Pixelated - A Convergence of ChromeOS Questions

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Welcome to episode 71 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. Damien and Will dive deep into the world of ChromeOS, reacting to the news out of Snapdragon Summit that Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon has seen Google's Android for PCs replacement and that it's, in his own words, "incredible." What should we expect out of Google's latest laptop venture? Could this be enough to get us to switch from Windows or MacOS? Our thoughts on all of those questions, plus a quick peek at the early unveiling of the OnePlus 15. Subscribe YouTube Podcasts Pocket Casts Spotify Apple Podcasts Overcast Timecodes 00:00 - Intro and Android for PCs 18:08 - What convinces people to switch? 31:44 - Does this mean more hardware to come? 39:46 - OnePlus 15 early announcement Hosts Abner Li Damien Wilde Will Sattelberg Read more Hands-on: Chromebooks are in a weird place, and Acer’s latest is a perfect example Google confirms ChromeOS and Android are being merged into ‘a single platform’ Google specifies how it will be the ‘ChromeOS experience on top of Android’ The OnePlus 15 gets early reveal, with new image engine and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Listen to more 9to5 Podcasts The Sideload 9to5Mac Happy Hour Electrek Space Explored Feedback? Drop us a line at [e-mail], leave a comment on the post, or reach out to our producer.

Welcome to Pixelated episode 71. I'm your host, Will Saddleberg. This week, Damien and I dive deep into the world of ChromeOS, hot off the news out of Snapdragon Summit that Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amman has seen Google's Android for PC's replacement, and that it's apparently incredible. What exactly should we expect out of Google's latest laptop venture? That question, plus many, many more, is exactly what Damien and I are about to ask ourselves. So Google's Android for PC, it seems as though it's probably going to happen.

We've talked at length about all kinds of versions of Android, but hey, Will, I want to know what you think about Android and PC. Do you think it works? I'm kind of on the fence about this one. Well, so I'm really confused about this, right? So we should set the stage. So this week is Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit where they go to Maui every year. It's a little earlier than usual this year and they, you know, unveil their new SOCs for the next 12 months, right? Maybe sometimes longer in the case of the Snapdragon X series, right? Because we're just getting Gen 2 of that. But, but yeah, so this week we got, you know, the Snapdragon Elite, Gen 5, which is Qualcomm's naming scheme continues to find new ways to be convoluted.

It's so, it's honestly impressive at this point. I thought they would have run out by now, but Nope, every generation they figure it out. And then the Snapdragon X2 Elite series or XElet. See, this is when I screwed up. This is exactly what the problem is. Yeah, this is the problem. X2, right? I wrote the post for this.

You'd think I'd remember. It is X2, X2 Elite series for PCs that's coming next year. But in addition to all of this, right? Like oftentimes, Quoncom will have parts. partners on stage. Rick Osterlo was no stranger to this. He was on stage this week during the opening keynote with Qualcomm with Cristiano Amon. And basically, they briefly mentioned Android for PC, which is the long-awaited, long-rumored merger between Android and Chrome. Do you think long-awaited? I feel like... I don't know. I feel like we're just done with it now. We just can't just do it.

Like, yeah, we've been, this has been teased potentially for so long. There's been, inklings of it. But for them to, for, for Rick to be there, Cristiano to be there at the same time talking about this openly is kind of, yeah, it's kind of like a, oh, finally, we've, there is no need to, we don't need any more cloak and dagger with this. We can just kind of get on with it. I'm a little, I've been a little frustrated because of the cloak and dagger, because I think that if you're going to completely, you know, I, I expect.

Chrome OS to like exist, like, not exist, but, but that there will be a, you know, transitional period where those older devices are now support whatever this new, like, Android-based experience looks and feels like. I don't, I don't think that like the Chromebook you bought a year ago is going to just stop working or stop being supported or anything. But at the same time, it's like, okay, but I do think those customers, especially when Chrome OS is so focused on education and enterprise, like, should this shouldn't be a, ooh, we're going to, ooh, we're going to, ooh, secret reveal, like, come in, come in as soon as possible. Like, I think this should be a thing that is like in the open that they just talk about,

that they, this shouldn't be like a secret surprise. This should just be like, hey, we're doing this. Like, here are the early stages of it. We're going to be as transparent as possible. Like, I don't know, Damien, do you disagree? No, I agree. I just, I never thought of it from the enterprise until you just mentioned it, which is weird. I was just thinking from regular consumer because Chromebooks are huge in education.

So I don't know. When we're, I'm going to write my brain now. I'm going to try and work the time of my brain without looking it up. I think that was it 2018, 2019 when Android apps were first pushed for Chrome OS or I could be completely wrong. And I apologize if I am. That feels right. Yeah.

