Google's new Android-powered laptops, Googlebooks, are a bet that Android can carry the company into the PC market. A Verge review by Dominic Preston, based on a week with Asus and HP models, finds the platform is genuinely useful in places but too unreliable to recommend broadly. The reviewer says Android deserves credit if Googlebooks succeed, and blame if they fail — and that success currently looks less likely than failure.
Phone integration is the biggest problem. Setup is quick and Android-native, but maintaining a connection to a phone is flaky: pairing required toggling settings, restarts, and sometimes failed entirely. Moving to a new Wi-Fi network broke the link, and the feature requires same-network and Bluetooth. The review noted one Googlebook connected reliably to an Oppo phone but ignored others, and Google's own Pixel 11 Pro Fold was not recognized for days.
On the app side, native Android apps are a mixed bag. Some, like offline downloads from HBO Max or Netflix, are genuinely better than browser versions. But many apps are not desktop-optimized: Slack's mobile version is unworkable on a laptop, Adobe's Android apps are limited, and even Google's Chrome lacks profile switching, split view, and custom search engine shortcuts. The Play Store also does not offer the entire library as promised; Bluesky and Okta would not install on either model.
Because this is a single reviewer's hands-on account, there are no differing sources to compare. Still, the specific complaints about connectivity, app quality, and missing Play Store titles suggest Google has significant work ahead before Android laptops can compete as a mainstream business product.