I have a chromebook (Acer), an Android "laptop" (Asus Transformer), and an Android phone (Nexus 4).
The ChromeOS device is definitely more restricted than the Android devices. If I was buying now, I would buy an Android laptop (e.g. the HP SlateBook 10 x2) as my expensive Transformer only lasted about 2 years.
These days I can do most things I need on Android. I use Linux on my desktops at home and work for doing the more grunty development projects. There are a few interesting tools for developing on an Android device (compilers, web servers), but very few on ChromeOS without requiring cloud access. Overall, Android seems to be the richer environment for me.
If all you want is a browser, a music player, video player, and web email, then ChromeOS would be OK. I even have the Kindle Cloud app on my ChromeOS laptop, so it is not too bad. A lightweight personal entertainment machine. But Android has all that and more.
Android doesn't feel like you are spending all your time in a web browser, while ChromeOS tends to feel like every app is a browser page.
19 Jun 2014, 9:34 pm
