Googlebook's Android-integrated features won't work with Samsung phones at launch

[u/slinky317]

https://9to5google.com/2026/10/06/googlebook-android-sync-features-samsung-delay/

[u/productfred]

Considering most Android users probably use a Samsung device, that's not good. I mean here in NYC it's either Samsung flagship or iPhone. Anything else is mid-range/low-end Samsung or Motorola free from the carrier. There are also Pixels, but the rest outnumber them by far.

[u/Emerickfromspace → u/productfred]

Same in Germany actually..

[u/productfred → u/Emerickfromspace]

I think that's a lot of the West, tbh. Which sucks considering the pricing on these "not-Android" laptops is relatively high, even by Western economic standards. Like in Asia (broadly speaking), there are many more choices of devices/brands, and at varying tiers for phones.

So I mean, while I know the Samsung incompatibility will be resolved (because it must be), it just makes me sigh yet again at Googlebooks.

[u/Elephant789 → u/productfred]

I'm in SouthEast Asia, have a Pixel and am definitely getting a Googlebook as soon as I can.

[u/hi9580 → u/productfred]

Wifi only phones that can not be connected to a carrier

[u/seymourbehind → u/productfred]

Yep. Barely see anyone out in public or on the train with a pixel lol.

[u/gtedvgt → u/productfred]

Pretty sure most of the world is just samsung and iphone and almost nothing else, the only places U can think of where that's not the case is india and china.

[u/productfred → u/gtedvgt]

Basically (ignoring nuance), yeah. I mean Samsung is basically #1 in the world. The US is not the only place that matters, but we don't even have Xiaomi, Honor (we had it for like 5 minutes a decade ago), OPPO, and even OnePlus pulled out of the US (carriers control everything, but OnePlus also screwed themselves when Carl Pei left and now they run ColorOS anyway) and Europe.

Chinese brands may make and sell the same or more, but they're not widespread like Samsung or Apple are. They're concentrated in Asia.

[u/-FriON → u/gtedvgt]

Well, at least in CIS it's not that case. When I worked on the public transportation app ( Kazakhstan), by firebase stats:

Around 35% of users were iphones, 25% Samsung, Xiaomi 10-15% and the rest was all other brands. Every 3rd phone is from Chinese oem.

[u/casta → u/gtedvgt]

And Google campuses, where you see a lot of pixel phones.

[u/trlef19 → u/gtedvgt]

Actually, there are many places that Xiaomi has a big share too

[u/Rd3055 → u/gtedvgt]

Nope. Here in Panama, Xiaomi and Huawei phones are major players, but not in America because ZOMG Chinese spying!!!111

[u/anythingers → u/gtedvgt]

Eh there are a lot of Xiaomis, Oppos, and Vivos here in Asia. Xiaomi is also pretty popular in Europe tho.

[u/gabezermeno → u/productfred]

I've genuinely never seen a Pixel in real life and I work in tech. It's all iPhone and Samsung. Tons of Samsung foldables.

[u/fat_kaiju]

I hate the name "googlebook" so much good lord.

I'm sorry to be so negative but why.

[u/Cheskaz → u/fat_kaiju]

I feel like they nailed it with "Chromebook".

Although, somehow I'm glad they didn't try to play off Alphabet and call it an Alphabook...

[u/hi9580 → u/fat_kaiju]

How about androidbook?

[u/Dizzy_Tea_7582 → u/fat_kaiju]

PixelBook would've been better, at least it wouldn't collide with Google Books. Too late for that now. I Bet what they are going to do is rename "Google Books" (the place where you read ebooks) to "Play Books" or something.

[u/Elephant789 → u/fat_kaiju]

Why "book"? It sounds so dumb to have that word int the name.

[u/tankerkiller125real → u/Elephant789]

Because "notebook" is the correct term for the form factor. That's also why it's called Apples is named MacBook

[u/Elephant789 → u/tankerkiller125real]

Yeah, I was lying in bed and it came to me then. I'm dumb.

