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This is the year of Chromebooks”. You might have heard this many times. I am not making any such claims here. However, January is just getting over and we have already seen many highly positive things for Chromebooks and Chrome OS in general.

All Future Chromebooks Will Have Google Play Store

Google updated the official Chromium OS documentation with the following statement:

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All Chromebooks launching in 2017 and after as well as the Chromebooks listed below will work with Android apps at a time to be announced in the future*:

*The feature may not be available right ‘out of the box.’ That experience will depend on when the Chromebook launches and when Android Apps on Chrome OS is out of Beta. We don’t have an update right now on timing but stay tuned.

This was expected, but we now have the official word. Google’s attitude towards Chromebooks has changed considerably after adding Play Store support. There is a renewed confidence.

Chrome OS Tablets

Google’s Rajen Sheth, director of product for Android and Chrome for education and enterprise said this in a conference call:

The Chromebook is going from being just a laptop to something that is a lot more versatile and dynamic … such that OEMs can produce many great devices.

We have put a lot of investment into the touch UI and making touch a great experience on the Chromebook. You’re going to continue to see that happen. And what that’s going to do is it’s going to open up the possibilities for OEMs to have an even wider variety of form factors.

You may expect everything from detachable to tablets based on Chrome OS down the line.

I can see Kevin Tofel doing a victory dance.

All Future Chromebooks Will Have USB Type C Charging

From Google’s blog post announcing the new Education Chromebooks:

We heard from educators that multiple chargers and slow charging wastes precious time for students. Going forward, all Chromebooks will have standard super-fast USB-C charging, so one Chromebook cart can charge any device quickly.

That is a big promise too. You could say that it was bound to happen, but then, it takes some work to make all those OEMs build Chromebooks the way Google wants them to.

Adobe Apps Optimized For Chromebooks

From the same blog post: