Jumat, 21 Juni 2019

Google was never really serious about tablets - The Verge

Google’s getting out of the tablet hardware business, canceling two different tablets it was building and reassigning those employees to other projects. And as it did with the Pixel 4 rumors, the company decided to break the usual script of “we don’t comment on future products” by just up and telling Computer World and Business Insider that it planned on focusing on laptops like the Pixelbook going forward.

Don’t give Google too much credit for candor, however. As was made clear by hardware chief Rick Osterloh in a tweet, the openness was motivated by a need to assuage other manufacturers that are still making tablets with Android or ChromeOS.

I am not sure I would be comforted if I were a tablet manufacturer, though. The problems that have plagued Google’s own devices involved some self-inflicted hardware wounds, sure, but they were mere scrapes compared to what has been going on with Google’s tablet software and ecosystem.

That’s because Google’s actions show that it just doesn’t care that much about tablets. Or at least, it doesn’t care nearly as much as Microsoft and Apple do.

It’s too simplistic to say the company bailed on making tablet hardware because “Google always sucked at tablets,” the most common refrain I heard yesterday. It’s too simplistic — but also too true. I have used every single one of Google’s tablets — from the co-developed Motorola Xoom to the Nexus devices to the Pixel Slate. Whether they ran Android or ChromeOS, the experience was always subpar.

I won’t bore you with the history of every single tablet Google created, but as I think of them I’m struck by how many had nice hardware. The Pixel C had a silly keyboard, but the tablet itself was really nice — you could almost draw a line from its squarish vibe to the current iPad Pro.

The Nexus 7 was so popular that Android users will let out a nostalgic sigh if you mention it, like they’re remembering their first crush. It was good, but not because it was a good tablet. The Nexus 7 came out right before the era of big phones and it felt like using a big phone.

That’s instructive: though every Google tablet had some hardware pluses to go along with the minuses, every single one of them had software that didn’t work well on a big tablet screen. The Nexus 7 was beloved because it was the least tablet-y tablet Google made.

I am sure that individuals and teams at Google were (and are) earnestly dedicated to making Android or ChromeOS tablets a reality, and you can see evidence of that dedication in details like the Pixel Slate’s display or the care put into making the miniature, Android-based swiping keyboard work on ChromeOS.

But those flashes of brilliance can’t make up for Google’s institutional neglect of Android and ChromeOS on tablets. If you go to any Google IO developer conference, you can just compare the number of sessions about Android on phones or for web developers to those for tablets. The difference is stark.

Tablets simply aren’t a priority for Google. Not being a company-wide priority isn’t necessarily a problem for most consumer products — lots of little experiments at Google find success. But I think that when you’re trying to build a platform, not being a priority is the same as unbeing. It’s a death sentence.

It has meant that there has never been enough effort put towards solving the software problems that have sunk all of Google’s tablet efforts. The first and most obvious is the one everybody always cites: the apps were never really redesigned for big screens.

Every year, every review would point out the app issue and hope that it would get better next year. I collated a bunch of these back in 2017 under the headline “Maybe Android tablet apps will be better this year.” The criticism that Android apps were bad on the big screen and the hope that they’d get better is in nearly every Android tablet review you can find in the past decade.

Spoiler alert: Android apps never got better on tablets.

Creating a rich and vibrant app ecosystem is hard. Very few platform companies pull it off. There are probably a thousand reasons that Google never managed to convince Android developers to put in the work to make their apps better on tablets. Maybe it couldn’t sell enough early tablets to build momentum. Maybe the tools for creating tablet apps were either subpar or changed too often (or both). Maybe the average Android tablet user just wasn’t asking for better apps because they weren’t really pushing their tablets. Maybe there was no money in it. Maybe nobody believed Google would support tablets for long enough.

Probably, though, it was all of the above. Solving any one of those problems requires passion, skill, and dedication from a small team. Solving all of them requires support from the entire company.

HTC Nexus 9

Trying to understand what the heck Google was doing with its tablet strategy was always hard. But once you start to look at what happened to Android (and later ChromeOS) tablets through the lens of neglect, you can make a lot more sense out of what once looked like inexplicably incoherent strategies.

Every year saw Google trying to do something to jump start its ecosystem. The UI changed, then it changed again. The form factors changed. Tablets got bigger, then smaller, then cheaper, then more expensive. It was literally scattershot: trying everything in the hope that something would hit the target.

Ultimately that brought us to last year’s Pixel Slate, the latest strategic reboot. This time, the new idea was that Android apps could run on ChromeOS. You’d get the benefit of a real desktop browser and mobile apps.

