After hearing that Google’s Fuchsia OS will be getting its first developers preview, we now have some interesting news about Google’s Chrome OS. The OS supports Android and the platform’s vast app collection.
According to the latest sources, Chromebooks are finally getting updated to Android 11 to bring some new features and better functionality. But for the time being, the update is in beta-only. Android 11 won’t bring much to the table, but it does bring two of the most awaited updates.
The first one is that it includes support for a dark theme, but it’s currently limited. In the latest version of the Chrome OS that is the V89, a flag is added to the Android developer options menu that enables dark themes for Android apps designed to respect the system setting.
It doesn’t support everything; it does, however, support the Play Store and Google Home App. The OS itself lacks a system-wide dark mode. With the arrival of Android 11, Android apps run in a virtual machine, much like Linux and Parallels for Windows.
This means that security is vastly improved, as it makes it harder for malicious actors to use Android apps as an access point. Android 11 on Chrome OS has also improved scaling within apps. The scaling makes it possible to changes the font sizes and the overall layout of Android apps. This might not be needed for every app, but it’s certainly an option we’re glad to see Google having finally worked out.
The Android 11 update is rolling out now but is only showing up on some boards. So far, that includes virtually anything with a 10th-Gen Intel processor.
