????要想住在一個由谷歌（Google）主宰的世界里，可能還得花時間適應一下才行。

????我說的并不是谷歌搜索、Gmail、或谷歌文檔（Google Docs），因為上百萬的用戶都已經在使用它們了，其中也包括我自己。我指的是能不能把我們的日常生活完全托付給谷歌日益擴張的產品生態系統，這種事我以前從來沒有認真嘗試過。

????我去年曾經用過一陣由英業達代工的谷歌CR-48筆記本（用得很不爽），我也曾親自評測過巴諾（Barnes & Noble）的Nook平板和亞馬遜（Amazon）的Kindle Fire平板，但它們使用的都是安卓（Android）系統的定制版本。現在谷歌幾乎在科技的各個領域全面出擊——比如無人駕駛汽車和現實增強眼鏡等。因此我想知道，我能不能完全只依靠谷歌的設備過上一個星期。

????所以在獲得了谷歌的一些幫助之后，我開始了這次嘗試。我把我的蘋果MacBook Air筆記本束之高閣，取而代之的是一臺三星Series 5 Chromebook 550筆記本，又拿我的iPad換了一臺Nexus 7平板。然后讓我的iPhone 4休息幾天，換了一臺Galaxy Nexus手機。然后收起我的Roku 2 XS機頂盒，用上了傳說中的Nexus Q。谷歌還好心地借給《財富》雜志（Fortune）一臺有點像Mac Mini的Chromebox臺式電腦。不過由于我經常在家工作、去城市各處開會，還需要用一套額外的鼠標和鍵盤，因此我基本上只是使用Chromebook筆記本。以下就是這一周發生的事：

????好的一面：谷歌設備上最新安裝的Android 4.0是一套非常流暢的操作系統。不僅操作起來非常容易，而且基本上我在iOS平臺上用過的每一款應用程序，從Nike+ Running到Flipboard，都可以在Android 4.0上使用。另外由于Galaxy Nexus安裝了一塊明亮的4.65英寸屏幕，因此內容顯示起來也很清晰，讓我的iPhone相形見絀。在健身房的跑步機上看視頻網站Hulu或Netflix，正是像我這樣經常走神的寫手愛干的事。歸功于Galaxy Nexus的清晰大屏，我能獲得更好的觀看體驗。

????評測人員對Nexus 7平板電腦給出了很多褒獎，原因很好解釋。這款由華碩（Asus）代工的7英寸平板電腦輕易地就蓋過了Kindle Fire的風頭。帶凹點的橡膠后蓋手感出色，屏幕犀利明亮，操作快速靈敏，基本上一上手就會愛上它。同時它比iPad更小巧、更輕盈，因此把它塞進我的公文包里也不是問題。如果非要雞蛋里挑骨頭的話，那么首先缺乏3G或3G版算是個瑕疵。另外我也希望能有更多針對7寸屏的應用誕生。

????一般之處：去年當我第一次報道谷歌的Chrome操作系統時，我曾說這個系統的概念“并不像它聽起來那么牽強。”隨著越來越多的云服務流行開來（比如流媒體音樂服務Spotify就是其中一例），現在更證明了我當初的論斷。有了Chrome OS以后，谷歌更加重視云服務，而不是儲存在硬件里的內容。谷歌有許多在線服務，從理論上講，這些服務的用戶并不會在意這種轉變。（科技界的許多人都認為，這種轉變毫無疑問代表著未來趨勢。）

????不過在執行中，第一代的Chromebook筆記本卻相當令人失望。由于元件運行速度非常緩慢，因此觀看高分辨率視頻時簡直令人難以忍受。軟件方面也不怎么樣，一次只能打開一個瀏覽器窗口，不過可以打開多個標簽。

????第二代Chromebook與第一代相比有了明顯的進步。首先它有一個像桌面一樣的環境，而且用戶可以同時打開多個瀏覽器窗口，底部邊欄還有快捷方式，可以打開Gmail、即時通訊工具Trillian等“網頁應用”。

????不過對于那些認為電腦就應該具備現代化使用體驗的人來說，他們或許依然覺得改良后的Chrome OS操作系統不夠令人滿意。在同時打開多個應用的情況下，機器還是有些吃不消。許多應用要想正常工作仍然需要某種網絡連接才行。（比如，雖然谷歌承諾通過軟件升級，可以實現離線使用谷歌文檔，但我自己的評測單位還沒能實現這一點。）同時，可選擇使用的應用仍然相當少。我在用這臺筆記本寫文章、做調查、和同事通過即時通訊工具聊天時，我都希望手頭上有一臺功能齊全的電腦，真的，哪怕是任何一臺功能齊全的電腦都行。

????Living in a Google-run world takes some getting used to.