I loved the concept, but the execution was terrible. A user interface that felt snappy and easy in laptop mode morphed into a buggy, laggy fiasco as soon as you disconnected the keyboard. It was all the more infuriating because the Pixelbook laptop was great. It was a stunningly simple and clarified design married to powerful specs. I still use mine every day.

I don’t know the root cause of why tablet mode on ChromeOS was so terrible, but I do know that I have spent the past three years watching Google fail to solve it. I can’t help but think a company that really felt it was important to get tablets right would have applied the necessary resources to fix it.

I am, of course, writing this all on an iPad Pro. I’ve avoided bringing it up because I don’t think there is a causal connection between the iPad’s success and Google’s tablet failure.

But it is relevant to Google’s decision to stop making tablet hardware: the iPad Pro is so far ahead and accelerating so quickly, it would take a miracle for Google to catch up. That’s fine, but it also must be embarrassing to put something out there that so plainly is on a different level.

Apple may have caught plenty of well-deserved guff for making the first iPad feel like little more than a big iPhone. But Apple also stuck to a strategy that hasn’t wildly swung around from year to year. It has diligently applied technical resources to the OS and support for the app ecosystem. It has made the iPad a priority.

Microsoft, too, recognized that it needed to figure out how to make computing on a tablet work. For all its misses with the original Surface tablets, Microsoft knew that failing to move Windows into a touchscreen future was an existential problem. The focus on fixing it eventually brought us to Windows 10 and the excellent Surface devices the company sells today.

Android, Chrome, and ChromeOS were created in part because Google felt it would be an existential threat to its business if it didn’t participate in those ecosystems. Google needed to (respectively) not be locked out of smartphones, ensure the web wasn’t captured by its competitors, and find an inroad on laptops. With tablet hardware, the company apparently believes the stakes are now apparently lower.

It’s definitely a rational decision, at least for the time being. But if Apple and Microsoft are right about tablets, it could also look like a shortsighted one. Without its own hardware to focus on, what pressure will Google feel to ensure its software ecosystem works well on tablets?

The idea that any company has a Master Plan to Create The Future is a fantasy. Still, Apple sure does a good job spinning that tale. Even if you don’t agree that the iPad is “the future of computing,” you still understand what Apple is going for. Do you know what Google is going for with tablets? Have you ever?

Google isn’t really a hardware company at the end of the day. Instead, Google’s Master Plan to Create the Future involves a lot of AI and the Google Assistant. Its trying to put those things everywhere: in your phone, on the web, in your kitchen, and on your TV. Maybe it’s not a problem that Google doesn’t have a coherent plan for also its software on tablets — but that’s an awfully big maybe.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/21/18700394/google-tablets-android-chromeos-priorities-cancellation

2019-06-21 12:00:00Z
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The Morning After: Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro battery recall - Engadget

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Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Feeling alright after last night's Neon Genesis Evangelion binge? Let's catch up with the news. Google is getting out of the tablet business, and Apple might need to take a look at your 15-inch MacBook Pro. Also there's a robotic fish that runs on 'blood,' and a Raspberry Pi causes computer security problems for NASA.

The Pixel Slate will be its last, but the tablet will still be supported going forward.Google has made its last tablet

Google is no longer planning to make any tablet hardware going forward and will put all its resources behind laptops. In a statement received by Engadget, a Google spokesperson said that "for Google's first-party hardware efforts, we'll be focusing on Chrome OS laptops and will continue to support Pixel Slate." Google's spokesperson added that the company will continue working with third-party hardware makers on Chrome OS for both laptops and tablets.

The company insists they are just "surprise mechanics" like Kinder Eggs.EA tells UK parliament loot boxes are 'quite ethical'

Regarding loot boxes, EA has come up with a novel explanation for why the controversial game mechanic should be considered perfectly legal. Appearing before the UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, EA's vice president of legal and government affairs, Kerry Hopkins, insisted that loot boxes aren't akin to gambling but are instead "surprise mechanics" like Kinder Eggs, the popular chocolate candy with toys inside.

Either head to the Apple Store for a battery swap or mail it in.Apple recalls older MacBook Pros for risk of overheating

MacBook Pro (2015)

According to the company, the laptops contain a battery that may overheat and pose a safety risk. The recall "primarily" affects 15-inch MacBook Pros sold between September 2015 and February 2017, and they can be identified by their product serial number.

Another one generates sentences from Netflix dialogue.Netflix's latest experiment is like a rumble-pak for its shows

Netflix's Hack Day is back. This year, one of the biggest experiments from the in-house event, Project Rumble Pak, syncs haptic feedback effects to key moments in videos -- you could feel every explosion and punch. That is, as long as you're watching on a mobile device.

