Chrome OS 68 brings Material Design update, PIN sign-in and more

With Chrome 68 out and the 69 beta already available, we’re right on time for the next Chrome OS update.

Chrome OS 68 is rolling out now with a number of new features, including support for PIN sign-ins, camera improvements and a new Material Design UI.

While camera improvements are always welcome, these are more of a holdover until Google Camera comes to Chrome OS. Material Design, however, is very interesting.

I installed Chrome OS Dev on this Chromebox I’m reviewing, and the new quick settings menu is ?? pic.twitter.com/kUwWdCHuDH

— Corbin Davenport (@corbindavenport) August 6, 2018

Corbin Davenport, a writer for Android Police, tweeted out a snapshot of the new quick settings menu. The Material Design look is pretty sharp.

Furthermore, Davenport tweeted that the Chromebox he’s reviewing supports Linux apps. Supporting Linux apps is certainly a leap forward for Chrome OS. However, support for booting into Windows would be nice too.

For a full list of changes, check below.

Chrome OS 68 Changelog

• 802.11r Fast BSS Transition Support
• Ability to use Select to Speak with touch/stylus only
• Admin policy to enable/disable client-side native printing
• Enabling/disabling ChromeVox through the side volume keys (tablets/convertibles)
• High resolution image support in camera app
• Introduction of Display Size settings
• Material 2.0 dialogs and secondary UI on ChromeOS
• Overview visual refresh and motion spec improvements
• PIN sign-in support
• Select-to-Speak ability to select specific text to be read aloud by highlighting the text, then pressing Search + s. This works in addition to the original behavior of pressing Search and clicking an item or dragging a box around content to be read aloud.
• Support Child account as first sign-in
• Two new shortcuts to toggle the magnifiers on/off

Source: Chrome Releases Via: Android Police