Over the past 24 hours I have been using my Chromebook exclusively. I want to share my initial thoughts.
Chrome Web Store – User Experience Negative
- Significantly Lacking Compelling Apps
- Many of the Apps simply do not work on Chromebook
- Unable to tell if App is Chromebook ready on website
- Site Navigation sucks
Samsung Chromebook
- For a $500.00 Laptop it still feel underpowered
- Lid needs to bend back farther
- Switched fast between Wifi and Verizon Wireless
- Amazing Batter Life
- Touch Pad ok but still a bit hokey
- Boot Speed Amazing
- Have not figured out how to use HD camera
Chrome OS
- Feature sets Feels Half Baked.
- No way to do screen captures.
- Printing is a pain to setup.
- File Management System Feels Half Baked.
- Javascript Crashes periodically.
I showed of the Chromebook to at least 20 people today and all felt it was more powerful than a iPad but severely laking apps. It is obvious to me that most expected it to be more like a smartphone and that the majority of the folks have expectations set for capabilities similar to iPhone and Android.
I am sure that I am being overly critical at this point, but Google has had a while to get their act together on this. While I am sure they will close the gap, there is a huge opportunity her for app developers to easily get to the top of the leader board if they design a Chromebook specific application.
As much as I am complaining, I will likely use it a lot more than my iPad simply because it has a keyboard and I can type faster with a keyboard and the browsing experience is better than the iPad by a long show.