Posted in: Mobile computers

Chrome OS R12 hits beta, brings improvements and fixes, should power first chromebooks

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Chrome OS R12, which should be the version the first “Chromebooks” ship with, has just entered the beta status of its development. The beta release brings security fixes, new features (including the improvements from Chrome browser v12) and bug fixes, including an Angry Birds related improvement which deserves a category of its own.

Here’s what improvements made their way into Chrome OS v12 beta:

The OS sports a new look and a file browser, new Flash player too, along with various optimizations (power, Gtalk), improved GSM/3G support and Verizon activation, Wi-Fi connectivity and an auto-update engine.

There are several bug fixes as well (you can look them over here) and a handful of security fixes.

From the Chrome 12 (the browser) update, Chrome OS 12 also gets hardware-accelerated 3D CSS, Safe Browsing protection against malicious files, launching apps from the Omnibox and a few others.

Taking into account the few weeks needed for beta testing, Chrome OS 12 should be ready just in time for the mid-June launch of the chromebooks. Okay, okay, Google doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to pushing its products beyond the beta stage, but lately they’ve been much more serious about it.

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