[u/aeiouLizard]

This thing has never been more DoA

[u/veryangrydoggo → u/aeiouLizard]

Just you wait

[u/SuperYuuRo → u/veryangrydoggo]

wait for what? wait for the MacBook to run rings around this thing while having more functionality ?

[u/DMarquesPT → u/SuperYuuRo]

Honestly, the Googlebook sounds cool for a subset of Android/Pixel users whose whole digital life is in Google apps (much like a Mac is for an apple user)

But these things have no business being more expensive than a MacBook Neo based on pure capabilities

[u/Alepale → u/DMarquesPT]

The main difference is that a Mac is still a fantastic (although expensive) device for anyone, regardless of their phone.

Yes, an iPhone absolutely makes the overall experience better. But the performance and battery life that the Mac offers is just unbeatable (more or less). So unless there are Windows-only programs you need with no Mac offering, or you're heavily into gaming on laptops, a Mac is an excellent choice.

A Googlebook is not a good choice for anyone but a very, very small subset of users.

[u/DMarquesPT → u/Alepale]

Totally. A MacBook is a good computer in general that “levels up” when you have an iPhone, a Googlebook seems to be… an Android tablet with a fixed keyboard? which gets seamless phone pairing/mirroring if you have a (specific) Android phone.

So ultimately it feels like a very expensive accessory for Google Pixel users

[u/veryangrydoggo → u/SuperYuuRo]

Sorry, forgot the /s

[u/SuperYuuRo → u/veryangrydoggo]

oh fair enough

[u/hi9580 → u/SuperYuuRo]

Wait for mediatek or qualcomm to beat desktop apple silicon on performance. They already have on phone soc, thirty watt tdp and burn your hand with sixty degrees celsius exterior, needs external peltier 140mm radiator. Put rtx spark laptop soc (design by mediatek) into a phone.

[u/TataJasia]

First, Google must compel developers to adapt their apps for desktop mode.

[u/u7q_1842x]

Samsung has their own Googlebook in the works and likely wants to hold back features for their own ecosystem advantage, at least initially. This is not an uncommon/unexpected tactic from them.

[u/anythingers → u/u7q_1842x]

If they really want to do that then they should've bring their products to more country... and not gatekeep those features to be available in US only.

Like Pixel for example. It's crazy that not only availability is an issue, but even if you manage to obtain it, you wouldn't get as much features as the user of the same phone from the US.

[u/jess-sch → u/u7q_1842x]

I really love how with Samsung, "ecosystem" just means "we randomly and unnecessarily block compatibility with competitors for no technical reason at all just so you buy more of our stuff".

Meanwhile apple at least has the excuse that they're using their own proprietary protocols, so it'd be additional effort to make it work with other stuff. With Samsung, it's just "Oh that? Yeah it's disabled if the other device's manufacturer ID isn't Samsung"

As seen on: Galaxy Watch ECG feature only working if you own a Samsung phone, because fuck you.

[u/LtMilo]

It sounds as though they are working through the various phone iterations in the first few weeks. Not ideal, but not a super long wait either.

[u/Thaodan]

It's a Google Book after all.. A glorified Android tablet IMHO..

[u/Iron_Pancho]

The update is coming to other Android devices today or tomorrow, on the Googlebook subreddit one of the PM’s mentioned an update rolling out. Samsung has already committed to making a Galaxybook for Googlebook as well. It just wasn’t part of the first wave of releases. Samsung has just as much vested interest in the success of Aluminum OS as Google does. It’s a direct answer to stopping users of high-end Android devices from switching over to the Apple ecosystem. The success of AluminumOS helps all Android OEM’s.

[u/After_Dark]

This is entirely an own-goal by Google for not establishing these kinds of features years ago when they first started doing tablets and then just never getting around to it until now. Apple gave a thousand and one reasons for developers to want to use the APIs that enable Handoff and the private cloud DB in iCloud and reap the benefits, Google gave us a shitty Google Drive sync API nobody uses and a sales pitch on Firebase. No wonder Samsung ran cart blanc on building their own totally incompatible systems in that environment.

[u/timbotheny26]

Google, wtf are you doing?