It's been around for the better part of a decade. Yeah. Yeah, because I feel like when that was the first steps of putting Android apps to run on ChromeOS, it made sense to do that because there's obviously a common, I mean, guess not common language, but Google obviously have this huge storefront that potentially education can access. And I guess if you're a kid at school, you're going to love that because you can be able to put all your games on it, subway servers, whatever it is. I'm definitely showing my age there. It could be Temple Run too. So, like, you can run them on a Chromebook. But I just wonder what happens now when they make this transition for, I mean, are they going to keep ChromeOS around for Enterprise? Yeah. Like, logically, you think, yes? Like, ChromeOS has to be its own thing. Maybe they just spin it off and it's like a bit like Windows and they have that Enterprise

editions. Yeah. We'll continue supporting Windows 10. Yeah. I don't, I don't know. Like, I really, this is why I think Google needs to be open about this because I think, I genuinely think that just keeping people in the dark about it. And look, I don't expect every, like, IT.

department around the world that supports, you know, Chromebooks for their hundreds, if not thousands of students, you know, in each school district to like be following ChromeOS development, right? Like, I don't think that they're, you know, not everybody is even aware this transition is going to happen. All the more reason to be open about it. Yeah, because you're too doing the admin, right? You two are like, oh, Karen's broke her Chromebook or Windows 11 PC. I need to go fix that.

You're not worried about what's going on with ChromeOS, right? Well, yeah, no, I can completely understand that. It's frustrating because it's like this really won't matter to like say, you know, my fiance's mother who has a, we got a Chromebook a couple of years ago for Christmas. And like, I don't think she really cares if it's running Chrome or Android. She uses it to browse the web. That's pretty much it. But it will matter to all of these other like enterprise and education users. And I don't know.

I'm a little frustrated by it. Real quick, let's break down what Austerlowe said because there are some hints in here on, on, on, on, what this is. If we're going to, you know, we've gotten out of the way that we wish we didn't have to read into the hints. That said, let's read into the hints. So, so Osterlo said, and I've, you know, credit to the verge for reporting on this easily. But in the past, we've, we've always had different systems between what we're building on PCs and what we're building on smartphones. So we've embarked on a project to combine that. We are building together a common technical foundation for our products on PCs and desktop computing systems. The verge then says he went on

to confirm that Google's plans involve bringing Gemini and the full Android AI stack, along with, quote, all of our applications and developer community into the PC ecosystem. I think this is another way in which Android is going to be able to serve everyone in every computing category, to which Cristiano Amman said, I've seen it, it's incredible, it delivers on the vision of convergence of mobile and PC. I can't wait to have one, which is kind of a crazy, like, it's weird, right? Because when I'm listening to Osterlo, and he's like, we are building a couple of common technical foundation. I'm like, okay, this sounds more like behind the scenes changes than

anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's still going to look like ChromeOS. And then he comes in and he's like, it's incredible. It's the future of computing. It's the convergence of mobile and PC. And I'm like, okay, wait, is this like a complete, is this a technical like back end overhaul, which is what it sounds like? Yeah. Or is it like this entirely new thing that anybody with a Chromebook, whether they're a student or just a regular user is going to have to like relearn how to use the laptop that they already own? Like I don't know. I'm really confused about it. Am I misreading the like quote here? You know, you're definitely not misreading. My interpretation is, is obviously there's a bit of a background to this that obviously Google and it is Samsung

that are working together to build this desktop mode within Android OS basically taking decks effectively because that's the de facto version of this. I don't think there's anybody else out there apart from, and you might not even be old to remember this is a show in my age. Ubuntu, Ubuntu, Ubuntu. They put this out there on a Kickstarter, probably canonical did this, I want to say 2011, 2013. And then Mozilla had one because they had a seabird,

I think it's called the Seabird concept phone. Back in the day, that was the idea. It was like, oh, we're going to, Linux is the future of this particular form. factor. It's going to be a phone, phone laptop, PC, plug it into a screen. Like, conceptually, I think it's fantastic. It's been around for a long time. But if Google and Samsung are the only company who are actually actively doing this, right? So for Cristiano to come in and say, I've seen it, like, what is he saying, like, obviously we're going to have to infer something from that. What has he seen? Has he seen this early prototype? But like you say, Rick has then

laid out the full gamut of what they're trying to do. And he's just coming like, yeah, I've seen it. It's the best thing I've ever seen. Like, what? What are you doing that for? You've just put a lot of pressure on something from a, from the chipmaker side. Yeah, sure, they're holding up their end of the bargain. I do think quark on chips are like, what, they're getting very, very close to Apple levels of performance as an off the shelf component. But, yeah, I do wonder, I do wonder if that has put a little bit of extra pressure on this from the Google side and the Samsung side. But what's it going to look like? Is it going to look like plugging in? Is it going to look like an actual laptop? Are we going to get a pixel tablet running

mouse and keyboard potentially? I don't know. I think we can't deviate too much from the laptop paradigm, surely, because that's what everybody knows. How often, I don't know. Do you have any friends out there? Like, I, only one of my friends who's technically inclined would plug their phone into a screen and potentially use it, use decks. And I know because they have an S-25, I don't turn to tell me all the time. It's, that's the thing that, like,

