Those of you with Chromebooks, or even Chromeboxes, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a new version of Chrome OS rolling out. Yes, this one is for the stable channel and it’s now sitting at version 29.0.1547.57. It’s available for all Chromebooks except for the Lenovo Thinkpad X131e. It brings many improvements as expected.
There’s a new immersive mode, which hides some of the chrome around windows and provides nearly a full-screen experience. The app launcher also received some new tweaks. It now allows you to pin apps to the shelf from the launcher with a simple drag-and-drop. The app launcher search has also learned a few new tricks. It will dynamically learn what you search for most regularly, prominently highlight apps and offer web store results if you don’t have an app installed. Which sounds like a great update to the app launcher.
As always there are some behind-the-scenes improvements, like moving to kernel version 3.8, wallpaper sync across Chromebook devices, two finger history navigation and fixes for monitor scaling are all included in this update as well. These changes have all been available on the Dev and Beta channels of Chrome OS.
Here’s the full Changelog from the Google Chrome team:
Some highlights of these changes are:
- Kernel 3.8 landed on Pixel and Samsung 550.
- New “immersive” mode – hit the fullscreen button to hide the toolbar and shelf and until you hover at the top for a more immersive browsing experience.
- Pin apps to the shelf using Drag and Drop from the Launcher
- Default wallpaper selection will sync across all your devices
- Monitor Scaling allows you to scale the UI. Especially useful on Pixel to get some more space
- Two-finger history navigation
- App launcher Search just got cleverer
- It will dynamically learn what you search for
- Apps are more prominent
- It will search for you in the web store if you don’t have an app installed
Known Issues:
The link to redeem your Chrome Goodies in the Files app is temporarily broken and will be fixed with the next release. In the meantime, please go here directly.
This update should be hitting your Chromebook in the next few hours, so be sure yo download and install it. If you find any other changes, be sure to throw them in the comments down below.