While a majority of users use either of a Windows PC or a Mac, there’s one more popular OS. No, its not Linux but is based on the Linux kernel. Yes, we are talking about the Chrome OS. Google came up with this great OS for computer systems a while ago. The OS is getting so popular that it has got a whole different series of laptops by its name called Chromebooks. Chrome OS is a minimal yet feature-packed OS for PCs. As the name suggests, the OS does follow the design aesthetics of Google and comes with all the Google apps. Not as much popular as Android but Chrome OS is just as amazing as it can get.
Of course, you don’t get as many features as a Mac or a Windows PC but you still have a bunch of features that an average user would ever require. In case you don’t know, there are thee different versions of the OS namely the Stable, Beta, and the Dev Channels. They are exactly what the names say, Dev Channel brings all the new features and updates beforehand.
Latest 84.0.4148.0 Update for Chrome OS Dev Channel:
We know that the Dev Channel gets all the new features and updates ahead than the other channels. So, there’s this new update hitting Chromebooks running the Chrome OS Dev Channel. The latest update arrives with the version number 84.0.4148.0. The last version before this was 84.0.4142.0. While the naming might make it seem like a just slight upgrade, you got to believe me when I tell you that that’s just not the case this time. The latest update is indeed a major update and brings home some new features along with some changes, bug fixes, and improvements. Well yes, it does come with some bugs as well.
The update does come with a huge number of features and changes for sure. To begin with, we have got a lot of features and changes from the previous versions. The files app is revamped, PWAs have got some changes now. We also get to see some noticeable UI tweaks and other enhancements as well. We have got quite a few bugs as well. The list is pretty long though. These are all those features that are known as of now after checking and analyzing the latest update. Here is the complete list of Changelog with all the changes that are currently known.
Chrome OS Dev Channel 84.0.4148.0 Changelog
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Chrome OS will now block notifications on displays with a fullscreen window. Previously with multiple displays in Chrome OS, if anyone of them was fullscreen, then notifications were not shown on any displays. This update will block notifications on the display with the fullscreen window but will show notifications on the other display.
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Fixed App drawer icon glitch that causes a black square to show momentarily when dragging app icons into place.
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Mic gain slider padding updated.
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Show password “eye” icon disabled by default for managed users.
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Fixed a bug where a running app’s icon can fail to load on the Shelf.
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Shelf app icons will now scale down in tablet mode when there is no more room left on the Shelf. Requires chrome://flags/#shelf-app-scaling to be enabled.
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The chrome://flags/#textfield-focus-on-tap-up experiment is now functional. Text fields, including the Omnibox, will focus after the user taps and lifts their finger up from the tap.
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New Managed icon “badge” next to the avatar in the lock/login screen.
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Fixed a bug that caused the cursor and tooltips to be mispositioned when starting fullscreen.
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Big Alt + Tab performance optimizations with multiple windows.
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Fixed a crash when switching users.
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Added a new nickname management flag that allows users to set nicknames for their credit cards on autofill. Try this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#autofill-enable-card-nickname-management.
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User-Agent Client Hints and the Client Hints Feature Policy infrastructure are enabled by default. This aims to provide developers with the ability to perform agent-based content negotiation when necessary while avoiding the historical baggage and passive fingerprinting surface exposed by the venerable “User-Agent” header.
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New flag to enable the new Canvas 2D API. This is an attempt to address developer frustration by modernizing the old Canvas 2D API. Try this feature by enabling chrome://flags/#new-canvas-2d-api.
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New flag to remove all main thread scroll handling code and gestures handling in Blink and use the compositor in all cases. Should not impact performance. Try this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#scroll-unification.
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Initial implementation of the new Virtual Keyboard API. Previously, developers had control over the displayed shape of the Virtual Keyboard through the input mode attribute, but have limited control over when the keyboard is shown or hidden. This API will broaden this control. Developers cannot use this API yet.
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Dark mode styling for Audio and Video Media Controls. Not visible for Chrome OS users yet as there is no dark mode toggle.
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Remove ‘secure’ from
CookieStore
Modification API. -
outline-width
&outline-offset
will support decimal pixel values.
Likely more stuff. Due to time constraints with school, I won’t be able to list all of them here. Please check the full diff log below.
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Bluetooth suspends notifier flag enabled by default. This feature allows you to wake up your Chromebook with a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard. Flag removed.
