Chrome OS 89 brings Android controls, a new icon design, and “quick answers”

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  Phone Hub shows all sorts of useful controls for a paired Android phone. [credit: Google ]

Google is calling today the Chromebook’s 10th birthday, and the latest version of Chrome OS, version 89, is celebrating by rolling out a ton of features to the stable branch.

First up is Phone Hub, which will let users pair up an Android phone and remotely control it via a little pop-up panel from the system tray. The panel shows phone status like battery and signal, control shortcuts for hotspot, silence, and locating your phone, it also shows your two most recent Chrome tabs. Notifications from your phone will be sent to Chrome OS, and you can even remotely reply to text message.

Sharing between devices is also getting better. Chrome OS will now pull down your list of Wi-Fi passwords from an Android phone, so you’ll only have to enter that super-secure password once, and it will be shared to your other (Google OS) devices. Google’s Airdrop-style Nearby Share has been on Android phone since last year, and now Google says that “in the coming months,” you’ll be able to share between Chrome OS and Android.