After a chaotic launch, Google catches up with its Googlebooks with fixes

Barely a month after their arrival on the shelves, Googlebooks sold for up to 1,399 euros receive 31 fixes at once. In the list, reboots that no one had ordered.

Google unveiled the Googlebook in May as the heir to the Chromebook, with a system derived from Android and the stated ambition to compete with the MacBook Air. In France, the first machines arrived on October 5, from 1,099 euros for the HP model to 1,399 euros from Asus. A little over a month later, the Mountain View firm deploys its November update.

The update includes 31 fixes, including security, several of which target firmware, which was causing unexpected reboots. An interrupted update could also lock the computer in a restart loop (enough to transform a new laptop into a high-end paperweight). All Googlebooks have at least 16 GB of RAM and a chip dedicated to AI with more than 40 TOPS. However, Google is reviewing the way in which onboard AI occupies this memory, in order to stabilize multitasking on Acer, Asus and Lenovo models. The browser finally gains stability when a session accumulates tabs.

With Bluetooth headphones, the sound shifted from the image on the HP Googlebook 14 and on the Dell model, currently reserved for the American market. Bluetooth hearing aids can now be used as audio output. The update also fixes a taskbar that disappeared after unplugging multiple external displays, as well as Netflix audio that continued to play on a monitor that remained black. Linux Terminal better handles SSH sessions and preserves Linux environment files during system updates.

The deployment is being done in waves on the five models in the range, signed Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo. To check its availability, you must go through the Settings, System section, then the updates menu.

From the first weeks, testers noted missing functions and regressions compared to ChromeOS, the system that the Googlebook must replace. The initial setup required too many steps and left a QR code displayed on the screen once the phone was paired. Above all, Samsung smartphones remained excluded from continuity functions, such as resuming a task from one device to another or synchronizing notifications.

Google reacted with an update to Google Play Services to simplify the configuration, and announced compatibility for the Galaxy under Android 17 and One UI 9.0. In October, Chrome 156 brought fourteen improvements designed for these machines, while other browser flaws disappeared quietly, without an update visible to the user. A fix also stopped the flickering of installed web applications.

Google has already set the end of ChromeOS updates at mid-2034, for the benefit of the Googlebook. In the United States, the range starts at $899, while in France the entry-level price is 1,099 euros with the HP Googlebook 14.

Machine-translated from French