Hands on: New Chrome OS review

A bold new vision but a familiar feel

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New Chrome OS
Chrome OS - the next generation

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Chrome OS is a huge step in the right direction for Google. The changes to the user interface are sweeping and critical to its chances of being a success and have been implemented well.

The file system remains fiddly and different enough from its competitors to make it a little confusing at first, and offline functionality and the closed App environment remain problematic.

Latest Chromebooks - a key new arrival?

But, in one fell swoop, Chrome OS has become a good deal more acceptable to the mass market and a giant leap towards becoming an acceptable second machine.

The offline Google Docs access and the Google Drive integration are critical updates for Chrome OS, but if we take Google at its word then it is a matter of weeks before this is rolled out.

Remote desktop

Chrome OS has been hit with some fierce criticism in its short lifetime – some merited and some mean – but this incarnation answers several of its most difficult questions acceptably, if not perfectly.

You can't help but feel this is the state that Chrome OS should have launched in rather than where it is a year on, but if it improves as much in the next 12 months we may well have a viable new computing system coming to our lives.

Unless it's swallowed by Android before then, of course.

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Patrick Goss
Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.

What is a hands on review?

Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.