GoKawiilRyan-Thomas Shaw / Android Authority
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TL;DR Googlebook laptops are arriving soon, featuring heavy cross-connectivity with Android phones.
Users will be able to cast apps from phones to their Googlebook in order to remotely interact with them.
It now appears that we’ll also be able to control Googlebooks remotely by using phone touchscreens as a trackpad.
Do you ever think of your phone as a remote control? We already use our phones to control countless other devices through the apps they connect to, but somehow that feels like a different class of interaction entirely. Maybe the closest example of employing a phone as a straight-up remote is something like the Google TV control offered through that app and Google Home, letting us operate smart TVs with a phone’s touchscreen. And now we’re getting an early look at where Google could be trying this same sort of approach next.
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Right now, Googlebook laptops are waiting for us just over the horizon, offering an alternative to Chromebooks that’s built on an Android foundation. We’ve already been previewing what features to expect from them thanks to some early app leaks, and now we’ve got one more to add to the growing list.
Digging through version 1.0.1283.974003524 of Google’s Cross-Device Services system app, we’re finding an in-development “Cast trackpad” tool that appears designed to let you use your phone’s touchscreen to control other hardware — and between the utility of it and the timing involved, it’s possible this could be intended for Googlebook access.
You won’t find this visible on your own phone just yet, but as you can see, the feature will support basic gesture controls to differentiate between inputs, letting you point at as well as interact with screen objects. In addition to the trackpad, we also see discrete buttons for “back,” as well as volume controls. And then we have sensitivity settings which will let you dial-in responsiveness to your liking.
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