Google Fuchsia OS demo surfaces online

Android and Chrome OS are both well-known operating systems that have been in Google's portfolio of products for quite a few years already. In May 2017, a bunch of screenshots showing Google's upcoming Fuchsia OS surfaced online, as well as a few non-official hands-on videos. Back then, this piece of code was loaded on tablets and smartphones, but now a fresh video demo shows it running on a Pixelbook.

Last year's Fuchsia OS was in a quite sketchy state, but now it looks like we're getting closer to the real thing. Sadly, there are still a lot of things to be done. The web browser is not able to load full pages yet, the music app is not functional, but Fuchsia OS can be explored in three modes: smartphone, tablet, and laptop. The main highlight of the latest build is the multitasking UI that features quite a few split-screen modes, but the Quick Settings shade is also a noticeable improvement over the placeholder that surfaced last spring.

This operating system features a Vulkan-based graphics stack, so the list of compatible devices that are not tablets or smartphones is quite small. Next to the recently added Google Pixelbook, this list contains only two other pieces of hardware: the Intel NUC PCs from 2015 and the Acer Switch Alpha 12.

Considering the progress of this project, we will probably see an official preview in May, at Google I/O 2018. Until then, there is a lot of time left for rumors and leaks, so you'd better get ready for the next round.