confuses me, right? Maybe we could take a bigger step back and try to ask what we even want out of, like, an Android for PC experience. But,

like, I don't know, like, a lot, like, my friends who have, like, a monitor at a desk that they could

theoretically plug their phone into, there's a computer plugged into that monitor already. That's why they have the monitor, right? They, like, I don't know who is just sitting

around, being like, I have this monitor. I wish I could plug something into it and use it. I have this monitor and this keyboard and this mouse right here and I just don't have a computer at all. I just have my smartphone. And so like the Android desktop

experience has always been like indexed, right, has always seemed niche. It seems like something that in my opinion works better on a tablet, right? Where you already have a big screen that you can just boot this into and now it's like a different UI. It's not like you have to have these

accessories in front of you, right, to, to, to, to use it. And, and so I guess that's the idea behind, like, oh, well, we'll build this for the real sickos who want to plug their phone in, but also we'll have, we'll have Android for P, and like that desktop UI will become, I guess, what, what, um, whatever the Chrome OS is about to evolve into, I, I guess. But again, like, to what end, right? So, so Google's success, uh, is, um, what, um, it's, um, um, um, it's, um, um, um, is, um, in this field has, you know, and I keep saying, and I feel like I'm repeating myself, but has come from enterprise and, and education markets, bargemon speaking, right? Like, especially over the last, like, five to 10 years, yeah, exactly.

Like, Chromebooks had a big phase early on. I had one in college, but I feel like in the last, you know, since 2018, 2019, and certainly through the 2020s, I think they've kind of been, and we've seen this, right? Like, like progress on Chrome OS has slowed. I don't think it's like evolving like a like a live ecosystem or platform anymore. I think like the hardware refreshes have been much slower and and and you know, they've done stuff like Chromebook Plus. Like they're clearly trying to keep it alive, but but it's I don't know to what end.

And so like I guess the big question here is and maybe I'll ask you Damien because I've been talking for a while and I can think about what I want my answer to be. But what do you want from Android for PC? Like, whatever this new, whatever ChromeOS is about to evolve into, like, what would make you switch to this that you're not already satisfied from Windows or Mac? Yeah, I mean, you mentioned Windows and it actually put, it throws another spanner in the works, is that I think every single year of my adult life, everyone has said this is the year of the Linux desktop.

Yeah, exactly. And I recently switched my gaming PC to Fedora, which is technically Bazite, which is a gaming OS, which if I hadn't have ever used a Steam deck I probably would have never even considered Linux for game. So I think there's a lot of things at play here and I do wonder if Google have looked wider at the space because obviously with potentially Valve releasing SteamOS there is a third, there is an actual competitor to Windows now.

Android and Windows are they must be the two biggest operating platforms. Definitely. Most widely used anyway, most widely used and recognized. And I do wonder if this is Google getting ahead of that a little bit. And I know, I know, no, no, that's really, really a broad view of the entire thing. So for me, in terms of switching, I don't think I would ever switch to Android for potentially a gaming PC. Yeah.

Maybe there's some productivity elements there. But you mentioned MacOS. I use MacOS. I'm using it right now. That's what I use for, like, productivity. I, the big question is, where does Chrome, I've tried ChromeWess and sure you've, tried ChromeOS and sometimes it's like you come away feeling like, that's really fresh, that's really really nice. But, and there's always that, yeah, but something at the end of

the conversation when we talk about ChromeOS. With Android as a mobile operating system, you don't have that. So I do wonder if Google is trying to tap into a little bit of mindshare from people that with Android you don't have as many compromises. Does that make sense? Like, for instance, for instance, we had a situation a few years ago where Apple was leading in terms of like creative applications. But we've kind of seen a bit of a resurgence on Android in the last few years. Like you don't necessarily get the worst experience on Instagram. You don't necessarily get the worst experience on Snapchat anymore. Like Google is tying these companies in because of the, I mean, I'm guessing it's a financial muscle that Google has to do so. How are they going to do that

from a desktop paradigm if they're going to make something that is purely desktop based or this crossover thing that we're, that is decks? Like does, does having Google, really strongly pushing the traditional PC laptop paradigm benefit mobile or does having a big mobile platform benefit PC slash desktop? Like I, yeah, for me, for form factor, it's got to be a two in one tablet. Yeah. Beyond that, do you genuinely see yourself moving away from audition, from, no. Adobe Premier Pro from After Effects because we've had, what, 15, 20 years of using them, it's very, very difficult for me to say, hey, I'm going to throw the baby out with the bathwater

and I'm going to start using LumaFusion, and that's no disrespect to LumaFusion, but it's just not going to cut it, unless Google has a Gemini ace up its sleeve, in which case, maybe I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I don't want to put my eggs in one basket wheel.

I'm kind of like, I could see myself using it, is the way I would answer a question, but it would have to be, I genuinely think Pixel Book go. Just make the pixel book go or Pixel Book. again, that form factor will probably work the best.

