Chromebook Splitscreen For Android Feature Arrives In Canary

Chromebooks will soon offer a splitscreen function for Android apps, and that ability has recently been demonstrated in a video. The splitscreen support has arrived in Chrome OS Canary and will make the Android app experience better on Chromebook, particularly models with a detachable display that offers more tablet-like interaction.

The demonstration comes from Chrome Unboxed, which first reported a splitscreen feature in tablet mode back in August 2017. The feature has popped up here and there, but now we get an actual look at it in action via the video below.

The Chrome OS splitscreen feature appears to only be intended for tablet mode, meaning it'll be available to detachable and tablet Chromebook devices. Anyone who has one of these units should be able to check out the feature themselves via the Canary channel; you can't access the splitscreen in the stable channel, however.

The feature is intuitive. Users open a pair of Android apps, then hit the multi-view button. After that, each app is dragged to one side of the display, which fills half the screen with it. Both apps can be used at the same time; the user is able to readjust the app's size, for example reducing a chat app to only a small column while the other app gets the rest of the screen.

It's a welcomed addition that'll boost the user experience once it arrives for everyone. When that will happen, though, isn't clear.

SOURCE: Chrome Unboxed