may not work as well as you'd expect on a desktop PC. Android is designed for a memory-constrained environment, so the system closes apps in the background whenever it needs to free up RAM. It's common to come back to an app you've left in the background and realize it's lost its place and needs to be reloaded. It's a phone-like experience that isn't really compatible with a real computer.

Google recognizes that Googlebook apps may not meet all needs. One possible solution to that, for example iterations, is to simply make what you need with Antigravity. The new Android version of Google's AI-powered development program is included in every Googlebook, allowing you to code vibe apps for your laptop. AI can generate sketches, models, and line-by-line code to bring your idea to life.

Antigravity can independently download all the Android developer tools you need and create APK files ready to install on your device. It's technically difficult to install your apps because they're not hosted on the Play Store, but Google takes a special approach to these things. They are scanned by Play Protect, but you don't need to enable Unknown Sources in the settings. Google also confirms that these apps will not be affected by developer verification when they roll out to Googlebooks next year.

After a few days of struggling with the Files app, I decided that the lack of network shares was causing the problem. I keep most of my files on a NAS so I can access them from any device, and Googlebooks was limiting my style. I first tried to find an alternative in the Play Store, but there weren't enough apps with enough features for a laptop, so I decided to test Antigravity on Googlebooks by building it.

Using the default version of Google's Gemini Flash, I was able to install a functional but very buggy file manager in minutes. It took several hours to get it working reliably and supporting all the features I needed, but the result is something I use more than the default Google Files app.