I don't, yeah, because it fits a portion of the market that Google now don't have a, I guess, a high-end product in. Pixel tablets, what, three years old, nearly? I think that's the only way that Google can make their first party, right? Yeah. But I don't know. Could you genuinely see yourself saying, okay, give me the,

I guess it would be an ISO? I don't know what it would be. Here's the ISO for Android for PC, dual boot Windows and Android. Are you going to do it? I don't know. I want to ask you. Google would need to take this seriously to a degree that I don't think they can.

Because I think what they're going to do is they see having different code bases, right? Different platforms for Android and ChromeOS as a waste of resources, which is fair, I think. Yeah, that makes a lot sense. It makes a lot of sense.

It makes a ton of sense to basically move ChromeOS over to like the Android stack. I think I think that makes sense on paper, right? It's when you start being like, and it's going to like completely, and I know this is not Google saying it, but it's like when you have people on stage with Google people being like, it's amazing. It's the convergence of mobile and PC, right? That's when I start to be like, wait, well, hold on a minute.

Like what is this decision? Because if it's just, if it's what I think it is, right, which is like a fresh code of paint based on the Android desktop experience they've been building with Samsung, running on the Android stack, and it's got like better Android app support, right? Full native Android app support, as opposed to emulating it like ChromeOS does. Then I don't, like, what is, like, why am I switching? I already didn't want to switch to that when it was just ChromeOS. Like, I don't know what the benefit is here.

They would need to- Do you know, I think that, I'm going to jump in and ask you this question. is I think you've made the most salient point there is how do you convince people that this is the way that to go? Because ChromeOS has taken off. ChromeOS is a success, right? Chromebook as a line is a success.

Android as its own platform is a success in various guises. Like, it doesn't matter what format is. How are you going to convince people that this is, yeah, okay, now your ChromeOS hardware is Android hardware. Like, do they care? Like you say, do people care and do people need, people haven't made the switch in droves so far?

Because everyone will be running a Dex. I mean, I'm sure there are very big hardcore Dex fans out there. And I'm sure somebody listening is screaming at their phone, their speaker, whatever it is, and you say, you're an idiot. Dex is amazing. And I, to an extent I agree. Yeah. It's nice, but I'm not going to give up my Mac OS or Linux or Windows. Right.

Right. We're talking about, I think this really comes down to apps, right? Like Google can do whatever they want. with this platform and whatever they decide is right for both their own internal resources and for the consumer, for the end consumer, whether it be, you know, someone through enterprise or just you're walking into Best Buy. But I think it's very apparent from the last five-ish years of ChromeOS. Android apps are not enough on their own to get people to switch. Like that already existed. So if the idea of this operating system is, well, they run better than before and maybe more

of them are supported and it feels more native and it's better in sync with the Android phone in your pocket. That's all well and good. I don't think it's enough. I think Google needs to be serious on the OS part of this to the point where it's like we've worked with Adobe. Like Premiere is coming. We are photo shot straight up Photoshop is here. Premiere is coming. You know, Lightroom is coming and so on and so forth. We've worked with here are seven game developers we've worked with. We were working with Ubisoft to bring Assassin's Creed shadows. I'm just picking the most the most obvious thing

could possibly make. We had stadia. We had stadium. We had it all. We threw it away. Right. Exactly. It's like they would need to be like this is like, this is like we've taken what you liked about ChromeOS and made it like a real viable third party, not

third party, but like third option platform. Right. Like, and I don't think they're going to do that. That's not what that's not what any of the language they've used around this change describes. So I don't, I don't, and I know some people may say, like, well, I don't want that. I want the simplification of Chrome OS and like, I don't need it to be everything. But I would say one, like, I think the market has spoken that that's not what they want.

I think people want a MacBook, even if, even if 99% of the time, they're just using Chrome or Safari or whatever, but they're just browsing the web. Like, I think people want the flexibility of a full operating system. I think that's just kind of like baked into the idea of a laptop. And also like like if if so, I just, I don't know, like the more basic, if you want a more basic experience, you can go buy a very large display like Android tablet right now or an iPad. So I just, I feel like they've got these like, you know, if you want a good Chromebook right now, you're paying $6, $700 for an experience that is so much more tied back than what.