Welcome back to 1985.'Stranger Things' final trailer sets the stage for season three

Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max and the rest of our friends are, of course, back and taller than ever. Unfortunately, it appears that last season's quest to defeat The Mind Flayer by closing an interdimensional gate wasn't as successful as everyone hoped. Watch the Final Trailer for season three right here.

JPL might have the technology to make Martian rovers, but it's lacking in cybersecurity.A rogue Raspberry Pi helped hackers access NASA JPL systems

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) suffers from multiple cybersecurity weaknesses despite the advances it has achieved in space technology. A breach in 2018 came when a Raspberry Pi device was targeted by hackers. They were able to grab 500MB of data and gain access to several major missions, including NASA's network of spacecraft comms.

You're an augmented reality wizard, Harry.'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is available to play now

Ready to play not-Pokémon Go? Niantic's latest game has rolled out on Android and iOS for players in the US and the UK.

But wait, there's more...

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't Subscribe.

Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/21/the-morning-after/

2019-06-21 10:47:44Z
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Google Hardware quits the tablet business, again - Ars Technica

  • The new Google Pixel Slate.
    Valentina Palladino
  • New UI additions make the Slate and other Chrome OS tablets easier to use without physical keyboards.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The 8MP rear camera.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The back of the Slate holds onto fingerprints too much.
    Valentina Palladino
  • One of the two USB-C ports for charging and connecting peripherals.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The settings and notification menus.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The updated launcher with all installed apps, a search bar, and predictive app suggestions.
    Valentina Palladino
  • Google's keyboard case for the Pixel Slate, featuring round "hush" keys.
    Valentina Palladino
  • Surprisingly, the round keys aren't horrible to type on—but they don't have as much surface area as regular square keys.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The trackpad is decently sized and responsive to gestures.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The magnetic pins attach to the Slate to keep it in place in laptop mode.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The $99 Pixelbook Pen just got a new coat of paint.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The launcher homescreen for the tablet UI in Chrome OS.
    Valentina Palladino
  • Split Screen in Chrome OS makes multitasking easier—for the apps that support this feature.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The new floating keyboard makes typing while in tablet mode easier.
    Valentina Palladino
  • The expanded Google Assistant window lets you speak or type requests.
    Valentina Palladino
  • Some answers appear in the window itself, while others will open Chrome to show more info.
    Valentina Palladino

Google and tablets just don't mix. The company tried over and over again to make Android tablets work, peaking with the 2013 Nexus 7 and ending with the Pixel C in 2015.

After a three-year hiatus from the market, Google took a second swing at tablets with Chrome OS and the Pixel Slate. Four months later, we heard Google Hardware's laptop and tablet division was in trouble. Seven months later—in other words, right now—Google's Chrome OS tablets are dead.

Following a report from Computerworld claiming Google cancelled two tablets and was quitting the tablet business, Google Hardware SVP Rick Osterloh confirmed the news on Twitter:

Osterloh later clarified that only tablets would be canceled and that Google is "committed to our many other hardware categories."

The Pixel Slate was not well received for a number of reasons. First, the device was too expensive and too slow. The entry-level Intel Celeron-equipped model, priced at $599 (with 4GB of RAM) and $699 (with 8GB), was a complete disaster. It was so slow and so thoroughly panned in reviews that it was never made readily available by Google, and it was eventually cancelled altogether. That made the first readily-available Pixel Slate the $799 Intel Core M3 model, which was already the price of an iPad Pro but without the iPad Pro's high-end performance. From there, the Pixel Slate price rocketed up to $999 and $1599 for the faster, more iPad-competitive models.

The second big problem was Chrome OS, which, while it had been around on laptops forever, was just getting off the ground as a reworked tablet OS. It was not really ready for the Pixel Slate launch, with a buggy split-screen implementation, poor performance, and a weird UI that used a full-screen mode in tablet form but allowed normal window operation in laptop mode. There were a host of other quirks and issues, but the bottom line was that Google was charging a premium price for hardware and software that felt more "beta" than "premium."

The Computerworld report that triggered Osterloh's statement says Google cancelled two products, both lacking a keyboard and having a smaller body than the 12.3-inch Pixel Slate.

Osterloh promises Google is still focused on the software part of tablet support, even if it isn't investing in hardware. (Just ask Android tablet users how Google tablet support has worked out for them over the years, though.) Saying the team is "focused on building laptops" should mean a new Pixelbook is on the way—the last version released in 2017. That's potentially exciting news assuming you're still willing to invest in a Google product at this point.

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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/06/google-hardware-quits-the-tablet-business-again/

2019-06-21 10:45:00Z
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