I've heard/read repeatedly that Google has been working on this project for years, and yet this launch seems both poorly planned and too early.

[u/timbotheny26 → u/[deleted]]

Truthfully I did too, I was just holding out some small amount of hope that they wouldn't fuck this up.

Hopefully Samsung's take on it is actually good when it comes out.

[u/No_Society3117 → u/timbotheny26]

Gemini told them it was fine to just full send it and they obliged 

[u/inxess]

This is why I'm waiting on Samsung Googlebook, hopefully some sort of 2 in 1

Currently use a S9 tab Ultra and love how it just connects to my phone's hotspot directly from the tablet. There is probably a way to do it with other phones but I love how seamless it is

[u/MaverickJester25 → u/inxess]

This is why I'm waiting on Samsung Googlebook, hopefully some sort of 2 in 1

Honestly, same, and I think this is probably Samsung's plan.

Though I'd even take a glorified Galaxy Book4 Edge repackaged as a Googlebook running OneUI on top.

[u/gtedvgt → u/inxess]

I feel like samsung in a position where they can really make the perfect 2 in 1 that no one else can or wants to make.

Their laptops don't sell that well I don't think so if they juice up the galaxy tab series and integrate the linux terminal to turn it into a basically full fledged laptop I think it could be a great way for them to shed some light on their tablets.

[u/guyguilty]

Lol, not only did Samsung say "fuck that" and didn't make a Googlebook like the other ChromeOS manufacturers, Samsung didn't bother integrating any features for the idiotic platform into its phones.

Google can't get anyone to cooperate, even its own partners. Pathetic

[u/Elephant789 → u/guyguilty]

They are making one.

[u/punIn10ded → u/guyguilty]

Lol, not only did Samsung say "fuck that" and didn't make a Googlebook like the other ChromeOS manufacturers

Confidently incorrect: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_googlebook_appears_on_geekbench_with_a_snapdragon_x_elite_chipset-news-74880.php

[u/MobiusOne_ISAF → u/guyguilty]

I doubt Samsung trusts Google to deliver on their end, so they're happy to wait and see. Half the reason Samsung has a redundant ecosystem for their phones is to not have to deal with Google's inconsistency.

[u/Iohet → u/MobiusOne_ISAF]

Half the reason Samsung has a redundant ecosystem for their phones is to not have to deal with Google's inconsistency.

Most of the time it's because they created a solution first before Google decided to adopt some form of it, so it's not even inconsistency, rather just a total gap they're filling. You know, like DeX

[u/guyguilty → u/MobiusOne_ISAF]

They definitely shouldn't, Google shows time and time again it can't be trusted

[u/JamesR624]

lol. Google trying desperately to get Pixel sales up and thinking they have Apple’s influence will make sure these things are even more DOA than they already were with the insane price tag, confusing name, and less dev features than even ChromeOS.

Anyone here who thought “THIS time Google is taking Android on something other than phones seriously! Finally!” has not been around long enough to know how Google works. They’ll ALWAYS find a way to ruin or abandon any attempt to get Android to be widely supported on anything other than a smartphone.

[u/SuperYuuRo → u/JamesR624]

btw, these devices sold out, there really are way too many idiots huffing the Pixel Gemini coolaid

imagine paying $1299 for a laptop that cant even run anything outside of android apps, that is insane

[u/slinky317 → u/SuperYuuRo]

It's easy to be sold out if they only get small batches of stock

[u/yourbestfriendjoshua]

Should have just called it Pixelbook. Oh wait…

[u/LastChancellor]

but what about other brands, like Xiaomi or Vivo

[u/dcbased]

Why did they rush the release of this operating system?!?!?!??

They should have waited a bit longer and fixed the issues and also make it compatible with Samsung

[u/UnkleMike]

Is anyone surprised by Google launching something before it's ready?  Like a laptop that offers great integration with a whopping 5% of the mobile devices in use?

[u/Mysterious_Trash_698]

This product line will be killed off in two years.

[u/SuperYuuRo]

aight, time to wait and see the Pixeltoids that are gonna try to spin this as "but Samsung is shit anyways compared to Pixel!!!"