what you can get on a MacBook air that are routinely on sale for $800. Around that price. Yeah, around that price. And it becomes, and that's without even looking at like the Windows on arm side of the market. Like, it becomes difficult to see where ChromeOS or this new Android version of it, like, fits into that market unless they're going to be full serious on like, this is a real operating system that we think you can replace Windows or Mac with regardless of, uh, you're workflow and it will sink in now and look it's the final piece of the ecosystem that we've been

wanting to build forever and I don't think that's what this is like I don't get that from Rick and I don't get it from the from Cristano Amman's comments like I think this is more of a rebirth of CromoS which is fine but I don't think is going to be like a you know I think it's always going to kind of be on like the Linux scale of success not not the Windows or Mac scale of success. I get the impression, and this is stupid because I'm extrapolating from his sentence, is that I wonder if he's, I wonder if they've shown him like a bit of a phone hub and basically everything is tied. And I wonder if that is it. Because when he says convergence of mobile and PC, like what the hell does that mean? To me, when we look at it from

the, let's look at it from the iOS side, it just means everything that you do on your phone is effectively can be bridged because it's that bridge, isn't it? And I think that's one thing that Chrome OS has tried to do, and I'm going to be honest, it maybe hasn't succeeded the way it should have done. Correct, yeah. Like, they've added some cool stuff, and it is great,

but I do one, and obviously Google's trying to do that with Windows now as well, because they understand, I wonder if that's like the first trappings of that. Like, hey, we're going to do this, but better. Like, you like the, you like the applications

and the nearby share and all that stuff for Windows? Well, imagine that on steroids. Like, I wonder if that's what they're trying to do. But I guess, I guess it's, the preemptions, will be in the pudding, right? I think how are they going to convince people to do that this is the right way to go about it?

I don't think it's, personally, I don't think it's going to be decks, specifically. I don't think it's going to be a phone that you plug into a display that becomes your operating system. I don't think normal people want that. Like, I really don't. I kind of wish they did, and I've wrote about this. I genuinely wrote about it last year around the release of the Snapchat and 8 Elite that this is possible. And I love the idea of it. But I also, I don't know if the, like, if I'm being perfectly honest, like, just because I want it, does it mean that like a normal person wants it?

Like, I'm the sicko. I'm the gadget sicko in that way where I'm like, yeah, just pile everything into one device and I can pop it between. But, you know, again, you need that software support, which I think is what all of this comes back to. Yeah, but this is, let's talk about some positives then, if this does happen. This will happen, obviously. Yeah. In the, we haven't, we don't have a time frame, which is, she's kind of a good and bad thing. I think Google should be out there talking about

when it's happening. Like you should be up like this is, you're not just dealing with like an Android update. Like I feel like you should be communicating with your enterprise customers, but you know, neither can be there. I wonder how they'll temper that. I do wonder how they'll temper that for people

because obviously like, I mean, I still personally think Gemini is going to become its own platform. So I do wonder what's going to happen with that. I think they could spin it all off and have Gemini. It's just called Gemini now. Everything is Gemini.

which kind of feels like what's happening right now. But like if they want to make this platform that is as cohesive as I assume that they want to be like iOS and Mac. They're saying they want to serve everyone in every computing category. So they want this to be for everybody. Yeah, I think that might be a bit broad. I think sometimes stretching yourself too thin can like this feels a little bit like the most recent I think is Stadia.

I think the idea that they would have this gaming platform, which in my experience was the best cloud gaming platform I've ever experienced. It was way better than G-Force now. It was as seamless as it could possibly be. They've then gone on to ditch Stadia. Now they want to make a platform that's potentially going to serve gamers. You literally had an option there that would have worked for, now that we're reaching a point where 5G is viable for most of the,

people and the chipsets and the modems in these are good enough to potentially power that. Yeah. Like, it feels like they've had some fumbles to get to this point where like, oh, Hail Mary Pass. Like, let's just go for this now. It feels a bit, or am I reading into that too drastically? Am I thinking of this negatively? Because I do think this is probably going to be a good thing. I do think deep down it's going to be a good thing.

I'm an Android person first and foremost, so seeing new form factors is cool. But then now I think about, I'm thinking more broadly, how the hell does this tie into Android XR? Well. So how the hell are they going to tie all this stuff together? So we have Android XR, which is potentially going to go on glasses. Then we're going to have this unified platform. Does mobile now include VR and AR? That's a great question.

So you're going to have this huge massive head set which is going to be, yeah, no, this is completely siloed away. What? Well, and that's how, I mean, that's kind of how Apple treats the Vision Pro a little bit, right? Does the Vision Pro feel like a part of the Apple ecosystem? I would argue not like tangentially, but like not even I would, I would say to a lesser degree than even like the Apple TV. Like I, I, I, it feels very like at arm's reach. And I expect, you know, especially if, if Project Mujan has priced anything like the Vision Pro, I would expect,

you know, Android XR to start very similarly. Um, yeah, I don't. I mean, I mean, really, and I've, I've brought this up a couple times, I think on the, on the show, but I think this really comes back to, that a lot of this is just Google wanting Gemini everywhere. And so the difference between Google just partnering with Microsoft more and more on syncing Android with Windows is that Microsoft has their own AI elements, right? They have copilot. Very true. Right. They want, they want, you know, they have their partnership with OpenAI and Chen GPT.

And Google is not going to be able to to really edge their way in there. They can get Gemini on Windows through Chrome, but they can't get it natively on there. And so I wonder if that this is, this is maybe not. Maybe we are so overthinking this and this is not a revolution in computing. We've overcooked this, right? What are you talking about 30 minutes into this podcast? Absolutely not. It's not about a revolution in computing.

