(Image credit: Future | Max Freeman-Mills)

Google has only just launched Googlebook, its latest move to tempt you away from Mac or Windows and to consolidate the Google ecosystem with a premium laptop.

While the AI features were widely-touted, early reviewers have highlighted shortcomings in the experience that make it feel like another Android tablet experience rather than something new.

Part of that comes down to buggy software, some of it to a lack of real desktop apps, as well as limited compatibility – with a capital S. That's right, Samsung devices weren't compatible with Googlebook's phone features at launch, despite being the biggest brand in the Android space.

Googlebook supports a number of features to encourage a symbiotic relationship with Android handsets including Continue On, Cast My Apps, Quick Access and Notification Sync. These features (called Better Together) are supposed to work on compatible Honor, Lenovo, Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, Sharp, Sony and Xiaomi phones.

This is meant to allow a seamless experience between phone and laptop, so you don't have to constantly use your phone. Instead, it's all just supposed to be there on your laptop display, with apps a click away, even when not installed.

The good news is that Samsung support is now starting to roll out and considering that Googlebook only launched on 5 October, that's not a bad start.

There's a caveat in that the Samsung device has to be running Android 17 / One UI 9, which narrows the list to just a couple of devices right now. Those with the brand new Galaxy Z Fold 8 should be fine, but while 2026 Samsung models are getting updated to Android 17, some might be left waiting for support.

According to the details from Google (shared as a community update in Reddit) the new compatibility will arrive as Google Play updates and background service updates, so this isn't dependent on Samsung doing anything.

That's great for Samsung phone owners thinking of getting a Googlebook, but the update from Google also hints to some of the first-gen woes.

In addition to the update for Samsung users, Google also says it has addressed a bug where first-time setup would leave users with a QR code on the screen even after setup had finished.

Googlebook is still in the first flourishes of its life but it seems that there's some way to go before it's a viable alternative to rival desktop platforms. It's easy to point at Googlebook and see it as ChromeOS with a load of Gemini dumped in: it's down to Google to change our minds.