First Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks

Google has started porting the first Android apps to Chromebooks, in an attempt to to bring desktop-like applications to Chrome OS. The first set of Android apps to Chrome OS are te following:

Duolingo - a fun and free way to learn a new language before your next trip

Evernote - write, collect and find what matters to you, with a full-size keyboard and touchscreen

Sight Words - a delightful way for you to help improve your child's reading skills

Vine - create short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun way

The apps look exactly like their smartphone and tablet counterparts, and will work without an Internet connection.

Google says these first apps are the result of a project called the App Runtime for Chrome (Beta), which the company announced earlier this summer at Google I/O. Over the coming months, Google will be working with a select group of Android developers to add more apps so users will have a more seamless experience across their Android phones and Chromebooks.

Last year, the company launched "Chrome Apps," which used Web technologies such as HTML5 but had greater capabilities, such as offline support, desktop notifications and USB peripheral support. But that effort did not attract the developers' community.

Typically, in order to bring Android apps to Chrome OS, developers don't need to port or modify their code.