It's not about a delivering, let me think the exact quote, delivering on the vision of convergence of mobile and PC. It's about Gemini, right? which I think is like really, when you're ever confused on what Google's doing these days, you can typically just answer Gemini and it makes sense. It makes enough sense that you're like, okay, yeah, I see it. So like, I wonder if this is just kind of, I don't know why you need to rebuild ChromeOS for this other than like simplifying resources behind the scenes.

But like, is this just a play to be like, we have this exciting new operating system, new with an asterisk next to it? And it's got Gemini natively everywhere scattered through it. And that's our, that's our ploy for desktop and for tablets. And on mobile, we've got Gemini. And on XR, we've got Gemini. And like, I wonder if that is a big part of it. It's not so much you and I being like, but where are our Adobe apps?

It's, where's our, where's our steam support? It's, um, which is going away from Chrome OS. It's, it's, um, you have a chatbot with this key. You can hit this key and you have a chat bot. Maybe. I don't know. It seems weird. It does seem weird.

The whole thing seems quite weird when you conceptualise it a little bit or you kind of compartmentalize it because they use quorum chips in pixel watch, so that's the only current piece of hardware that uses quarkom chip. So why would they be on stage talking about this, about a platform?

I guess, is he doing it on behalf of Samsung maybe? Is Rick saying that, okay, because the only company that can potentially roll this out quickly at any scale is Samsung, because they have decks ready, Google's working with them on that, And I think that's because Google have recognized, hmm, these guys have been doing this for the better part of a decade.

We might want to tap into their expertise. They have some experiences, good, bad, indifferent. Maybe we can kind of steal some, not I say steal, we can kind of work together on something. And Samsung still technically uses Quarkon chips on all of their high-end devices. Yeah. But they have a tablet running media tech.

There's a whole chipset kind of mess, mess going on here. But that's why I find it all the weirder. They would come on stage and talk about this and talk about, obviously, Cristiano said, he can't wait to have one of whatever it is, whatever this form factor is. I think he's talking about a tablet. Personally, I just think, delving deep into it and getting really silly, I think he's talking about a tablet. And I would not be surprised if Google were like, well, we can't power this by a tensor chip.

Like, there's not enough power there. We're going to go with a Qualcomm chip. Or even the elite series, the ex-elite series, right? Like I yeah, is it Chromebook or even X, it's X2. Yeah, X2 Elite Extreme and X2 Elite. See, now I remember it. But, but, but yeah, I wonder if it's, if it's more of a partnership on, on the, on the tablet and computing side of things. Because I don't think, you know, I would not want to run a, I would not want to use a tensor powered laptop.

Even not. Maybe not now. Yeah. I just don't think like that that, that is a chip that is, is really focused on what it does well. but I don't think once you start throwing, once you start throwing desktop class applications at it. No, no. There's obviously zero chance to handle it.

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I'm sorry, I posed more questions there than answers. No. I think, well, isn't that the whole thing, though? Isn't it like, that's the whole frustration about this entire transition is that it's like a billion questions up to including why? And like how and why?

And for what? I think most, most Android fans are going to. they're going to fall into two camps. Why? And the other people are going to be very, very excited about this. Because it just means potentially more Google hardware, and we don't. Do we get enough? I know that's a silly thing to say when we're on the precipice of potentially two more pieces

of hardware coming out and some earbuds in the next three weeks. Like that was silly for me to say out loud. I'm sorry. No, but I think Google should make more hardware personally. Like I've stated on this show that I've frustrated that they just kind of, they did a one and done thing with the pixel tablet, which I thought. was a genuinely good idea. I think they should be making laptops.

Like I think this is what keeps their ecosystem from being, I think I've straight up said this, that like I think with like a good laptop like like Google could have like an Apple, like level ecosystem like that could be the closest competitor to Apple in terms of like ecosystem, uh, cohesion. And they just like every three years, they're like, we're going to throw something, some crazy new idea.

at the wall. Yeah. And it doesn't, it just like, it doesn't work. It's always like a six out of ten experience. And it doesn't sell. And they go,

ah, we tried, like, see you again in 2028 or something. And it's, it's really frustrating. Because I think if they just, like,

stopped trying to, like, be everything for everybody and just sat down and figured out what they wanted their vision of a desktop experience to be, which I don't know if they have

because they won't share it. You know, we're six, no, not six, five months into this. Yeah. Technically they kind of have, though, right? I think, in my mind, I think they have with that desktop mode that's still in preview on Android Q16, QPR. I think I feel like that is the first kind of, hey, if you want to test this out, this is potentially what it's going to be like.

