Chrome OS 87 Could Be Missing Features, At The Very Least

Based on recent reports, the Chrome OS update to version 87 may be broken or, at the very least, missing some features. The update is scheduled to arrive on December 1. That leaves just a day for Google to address the problem or remove whatever new feature or functionality is causing it.

The problem appears to be input lag in third-party apps. Specifically, users who download and type Microsoft’s Office suite or who are typing into other third-party apps are sometimes seeing as much as a few seconds before their input appears on-screen. The issue doesn’t appear to show up immediately. Instead, it seems to make its presence known after an app has been open a while, leading to some potential end-user temporary fixes.

Of course, not every user is experiencing the issue. So this could be tied to specific motherboards or other hardware. Conversely, it may trace back to how that hardware is interacting with the code. But input lag in typing could become a serious problem. Especially since Google’s key areas of growth for Chrome OS have been Enterprise and EDU markets.

Any fixes already in place for Chrome OS 87, according to the experts?

Now, there already appear to be a few workarounds in place. At least, that’s according to Diamond product expert Jim Dantin.

Mr. Dantin has listed out the potential problems as being associated with low memory or storage, just for starters. So one potential workaround is to stop simply closing the lid on a Chromebook when users are done with it. Instead, users should perform a full reboot of their Chrome OS gadget nightly, the helper indicates.

End users should also turn off any experimental Flags settings they have enabled at the “chrome://flags” URL. To do that, users need to navigate to that page. All active flags will be automatically filtered to the top of the resulting UI. And those can be disabled by resetting them with the on-screen button or manually resetting them to “Default” in their corresponding drop-down menu.

Another potential area of resource management to fix slow apps deals with Chrome Extensions. Those should be turned off where possible.

Other solutions all center around resource management too. Users should ensure that they don’t fill up their internal storage. And they should keep the number of open tabs to a minimum. At least to whatever extent that’s possible, the expert says. And they should also ensure that the issue isn’t with their internet service provider by performing a speed test. That can be accomplished at Google by simply searching for “speed test” and then clicking the resulting button.

Why does that mean it might be broken or missing features?

All of that leaves Google with just a few possible solutions. It could find a fix or remove whatever new feature is causing problems toward the same goal. But the update, as noted above, is slated to go live on December 1. Google has also pushed the same issues across every channel from Canary through Beta and Dev. So it doesn’t seem likely a fix will be in place in time.

The most likely scenario appears to be that Google will simply push out the update to Chrome OS as normal. The features intended to arrive with the update should still work properly in that case. But potentially at the cost of performance in apps.