Google says Chromebooks will run Android apps in the future

SAN FRANCISCO — Google wants to make its Chromebooks as pleasant as possible, and the more popular Android smartphones seem like a good place to draw from.

Today at the Google I/O developer conference, Google senior vice president Sundar Pichai demonstrated how Vine, Flipboard, Evernote, and other native Android apps can be used right on a Chromebook after people use it on another device, like an Android tablet.

“See how the experience feels native and intuitive on a Chromebook?” Pichai said.

And why not go further? Google’s well rated Chromebooks can now display notifications from people’s Android phones.

“I recently had this experience,” Pichai said. “My phone was in my pocket. I’m running out of battery. My Chromebook popped up a notification and said, ‘Your phone is running out of battery’.”

Google Now cards and incoming-call notifications also can appear on Chromebooks, Pichai said.

These cross-device user-interface upgrades — which Apple and Microsoft have been thinking about as well — make Chromebooks a little more powerful.