According to the latest report, Google is working hard to improve the virtual keyboard of Chrome OS, including the new dark theme, Unicode 14 emoji, and the ability to enter when using Linux applications.
For more than a year, Google has been developing a light/dark switch function for Chrome OS, which will make the current default theme deeper, while also providing a large-scale redesign of the light theme. Google made it for the first time in September last year. Demonstrated this function. Obviously, Google hopes to perfect more details before launching the light/dark theme switch to everyone.
For this reason, the next theme of Chrome OS is the virtual keyboard-the touch screen keyboard that appears when you use a tablet or when the keyboard of your convertible Chromebook is turned on. According to a new flag added to chrome://flags, the virtual keyboard will get a new theme, which will not be as white as the current version.
Enable dark mode support for the virtual keyboard
When the dark mode is activated, enable the dark mode color for the virtual keyboard.
#enable-cros-ime-dark-mode
The dark mode of the keyboard has only just begun, so there is nothing to preview right now. In the next few weeks, we will continue to monitor the development of this flag. At the same time, the emoji selector of Chrome OS can be accessed from the virtual keyboard or by pressing search + Shift + Space at any time.
According to the recent code changes, it is getting the latest emoji of Unicode 14. The latest emoji will make its debut on mobile phones with the release of Android 12 L, including a large number of new genders and skin color variants of existing emojis, including various possible skin color combinations of the handshake emoji.
The following are other Unicode 14 emoticons added in Android 12L.
Trolls, corals, lotus flowers, empty nests, egg nests, beans, pouring liquids, jars, playground slides, wheels, ring buoys, hamsa, mirror balls, low battery batteries, walking sticks, X-rays, bubbles, ID card, double equal number.
Unicode 14 emojis have arrived with the latest version of Chrome OS Canary, which means that we expect them to arrive on all Chromebooks with the arrival of version 98, which is scheduled to be released in February next year. Finally, we found that Google is working hard to make Chrome OS’s virtual keyboard — and potentially Chrome OS tablets — more useful. For several years, Chromebooks have been able to install and run Linux applications through virtual machines. Since they do not run “natively” in Chrome OS, they need to pass information from the Chrome OS side to the Linux side, and vice versa.
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Therefore, so far, virtual keyboards cannot be used for Linux application input, which means you have to use some kind of physical keyboard to interact with them. This is a problem for those who want to use Linux applications on Chrome OS tablets. According to a new pair of flags coming to chrome://flags, Google is experimenting with a method of connecting the Chrome OS virtual keyboard to Linux applications (hereinafter referred to as “Crostini”). In addition, it is also planned to support other input methods (IME) of Chrome OS, which should enable functions such as inputting Japanese characters in Linux applications.
Crostini IME support
Experimental support for IMEs on Crostini (excluding VK).
#crostini-IME-support
Crostini virtual keyboard support
Experimental support for the virtual keyboard on Crostini.
#crostini-virtual-keyboard-support
At present, development work is still in progress and is carried out behind the flag, to ensure that Chrome OS will not display the virtual keyboard in the Linux application until it is proven to work properly. In general, Google seems to have prepared quite a few things for the on-screen keyboard of Chrome OS, which is good news for fans of Chrome OS tablets (such as the Lenovo Chromebook Duet series).