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chrome://bluetooth-internals will now show the BlueZ Bluetooth stack version.
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Fixed regression that caused a tab to shrink after adding to a group when only one tab is present.
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Added the Conversion measurement API in chrome://conversion-internals behind a feature flag. This is useful for advertisers who want to measure ad conversions (e.g. purchases) and attribute them to clicked ads without using cross-site persistent identifiers like third-party cookies, which boosts privacy. Try this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#conversion-measurement-api.
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A new set of flags that predicts the next likely navigation using a set of heuristics and pre connects to the user’s default search engine. This is likely used to speed up web searches. To try out these features, enable chrome://flags/#enable-preconnect-to-search and chrome://flags/#enable-navigation-predictor
Chrome OS Settings
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Chrome OS Settings SWA will be disabled in kiosk mode.
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Tweaked search input size in narrow mode.
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Changed the behavior of shelf navigation toggle in accessibility settings. Previously, the toggle to enable shelf navigation (back arrow + app drawer bubble, overview mode bubble) will be hidden on clamshell only devices. Due to inconsistent behavior, the developers changed it to show this setting when the Chromebook enters tablet mode and ChromeVox or Automatic clicks are enabled.
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When attaching a Chromebook to an external monitor, enabling chrome://flags/#list-all-display-modes will split the resolution and refresh rate into two dropdowns.
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Ctrl + F will now activate the fuzzy search bar. Requires chrome://flags/#new-os-settings-search to enable fuzzy search.
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Pint jobs can now be accessed. Requires chrome://flags/#print-job-management-app to be enabled.
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Fixed a weird visual bug with the “Open with” dialog that causes the crostini icon to be centered without text.
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New “Open with” and “More Actions” rounded corner design with Material theme checkmarks.
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New “Save as” design with extra padding and new Material theme footer (like “New folder” button, rename area).
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Format dialog has new rounded corners and extra padding.
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Fix banner text overlap issue when reducing window size.
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New toggle to enable or disable browser-sync.
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New notice that tells users that the SWA is the new Help app.
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Added Mozc input logic flag for Japanese input. Try this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#enable-cros-ime-input-logic-mozc.
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New gray Chrome icon with hourglass when the lacros-chrome component is downloading. Shows gray Chrome icon with “x” if component download fails.
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Lacros-chrome is not working yet. Chrome OS is not actually downloading the component despite showing a gray Chrome icon with an hourglass.
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The terminal system app settings have moved from the terminal header bar to the Shelf.
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Crostini disk resizing disabled in this release due to issues (will show “Disk calculating…”. When it gets re-enabled in the next release, the disk resizing dialog will close on success.
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Changed behavior of Neural net palm detection. When enabling chrome://flags/#enable-neural-stylus-palm-rejection, the Neural net Palm detection will be turned on for Chromebooks with internal touchscreens (does not work on Wacom Intuos). Enabling the flag also disables palm tool type and palm max flags. Palm rejection adjustments made for hatch and reef.
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A new flag that allows tabbed PWAs to open a new tab when clicking a link. Previous behavior just opened a new window. Try this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-tab-strip-link-capturing.
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Added tabbed window option to PWA install confirmation UI.
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A new flag that allows you to use Quick Answers on the annotated text. This feature is not working yet. The functional code will appear in the next build. Test this feature out by enabling chrome://flags/#enable-quick-answers-text-annotator.
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Now checks if your Chromebook is up to date.
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Bluetooth battery indicator – enabling this experiment will break Bluetooth.
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Safetynet – CTS profile match fails. This means certain apps like Netflix or Pokemon Go will not work.
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Chrome custom tab window – opening a link in an Android app opens a Chrome custom tab window. Closing this window will crash Chrome OS.
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Live caption – technically not broken, just unfinished. There aren’t any new functional changes from the previous Dev channel build, so placing it here.
Update your Chromebook now!
The latest update brings a lot of features. While many of them are good, some of them are not major changes over the previous versions like the live captions feature. There are not many bugs but only a few not-so-major ones. If you are someone always eager to check out new features and get your hands on the latest stuff beforehand, go ahead and update to the latest version. The changelog is pretty long. It’s not just any other minor update.
If you want to check out what’s new in the latest update, what are you waiting for? See for yourselves what fascinates you the most from this latest update.
Stay tuned for further updates on the latest Chrome OS updates and more such related content. Also, share this article with all those people who have been waiting for these new features.