A Google Assistant key could be coming to Chromebooks. It’s unclear when such a Chromebook would be released or how long it would be before more Chromebooks enter the marketplace that come with the same feature, but if one Chromebook comes with a Google Assistant key it’s likely that other models would launch with the key as well. At the moment it’s not clear what the official name of the Chromebook model is that would be getting the dedicated button for Google’s digital voice assistant but it appears that the feature will be present on the device codenamed Eve.
In addition to a dedicated Google Assistant key, or a keyboard shortcut that activates the service, Eve may also be coming to market with a fingerprint sensor that would allow uses an alternate method of unlocking their Chromebook instead of having to type in a PIN or password, though this was a possible feature that was rumored at the end of last year. Inclusion of a fingerprint sensor would certainly make waking up and unlocking the device a little simpler for some, but it could hardly get any easier than if the Chromebook were allowed to wake up just by hearing the user’s voice, and details about Eve suggest that it may actually include this capability for users to wake the Chromebook by speaking to it.
These are just the most recent feature details to have popped up, as Eve is also reportedly likely to include a double tap functionality that will initiate some sort of task while the Chromebook is closed up. There isn’t enough information yet to pinpoint exactly what that function would be but it would be an interesting feature implementation. It’s noted that the double tap function was something that Google used on the Chromebook Pixel to bring up the lightbar for showing remaining battery power, but Even is reported to not have a lightbar, so the double tap would be used some other sort of functionality. Other suspected functions coming to Even include improved trackpad technology, perhaps allowing for more precise and accurate use of the trackpad, and Eve should come with one of Intel’s new Kaby Lake CPUs inside. While all of these features paired together would make for what would likely be a high-quality Chromebook, Google Assistant would easily be one of the more useful, though it’s not clear what all Google Assistant on the Chromebook would be able to do and if it would allow for the same types of functions that can be used on Google Home and Google’s Pixel devices.