Our first five impressions of Googlebooks — exciting but underbaked
The first Googlebooks laptops have launched, offering deep integration with Android phones for tasks like app casting and file access. While the integration features are praised as intuitive, the hardware experience is described as 'janky' and underbaked.
Why it matters
The success of Googlebooks could redefine the ecosystem between mobile and desktop computing, though early reviews suggest significant software and hardware hurdles.
Googlebooks are here. The first models went on sale Sunday, October 4th, and we received review units of all five Googlebooks about 24 hours ago. Since then, we’ve been in a mad dash to put the devices through their paces and get a check on what it’s like to use these Android laptops.
At first glance, Googlebooks feel very Chromebook-ish, and at times a little janky. But Google has some great new ideas afoot on how a laptop and phone interact. You can already link your phone to a Windows laptop to sync your notifications and mirror your whole iPhone on macOS. But Googlebooks allow you to take actions on your phone from your laptop in a way that feels natural. When it works, of course.
Here are all the things we’re learning, feeling, and thinking about so far with Googlebooks. The good, the bad, and the weird.
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