Chrome OS gets Phone Hub and more features in version 89

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Chrome OS, Google has added several new features to the laptop OS. There is now a Phone Hub for limited operation of the phone, more extensive quick settings and a more extensive clipboard.

Google detailed the changes in a blog post. The features are coming out for the latest version, numbered 89. According to 9to5Google, the features are actually coming to the OS “over the next few days.” Delays caused the first Chome OS laptops to hit stores on June 15, 2011, suggesting that Chrome OS’s birthday is just over three months away, not this month. Originally, the initial release of Chrome OS hardware should have happened in 2010.

The Phone Hub is able to read several things from an Android smartphone that is logged in to the same account and to perform a few actions on it. The remaining battery charge and the range on the mobile network can be read. In addition, there are buttons for turning on a Wi-Fi hotspot, silencing the phone and making a sound to find it. Finally, recent Chrome tabs are also visible in the Phone Hub; one can also open them directly on the Chromebook.

The Chromebook should now be able to retrieve a list of trusted Wi-Fi networks from the user’s Google account, eliminating the need to re-enter those credentials. In addition, quick settings gets options for taking screenshots of the entire screen, a window or a self-defined field. There will also be more extensive media control buttons to quick settings. The improved clipboard now remembers the last five items placed on it.

Finally, with the new update, Chromebooks will also remember their desks; those are the additional desktops that Windows 10 also uses, for example. The new quick answers function gives a pop-up when certain text is selected with, for example, definitions, translations and conversions to other units.