As some of ya’ll know, Google has been lovely enough to let me beta-test the CR-48, thanks to my brother. The CR-48 has been with me for about two weeks now and we’ve grown very close. I mean, who wouldn’t form a deep bond after being together daily for fourteen days? Exactly.
First off, what is the CR-48? Basically, it’s a netbook. It’s internet browsing only, at the moment. It’s a rough draft for a Google netbook. It runs on Chrome OS, which pretty much means the only thing on it is Chrome. And, surprisingly, there’s little I’m missing. It seems like there’s a lot you’d need to do on your computer that involves many programs but, for casual browsing/basic college student living, the CR-48 is quite good.
I use the CR-48 in class all the time. Because my school uses wi-fi, I just log on and use Google Documents for notes. Prior to the CR-48, I never used Google Docs. I was a Word girl all the way. Now, however, I’ve realized I really prefer using it. It means I can access my notes from any computer and, even better, it means I can easily share my notes with my friends. In fact, a few of us who use our computers in class every week are considering making a group Google Doc so we can share and compare. Study Group 2011.
Another thing I’d like to reiterate is that we are fashion students. We aren’t computer science or engineering or medicine or accounting majors. I go to a school devoted to the study of fashion. So not only do we care about the process of studying, we care about how it looks. And I must say, the CR-48 looks pretty slick. Even though Google keeps saying that the CR-48 is a rough draft version, the keyboard is pretty much the same as a Mac’s. Instead of the apple key, you just have two large ctrl and alt keys. Another keyboard difference is the new search key. No more CAPs lock key, even though you can enable it. But you probably won’t ever enable it because having a search key is extremely convenient. No more ctrl + t to open a tab. Now, just one click and a new tab is open and waiting for you.
The CR-48′s mouse also is pretty much lifted from a Mac. It’s the newer one, without mousepad buttons. Two weeks ago, the mouse lagged and I felt like I had to use both hands to highlight things. With the recent update, the mouse is better but still far from ideal. From my experience, it seems as though there isn’t any left-click options. You also can’t scroll right or left. You have to use the arrow keys.
One update I’m definitely hoping for is the addition of ctrl + up arrow to jump to the top of a page. Pressing the up arrow gets really tedious on blogs with hundreds of comments. I’d also love the addition of the other ctrl + arrow tools, like going to the end or beginning of a line.
The top row of keys on the keyboard has a few new-to-me keys too. From left to right we have:
- Escape
- Backward arrow to take you back to your previous browsing page
- Forward arrow to take you to the page you were on before you hit back
- Refresh key
- Expand key to hide tabs and make the website you’re currently on fullscreen
- A key to shift Chrome windows if you’ve opened another separate Chrome browser
- Darken the screen key
- Brighten the screen key
- Volume lower
- Volume higher
- Off button
The entire “off” system on the CR-48 is awesome. It takes about five seconds to turn the CR-48 completely off because, amazingly, everything is saved online, meaning that the entire hardware shutdown is super fast. And turning it on is just as easy. You open it with your gmail account and it provides a special “Guest” account where the browsing data and cookies are never saved. Press the off button once and you log out. Press it again and the CR-48 turns off.
The battery life is also something to boast about with the CR-48. It currently is at 74% and is telling me that I have 4 hours and 38 minutes left. My screen is fully lit and I have five tabs open, with one constantly refreshing.
There’s also a video camera, letting you call people through gmail. And if you start a conversation in gtalk, the conversation follows you through all the open tabs so you don’t have to keep clicking back. The video camera is good, although the speakers need improvement.
Finally, the shell of the CR-48. Google gives you stickers to decorate it but I’ve been boring and only put a heart in the corner of the screen. I do wish the CR-48 had some sort of outer markings to denote it as a Google product because I’ve had a bunch of people ask if this is a Mac. It’s generated a lot of interest at my school, especially since I keep whipping it out during class to take notes on. Obviously I know Google will somehow incorporate a logo eventually but I think that having something on the CR-48 would have been beneficial. It’s really cool how many people have been interested in the CR-48 and I definitely think there’s a market for this kind of product. Right now, I use it alongside my Mac. I tend to use Netflix in Firefox on my Mac (only because Chrome has yet to support Netflix–let’s get on that please, Google!) and go over my notes on the CR-48. I also use it for casual web browsing while lying in bed, which I’m doing right now. I have to admit that I’m pretty much enamored with my CR-48. It’s so light and it slips into my bag really easily. I can take good notes and share them easily. There’s a slot to place memory cards and I can charge my phone (a blackberry) through it. It’s easy to use and extremely convenient. While there are definite faults and missing tools, I’m sure each update will continue to improve the CR-48.