And if I'm being completely honest, it's not bad. I think it's fine. Like, it's not as good as Dex. Let's be completely honest. and I think Dex is a bit more ubiquitous and it can work in many, many places and on that actually, I've used Dex in a car,

I had an adapter and that was very, very dangerous and that shouldn't be allowed, but that was kind of cool to show you that it's flexibility. It can work on a car dashboard. Like that is insane. But I do wonder if obviously this is going to be more aimed at, I guess,

I just think laptop tablets is the only way Google can spin this. They can't have, imagine if Google was like, yeah, Do you want to put this on your gaming laptop or gaming PC? I think the gaming community would laugh them out of, just out of existence almost.

They've already tried with Stadier, and I think the gaming public, which at large can be quite aggressive and quite dismissive. And I say that as a gamer, who has been dismissive and aggressive multiple times in online shooters. I think that, I think, yeah, just trying to catch all is a bit silly.

I think this should be more either aimed at, I guess the iPad crowd, the kind of people, the anti-Ipad crowd, I think there's a lot of us who don't want an iPad. I have one, but I don't use it. I bought the 20, I think, 20-21. It doesn't fit into my, I guess, workflow. Right.

In terms of an entertainment device, I think Android tablets, for me, are personally better. I just wonder how they sell it like that. It needs to be kind of its own little microcosm of Android rather than say, hey, you had a ChromeOS laptop, now go for this. Right. Which is where it feels like it's building to. And I really hope not because I don't think that's a strong enough argument to convince anybody to any non-Google enthusiast,

any non-Android enthusiast to really give it a shot, you know, beyond if they really like their Chromebook, but their Chromebook is seven years old and they need a new one. But like that's, then they're already in the ecosystem. So it doesn't really count. You know, I don't know. I guess I just wish, I guess I just wish Google would come out and be like, okay, so like Chrome OS is combining with Android

and like we've shown you our desktop experience. But really here are the three, you know, pillars we're trying to target with this. It makes so much nicer. Just something so I can, I can have some, I can share the vision that they see, even if they're not showing final screenshots or previews or anything. There's no beta build, whatever. If they were even just like, this is why we're doing this, like, it's, it's, sure, it's to simplify resources, but also it's because of this, this and this. And like, we see the, the future of computing, you know, on large screens, like tablets

and desktops and laptops as this. And without that context, that's how you get us talking for 37 minutes being a little confused about what Google's trying to do here. And I think, as well, we're looking. at this from a mobile-centric approach, which I guess is bound to be the case when you talk about this on stage. I chip set unveiling for mostly everybody's there

for the, wants to see the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is a mobile chip. Yeah. But yeah, let's mull over that one. Let's kind of percolate on that. I think this is going to evolve over the next few months and potentially years. I think this could be years before this comes to fruition.

But while I've been a bit dismissive, I am excited about this. I think having something new is always good to talk about. Yeah. We haven't had Android XR, I guess, properly available yet until we get Mujan, which I hope is by the end of the year. But again, it felt like an early announcement and not much talked about it. So this is kind of one of those things where Google has, Rick has been on stage and talked about it.

Cristiano has kind of not helped him out a bit with his comments, but they now need to kind of put their foot to the gas, right, and really start making some waves. because otherwise we're going to constantly asking the question, where is Android on desktop? Because it feels like we've been talking about that for four or five years at this point. I know. I can't believe that this is only a thing that I genuinely was like,

what, yeah, they confirmed this 18 months ago, right? It's like, no, they confirmed this May July. It wasn't that long ago. But, you know, yeah, I want to, I just had a vision of the future and maybe we can leave it here. But I just realized we talked so much about like, you know, how, current operating systems are built primarily for like productivity and for gaming and like

that is neither of those things you know not counting docs or something like neither of those things is something that cremose really uh excels at yeah and and i just had a vision that google's going to get up on stage when they decide to unveil you know this this revamped android for for pc experience that is going to come to to all of these form factors we've been talking about and they're going to be like, and don't worry, you know, creatives out there, video producers and image editors, we've got you covered. And then they're going to spend 20 minutes talking about how you can move your workflow over to their AI editing tools. Oh, God. I just saw, I saw the vision. Oh, that was so, they're not, it's not going to be partnerships with Adobe and

all of these. It's going to be, like, remember the AI video editor we've been, we've been building out? Well, it's, it's flow. It's flow. Thank you. It's here. It's here for you to use. Move away from Premiere. Come, come use our AI editor. I just,

I just had this vision. And I was like, oh, that's what it is. Their bet is, you know, AI is the future of desktops and we're going to make,

we're going to use Android to do it. And like, maybe they're right, but, but, you know, that's not a thing that I think is going to get you

either of us with our current work and close to switch. Yeah. Not a shot. You're going to take, these productives you have some of my cold dead hands, I think. Oh my God. I feel ridiculous that it took me 40 minutes to even have this thought pop into my brain, but there it is. And I, oh, I can feel

it. Let me, I want to talk about one more thing before we, before we shoot off, because alongside all this, for us, the Android new potential form factor is great, but there was one big OEM. I say big. One Plus big. They just unveiled, effectively unveiled the One Plus 15. It's had an early reveal. Like, I am genuinely, genuinely, excited. I think One Plus have been doing incredible things the past few years. And I've

right, I feel like I've rightfully glazed them. They've turned a corner. They're making good hardware. They're making really performance devices. Like, the image that we saw was an esports competition. Yeah. And then they've also, I believe, at a Qualcomm China event, they showed it off on stage, like really early this morning as well.

