Googlebooks don’t have the same level of web app support as Chromebooks, as only “compliant” apps can be installed, and that’s not the only regression from ChromeOS, as Linux apps don’t work in the same way either.
Googlebooks rely on Android apps and web apps for virtually all core functionality, with the Play Store actively directing users to which app is the most ideal on the platform.
As it turns out, though, support for Progressive Web Apps on Googlebook isn’t quite at the same level as Chromebook. While most PWAs we’ve tried so far are easily installed, we ran into an issue installing the Slack PWA. Google, in a statement today, confirmed this is because Slack is not a “compliant” PWA, with Chromebooks instead relying on “manual installation.” It’s unclear what differs regarding Slack’s PWA — it functions just fine on other platforms such as Windows and ChromeOS — but it can’t be installed on Googlebook or Android devices.
Installing PWAs is fully supported on Googlebooks. But, the Slack web app isn’t a compliant PWA. Chrome on ChromeOS allows manual installation even though it’s not a PWA. This capability will also be coming to Chrome on Googlebooks soon.
This mirrors another regression in app support compared to Chromebooks.
Googlebooks also, at least for now, lack the same level of Linux app support.
Chromebooks started adding support for installing Linux apps way back in 2018 and, after a few years in development, it became a secret super power of Google’s platform. Linux app support on Chromebook allowed users to bridge the app gap with the ability to install full desktop apps the job done
Googlebooks are in a very different state.
There’s little to no documentation around Linux apps on Googlebook right now, with Google’s only page on the matter describing how you can use the Terminal app to access a Debian command line interface. Google says:
You can use the Terminal app to access a powerful Debian Linux command-line environment directly on your Googlebook. You can install and run developer tools, code environments, and access other Linux applications. It expands your device’s capabilities for advanced tasks and software development.
But installing appser. It’s a far cry from Chromebook’s support, which placed most apps within the app drawer once they were installed
Google says that it’s possible to run apps, but that GUI apps “aren’t the main focus” of the Linux environment on Googlebook:
Just wanted to confirm that yes, there will be a Terminal app available on Googlebook out of the box, and yes it lets you run a Debian Linux environment on your device.
Also yes, you CAN run Linux GUI apps in this environment, but note that for this initial release of Googlebook, GUI apps aren’t the main focus. We’ll have more to share soon on the Terminal app!
One Linux user far more experienced than myself who dug into how Googlebook supports Linux apps, detailing that they show up in a single Terminal display window without their own Android windows or taskbar items. Another user saw the same behavior and noted reliability issues with GIMP, a popular photo editing app for Linux.
As mentioned, there’s no documentation yet on how to get Linux GUI apps running on Googlebook, so this is not functionality for the “average Joe” — not to say Linux apps on Chromebook were either, but it’s certainly odd to see that this has regressed in functionality rather than expanded.
More on Googlebook:
- Googlebook’s Android-integrated features won’t work with Samsung phones at launch
- The first thing you should do on Googlebook is fix the trackpad
- Googlebooks with Intel chipsets might have trouble with ‘complex’ Android apps
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