ChromeOS - On the road

I went on my first, out of country, trip with my ChromeOS netbook, over the weekend, and had a taste of how well ChomeOS does without Internet access. At home and on the road in my home country I'm always online, using WiFi or 3G, but outside Denmark using 3G is simply way to expensive, and I have to stick to WiFi whenever its available. First time without access was on the plane, but since I had not turned on offline mode for any of the Google apps, the netbook was simply unusable. I could have turned on offline mode in Google Docs and Google Calendar. Angry Birds should also work in offline mode. On the flight I could have watched a movie, but my tests earlier showed me that almost no video codec is supported, so any movie I would have liked to watch would have to be converted, even if I’m not 100% sure to what format. After connecting to a WiFi at my destination I activated offline mode on Google Docs and Calendar. I had some problems with Angry Birds, but I know that it works from earlier tests. In Google Docs you get the ability to view any document you have created earlier, but you cannot create a new document for later upload. It’s the same in Google Calendar. You can view all appointments, but not create new ones.

Being able to look up appointments and read though uploaded or earlier created documents is of course valuable, but the major reason for bringing a netbook on a trip is usually to create content of some kind. Google’s move to open up offline mode is a really good start, but for ChromeOS to take off they need to expand offline mode for their main apps. I’m not asking for the same usability as in online mode, I know that ChromeOS is a Cloud based system, but the ability to add content is essential. Writing a document, creating a spreadsheet, adding an appointment or replying to an email is actions you at a minimum would expect to be able to do even if you are not connected. Other things I would not mind seeing on ChromeOS in offline mode would include, reading up on Google+ and replying to posts, browsing pictures from Picasa and maybe even editing a little, watching cached videos from YouTube and planning my trip on Maps after downloading a map of my destination from home. There is lots more I would like to do, but these things are all things Google have the power to make come through, and I’m sure that there will be lots of other companies that will make their site available in offline mode for the Chrombooks out there also. On the media side Google have to include more video codec. I’m sure there will be improvements on this in the future, since playing videos is a very common thing to do on a netbook.

So have my offline experience turned me off ChromeOS? No I still use ChromeOS every day as my primary netbook OS. All the gains it gives me when connected outweigh the downsides of the current offline features. It does sober me up a bit on what is still needed for ChromeOS to be a true competitor to the super smartphones or the tablets out there. You do need a minimum of features even when your Cloud based OS is offline, and you need to be able to play movies, listen to music and view pictures in a easy to use interface and without having to do the converting game ahead of time.

Read my impressions of ChromeOS on a netbook here, http://chromebooknews.com/2011/06/19/chrome-os-on-aspire-one-a110-user-report/