????I'm not referring to Google (GOOG) search, Gmail, or Google Docs. Millions of users have already taken that plunge, myself included. I mean day-to-day life within the (largely) open-sourced walls of Google's ever-expanding product ecosystem. That's not something I'd ever seriously done before.

????There was a brief, angsty fling with the CR-48 laptop last year. (That didn't end well.) I also cozied up to tablets like the Barnes & Noble (BKS) Nook Tablet and Amazon's (AMZN) Kindle Fire for a while, but those used customized versions of Android. I wondered, given Google's irrepressible desire to develop for nearly area of tech -- self-driving cars, augmented reality eyewear -- whether I could get by using only Google devices for a week.

????So with some help from the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, I gave it a try. I shelved my Apple (AAPL) MacBook Air for one of Samsung's Series 5 Chromebook 550 laptops, traded my iPad for a Nexus 7, gave my iPhone 4 a rest in lieu of a Galaxy Nexus,* and tucked away my Roku 2 XS for the enigmatic Nexus Q. Google had also been kind enough to loan Fortune a Google Chromebox, a desktop Mac Mini-like computer. But given my penchant for taking work home, taking meetings around the city, and the need for an additional mouse and keyboard, I ended up exclusively using the Chromebook. Here's what happened:

????THE GOOD: Android 4.0, running on the very latest devices, is a smooth operator. It's extremely easy to navigate, and virtually every app I used on iOS -- from Nike+ (NKE) Running to Flipboard -- is available here, as well. Even better, content shines on the Galaxy Nexus thanks to its bright 4.65-inch screen, which dwarfs my iPhone's. Catching Hulu or Netflix (NFLX) on the treadmill at the local gym, as this A.D.D.-suffering writer is wont to do, was an even better viewing experience because of that.

????Critics threw a lot of praise the Nexus 7's way, and it's not really hard to see why. The ASUS-manufactured 7-inch tablet easily eclipsed the Kindle Fire. Yet, between the rubbery, textured backing, the sharper, brighter display and brisk navigation, it was pretty much love at first swipe. Also, because it's smaller and weighs less than the iPad, tossing it in my bag was no big deal. If there were two small quibbles, one is there's no 3G or 4G wireless option. I also wished there were more apps tailored for that particular screen size.

????THE SO-SO: When I first reported on Google Chrome OS last year, I said the underlying concept "isn't as farfetched as it sounds." That's even more true now, as more and more cloud-based services -- Spotify, for one -- become popular. With Chrome OS, Google emphasizes cloud-based services over content stored on the hard drive, which in theory, users of Google's many online services wouldn't mind. (Lots of people in tech think this is the undoubted future.)

????In execution, the first round of Chromebooks proved disappointing, throttled by components so slow watching high-definition video was unbearable. The software wasn't much better. You could only open one browser window, albeit with tabs.

????The second round of Chromebooks are a major leap forward. There's a desktop-like environment where users can open multiple browser windows and a pane at the bottom with shortcuts to say, Gmail and other "web apps" like Trillian instant messenger. The hardware has been improved, too, so playing video is a breeze and you can have tens of windows and tabs going, no problem.

????But those who take the modern computing experience for granted (read: virtually everyone) may still feel sandboxed by this new and improved Chrome OS. Getting around multiple applications still feels unwieldly at times. Many apps still require some sort of Internet connection to work. (For instance, while Google promised offline use of Documents via software update, my own review unit has yet to get it.) Also, the app selection remains pretty poor. Even as I wrote stories, did research, instant messaged colleagues and the like on this laptop, I longed for a full-featured computer -- really, any full-featured computer -- to use.