Google has been showing off mockups of tablets running the upcoming Chrome Operating System for ages, but the folks at CNET spotted a number of changes in the source code for the web browser-based operating system that show some real work is being done to optimize Chrome OS to run on tablets. Google continues to insist that the first Chrome OS devices scheduled to hit the streets this summer will be notebooks, but tablets might not be that far behind.

We recently saw a revised new tab page which is designed for touch controls. CNET reports there’s also a virtual keyboard in the works, support for screen rotation, support for touch-optimized web sites, and a new user agent string for touchscreens.

It’s still not entirely clear why Google is working on Chrome OS when the company already has a hit on its hands with the Android operating system for phones and tablets.

After all, Chrome OS is basically a web browser which runs web-based apps, and there’s no reason you couldn’t run that web browser just as easily from an Android environment (or Windows, Linux, or OS X) as from Chrome OS. And like Chrome OS, Android loads quickly, supports instant on/off and always connected capabilities, and stores much of your data online so it can be accessed from any device. The difference is that Android also supports native apps that run when you’re offline, making the OS much more versatile.

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One reply on “More signs of a Google Chrome OS tablet build show up in the source code”

  1. I think everyone knows even Google that in a year or two the two OSes will merge together in a single OS.

    I guesting through Chrome OS is Google trojan horse to force developers to produce web apps that are just as pretty and just functional as the Android native apps. or in other word web pages that just as fast and just functional as native apps but scannable by google bots.

    Once this is achieve then Google can start to merge the two together.
    This Google way to try and destroy Apple wall garden ipads and Ipods and iphones environments.

    After all why would developers and companies want two develope multiple apps to run on all the different mobile OSes out there.

    Chrome OS is essential for Google to pull this off because they know companies and developers will not embrace this change us there is a platform that is big enough to force this change on them.

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