Forget all these Android tablets, let me at that Chrome OS

Hardly a day goes by after we don’t hear a few new Android-based tablet in some ever-so-slightly-new size, configuration, or spec. Likelihood is that every PC manufacturer in the market is going to have one, and likelihood is they’ll all be kind of interchangeable – like the Windows 7 tablets that they regularly announce collectively. With the clear exceptions of Apple and HP, most computer-makers don’t look thinking about doing anything but getting a product out the door that’s competitive.

This bulk technique to the sort of pc as a tablet has taken the shine off of Android for me – not that it had much first of all, being an OS designed around a smaller form factor. I like my Android phone, but the postulate of Android running on some stock Dell hardware with a bit of spritz of UI on top really isn’t that attractive to me. I say, bring about the Chrome OS tablets.

We’ve heard that Google’s mysterious browserish OS will hit this fall on a couple of devices, likely including a flagship netbook and tablet. Once I wrote at length about its potential last winter in Google, Rome, and Empire, I essentially conflated it with a form of archetypical next-generation OS, and the truth will likely start as something a bit of more humble. My personal guess: a highly versatile browser with a ton of APIs able to be taken benefit of, launching with partnerships and a couple of new services so that it may be a tolerable replacement for a netbook or laptop. It’ll take some time for it to get going.

But I suspect Google is going to get this right: Chrome OS is a browser OS, and as a way to always be the main target. It really might be as simple as that, though you are able to complicate it if you would like with many of plugins – as you could with current browsers. I think some people will see Android 3.0, that’s rumored to be tablet-orientated, and think “why would you’d like only this basic Chrome OS functionality?” Well, more isn’t always better. And with a tablet, the advantages are several.

Simpler hardware. Possibly, Chrome OS will probably be a one-button affair for probably the most part. Although this will after all support keyboards for text input and sure other devices for this or that app, I believe Google will want this to be the most simple and cleanest browser experience available in the market. It will not be capable to beat the iPad with regards to simplicity, nevertheless it can at the least match it. Chrome OS tablets will likely have very few hardware controls and little within the way of inputs and outputs. I’d guess SD, one USB, and one combo audio port may be the standard. Less need for storage and storage control, plus less demand on the CPU and other components implies that the whole thing will also be thinner and run cooler.

It’ll run great. Android has come far, and Froyo even runs well on a four-year-old HTC Touch. But a more lightweight OS will always have more overhead to work in, and I feel Chrome OS is less prone to run into limitations than a major Android tablet – certainly less likely than a Windows 7 tablet, in an effort to be working at the limit constantly.

Really instant on. All that actually has to be loaded into active memory is display, a blank browser page, and the wireless/IP stack. The iPad has this down pretty good, but I think Chrome shall be even quicker to its feet. That’s entirely speculation, but I’m guessing Google knows it’s an exceptional selling point.

A defined purpose. This can be really the single I care about. The simplicity of offering what is basically a single-service device, crossed with the versatility of that single service. The iPad, Android, webOS, Windows 7 – these kinds of things have a sophisticated statement of purpose. Their functions are numerous and you may expand them and add apps, widgets, and so forth. Pages of settings, local contact information, 3G, music, storage, multitasking… man! I already have a computer. Chrome OS will offer a browser that you simply hold on your hand. That’s frequently it! Sure, you may do a number of stuff on your browser, but Google doesn’t make those promises for you. They’re implicit inside the dedication of the device to the browsing experience. It’s a window into the online, and that’s all. That simple nature comforts and attracts me.

Now, I sometimes forget this, but i’m really not of course the sole person on the earth. People prefer different things and even enjoy devices like the Dell Streak, which I might exile to Neptune if i’ll (A five-inch tablet? Are you kidding me? Viewing this rich, wonderful Internet of ours on a screen lower than 7″ appears like self-flagellation to me. But rejoice.). I just think the tablet as a device is evolving, and just as some people will prefer an entire-featured Windows 7 or OS X machine within the desktop/laptop world, some will prefer a robust multimedia omnibus device inside the tablet world. Nonetheless, some people prefer the elegance of a customised Linux build on their microATX system, and may prefer the elegance and straightforwardness of the window into the internet I am hoping Chrome OS might be.

There’s no solution to tell until Fall rolls around, unless Google wants to spill the beans to us early and prove me right or wrong. However Chrome OS turns out to be something totally different, I actually have faith that I’m not the best one that wants what I’ve described, and that’s what we call a market. I just realized I’m curious whether it truly is really the case or not, so please chime in and describe whether you suspect you’re more fascinated with a pared-down, web-centric thing or the more powerful, more complicated “full” tablet experience.