Googlebooks: promising but rough around the edges

The first five Googlebooks went on sale Sunday, October 4th, and The Verge has spent roughly 24 hours with review units of each model. Its early take: the ideas are clever, but the execution needs work.

Setup with an Android phone is slick

Pairing a Googlebook with an Android phone is simple and intuitive. The out-of-box experience prompts you to scan a QR code, sign into your Google account, and download apps from your phone. It mirrors what recent Chromebooks do, but The Verge says it feels natural.

Once set up, features like casting apps from your phone, migrating a task with a single click, accessing phone files, and getting notifications all work well. The Verge calls these smart ideas that let you keep focus on the laptop.

App casting works but feels rough

App casting lets you run phone apps directly on the Googlebook, launched from an app drawer rather than mirroring your entire phone screen. That's a good approach, but it creates duplicate app drawers. Nothing stops you from running a desktop version and a mobile version of the same app at the same time — even Chrome.

More annoying: clicking on synced notifications can open a casted app instead of the web or native version. The Verge reports that casted apps sometimes have pixelated text or oddly proportioned UI, and animations feel sluggish compared to native desktop apps.

Google's Continue On feature, which pins a phone app to the laptop taskbar, is neat in theory. The Verge found it works mostly with Google Docs and Sheets — apps like Maps and Calendar don't support it yet.

Glowbars are mostly a gimmick

The Googlebooks include a light strip on the lid called Glowbar. It stays white while you use the laptop, changes color when you talk to Gemini, and shows a rainbow briefly when the lid closes. Its most practical use is displaying the battery level: green, yellow, or red pulses when you plug or unplug.

The Verge was hoping for animated charge indicators or synchronized lights with the optional Lenovo AI Mouse. Instead, the mouse's Glowbar is just an RGB strip with no sync. The lights are begging for more customization, the publication notes.

App store ratings are helpful but limited

Google is flagging Play Store apps with desktop compatibility labels: Made for desktop, Optimized for desktop, Compatible with desktop, Better on the website, and Built for mobile. The Verge found few "Made for desktop" apps beyond Google's own and a couple like CapCut Pad and BandLab.

The "Optimized" and "Compatible" labels seem loose. Apple Music is listed as optimized but doesn't respond to right-clicks — only click-and-hold brings up a menu. Firefox is compatible but doesn't respond to keyboard shortcuts for tabs. The Verge notes Googlebooks work best with Chrome.

ChromeOS quirks remain

If you didn't know the Googlebooks were new, you'd think ChromeOS just got an update. The Verge says they feel very Chromebook-ish, which isn't bad for fuss-free web browsing, but it means old ChromeOS quirks are still there.

Chrome doesn't support separate Google accounts — multiple accounts can be signed in, but there's no wall between browsing data and settings. Desktop app folders and right-click menus don't overlay above windows, so they're often partially hidden.

Keyboard remapping is broken

A specific frustration: you cannot remap the Caps Lock key to Ctrl, even though that worked on ChromeOS. The Verge reports that no remappings for Ctrl, Caps Lock, Alt, or the Action key seem to work on the built-in keyboard. The setting is listed under "Physical keyboards" but only applies to external ones. One reviewer stayed up late trying to work around it, eventually giving up after bricking a keyboard with a custom app.

Verdict: Wait

The Verge sums it up: "When this thing works, it works well. When it works well, it's friggin' sick." But the OS still feels half-baked. It needs more polishing and developer buy-in. Google is in a chicken-and-egg cycle: it needs developers to improve the user experience, but developers may not jump on board until there are enough users. The Verge's advice is clear: these are early adopter devices, and the average buyer should wait.

• Android
• ChromeOS
• first impressions
• Google
• Googlebooks
• laptops