Yeah. I mean, this, I mean, we probably won't get it in the West until early next year, maybe hopefully, I think it was January last year that we... Yeah, it was this year, isn't it? Yes, last year. Yeah. Like that...

But this is early. Yeah, this is potentially going to be one of the first devices out with this new Colcom Snapregant 8 Elite 5, 5 Elite 8. It's so bad. It's changing naming systems. It's terrible.

You know, and I wouldn't, But that's an 889. But when they, oh, Damien, I don't know if you remember this, but when they, when they,

when they announce the snapdragut 8, like, gen 1, like the whole thing with that was like, they put out a whole blog post about how they were simplifying their naming structure. And don't worry, you don't have to remember all these numbers anymore.

It's just going to be eight, the eight series, the seven series, the six series. And then, like, within two years, we had like seven S gen three and eight,

eight minus gen seven. And it's like, I don't. I truly. cannot remember. Yeah, I don't learn in algebra. Some of these chips are the same chip, just rebranded.

It's so frustrating. Anyway, anyway, snapdraggin 8 Elite Gen 5 is the name of it. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm very, very excited by this. I thought the 1 plus 13 is still... It's great. It's such a good device.

I think it's a great phone. I am nervous about the lack of Hasselblad processing, because I think that's gotten really good in the last couple generations. Oh, exceptional. the open was when I really fell in love with it. I've really liked it ever since.

So, you know, fingers crossed that their new imaging engine is as good as they are, as they are promoting it to be. But, but, but yeah, I will say it looks like it's like a flat screen there or like perhaps like close to a flat screen based on the, the couple of images we've seen. And I'm really excited for that because, you know, the, the one plus 13 was basically flat, but not, but it was like just a little curved. And I was like, guys, just go to flat. It's fine.

You don't need to do this. Like, it is just more comfortable to hold the phone with flat, with a flat display. It's more comfortable to type on. Like, that's just, it's curved screens were a good idea for when bezels were thicker, but they're not anymore. Let's move on. I think this just from, this just looks like if you took half of the pixel 9 pro fold or the pixel 10, the upcoming pixel 10 pro fold, and that was, and then they slapped a one plus badge on it. Yeah. The camera array looks almost the exact same, but kind of slightly adjusted.

But I think, yeah, this, so this is technically the first potential device. I think Xiaomi might try and beat One Plus to the punch. They often do. Yeah. With their, I don't know what, I don't know what version it is, but we'll have a Xiaomi Ultra of some kind, something like that. I think it's 17. I think we're on 17. I imagine this next crop of devices powered by this chip will start slowly being announced

and everyone will try and fall over themselves to say, we have the first device with this, But hey, I feel like we hit a performance point with the Gen 3, the Snapdragon, Gen 3, 8 Gen 3, which was so, we hit an inflection point there where these devices are so damn powerful that you can do anything you want, even with, say, the S-23 Ultra. Like, the S-23 Ultra is fantastic. So anyone out there who's looking to upgrade, I would say, hang on, definitely hang on. I think the 1 plus 15 is definitely going to be a candidate, and it will probably come to North America as well.

but yeah, these next wave of, these next few months, we're going to start to see some devices come out. And yeah, it's all, Qualcomm all the way down, right? Yeah, we're not new for a tensor phone until spring? Spring, probably.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The A series moves around so much that I don't want to confidently be like, March, no, May, no, July, I don't know. So, yeah, it's, it is an exciting time after we've had a huge rush of pixel to see other hardware because we can focus

on something slightly different, but there is some more pixel in the coming weeks. I know, I keep forgetting that the fold is like not even out.

No, yeah. Because it's so similar. It's like one of those things we're like, I don't, I think I know what the phone is. Exactly.

Exactly. But yeah, we will be delving into all of the machinations of those in the coming weeks. I just want to say, Will, thanks for joining me today.

It's been a deep dive into why we love and hate from OS an equal measure and why we love and hate Android in equal measure. I want it to be good so bad. Like I want to, I don't like Windows. I just use it because it's the platform I use.

It's not like I, it's where the apps are. I would, I would switch away in a second if I could replicate the same workflow. But that's really what it is. So you're not first in line for an Android desktop. I'm first in line once they have all the apps I need. I think that sums it up. I don't want to say, yeah, thanks for you out there listening.

And we'll be back, as always, on Pixelator next week. Thanks, well. Thank you, Damien. I was going to say bye, that I was like, that's so rude. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated, a 9 to 5 Google podcast. If you enjoyed the show, we ask that you rate and review it on the podcast platform of your choice and help spread the word by sharing the show with friends or on social media.