Fuchsia

Yesterday, on our Alphabet Scoop podcast, our Stephen Hall dropped a mini bombshell that a Fuchsia tablet is rumored to be in the works. We dug in a bit deeper and found that the truth may be more complicated than that.
Early this year, it was discovered that the first Chrome OS tablet with Qi wireless charging was being developed under the codename “Flapjack.” Fast forward to today, it appears Chrome OS won’t be the only operating system this device supports, as Google’s Fuchsia OS team is also looking to support the “Flapjack” tablet.
Over the past two years, we’ve closely followed the development of Google’s Fuchsia OS and the various hardware products it supports. Thus far, these products have almost all been Made by Google devices like the Pixelbook and Nest Hub, used simply as testbeds for Fuchsia on various form factors. But if Fuchsia is to ever succeed, Google will need to partner with other companies on developing their own Fuchsia-based hardware and software projects.
This week in Fuchsia Friday, we take a look at the various Google partners that have looked into Fuchsia OS, including familiar names like Samsung and Sony.
Late last year, we uncovered evidence that Huawei was working with Google’s Fuchsia, even working to bring the OS to their own Honor Play gaming phone. Over two months after the company was hit with sanctions preventing them from working with US tech, the Chinese giant is apparently still interested in working with Fuchsia.
In the past few months, especially during Google I/O, we’ve learned a great deal about Google’s Fuchsia OS and the types of devices it’s currently expected to run on. While Hiroshi Lockheimer urged fans to consider the possibility that Fuchsia may not necessarily be for smartphones, new evidence has come to light indicating that the Fuchsia team is working to support the Snapdragon 835 processor, found in phones like the Google Pixel 2.
As was repeatedly made plain to see during this year’s Google I/O, developers are eager to learn more about Google’s Fuchsia OS. Today, those appetites are beginning to be satisfied thanks to the quiet launch of the official Fuchsia OS developer website, Fuchsia.dev.
With all the hype around the Pixel 4 this week, we thought it might be good to look at some of the other things Google might have in the Made by Google hardware pipeline. A new hardware prototype, codenamed “Visalia,” has popped up in the Fuchsia OS source code, which could be yet another Google Home device.
Following along with the development of Google’s Fuchsia OS, it has become clear that it will be capable of running both Linux and Android apps. Chrome OS can also do both of these things, and that’s no coincidence, as the Fuchsia team has opted to use some of Chrome OS’s developments for their own benefit.
Earlier this year, Google launched the .dev top-level domain and simultaneously created a variety of new .dev websites, including a new website for Flutter. It seems Google’s Fuchsia team is planning to launch their own Fuchsia.dev website, hinting at the operating system potentially getting some more developer exposure soon.
At a fireside chat on the last day of I/O 2019, Hiroshi Lockheimer talked about Fuchsia publicly in a high-level manner for the first time. It comes as Google quietly acknowledged the operating earlier this week at the developer conference. The Google SVP of Android, Chrome/OS, and Play described it as one of Google’s experiments around new concepts for operating systems.
At Google I/O, some were looking forward to the potential for Google to announce Fuchsia as their next operating system for devices of all kinds. That admittedly outlandish dream has now been dashed, but not completely. Despite not being featured on the main stage, Google has publicly acknowledged Fuchsia OS in the middle of a Google I/O announcement.
For the past 5 months, we’ve been watching as Google slowly brought support for their Fuchsia OS to the Android Emulator, which would make the OS accessible to developers who don’t have Pixelbooks. A pair of indie developers have managed to piece together some of Google’s work-in-progress efforts to demonstrate Fuchsia running directly in the Android Emulator.
We’ve all been watching and waiting eagerly for the official launch of Fuchsia, Google’s in-development OS for anything and everything, but the company has barely even acknowledged its existence thus far. Despite this lack of publicity, Fuchsia has marched on toward its latest milestone—the first “release candidate.”
Thanks to the near universal nature of web technology, JavaScript has become an almost equally universal programming language. With this in mind, Google is continuing to appeal to JavaScript developers by bringing proper Node.js support to their upcoming Fuchsia OS.
Google has been hard at work bringing Fuchsia to a wide variety of devices ranging from IoT devices like the Google Home Hub to more traditional computers like the Pixelbook. According to a new code change, the next devices to get the Fuchsia “tap” will be the newly released Chromebooks built with AMD processors, like the HP Chromebook 14 and Acer Chromebook 315.
Our avid readers know that we follow Fuchsia, Google’s in-development operating system, closely here at NewGeekGuide, for both its software and the various device prototypes that Google adds support for. This week on Fuchsia Friday, more details have come to light about Fuchsia’s “Sherlock” prototype, which strongly associate it with the Google Home Hub and suggest a Home Hub “Max” could be in the works.
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We learned in 2016 that Google was working on an entirely new operating system called Fuchsia. Development continues with new features and testing on a variety of form factors spotted regularly. Google has since hired 14-year Apple engineer Bill Stevenson to work on its upcoming OS, and help bring it to market.
Over the past few years, we’ve closely watched Fuchsia, Google’s forthcoming OS for devices of all kinds, develop and pick up all sorts of devices and prototypes, including the Google Home Hub and the Pixelbook. In that time, we’ve wondered when we would see support arrive for a Google Pixel series phone. Today may be that day, as Fuchsia is picking up support for “Crosshatch” aka the Google Pixel 3 XL, via an indie developer.
With CES 2019 now in the rear-view, we’re reflecting on the innovations that were on display, including new ways to interact with the Google Assistant. One of these, the Lenovo Smart Clock, may hold unexpected answers for Google’s hardware plans for Fuchsia.
We’ve long suspected that Google’s upcoming operating system, Fuchsia, would join the ranks of Chrome OS (and Android) in its support for Android apps. Today, that suspicion has been confirmed by a new change found in the Android Open Source Project, and we can say with confidence that Fuchsia will be capable of running Android apps using the Android Runtime.
Earlier this week, we reported that just about everything we’ve seen about Fuchsia is now gone, as the “Armadillo” UI has been deleted. In its place, we only have references to what seem, in context, to be three other “shells” or user interfaces which are all kept closed-source by Google. However, one of these, “Dragonglass,” may offer more answers than we initially thought.
Our avid readers know that Google is working on a new operating system for phones, computers, and just about everything else, called Fuchsia. We’ve seen it in a variety of demos over the last year and a half, all of which featured a UI, codenamed “Armadillo.” Now it seems that Armadillo, and thus everything about Fuchsia we’ve “seen,” has been removed.
With the significant news this week that the Fuchsia SDK and a Fuchsia “device” are being added to the Android Open Source Project, now seems like a good time to learn more about the Fuchsia SDK. Today on Fuchsia Friday, we dive into the Fuchsia SDK and see what it has to offer developers who might want to get a head start on Fuchsia.
Google has two operating systems intended for mobile devices (and more), Android, which we know and love, and Fuchsia, Google’s OS of the future. These two have just gotten further connected with the incorporation of the official Fuchsia SDK and a Fuchsia “device” into Android’s AOSP code.
With yesterday’s Flutter Live event and the stable release of Flutter, one of the primary ways to create Fuchsia apps, Google is one step closer to possibly unveiling their in-development operating system. Another unexpected step is coming, in the form of the official Android Emulator from Android Studio gaining the ability to boot Fuchsia’s Zircon kernel.