As we’re on the cusp of Google IO 2022, Android 13 has seen a public beta and contains hints at Google’s personal tackle Handoff, a function that first appeared on Apple gadgets.
Handoff means that you can preserve utilizing the identical app whereas switching between completely different Apple gadgets. This may be Safari, a tune, or a podcast, so long as you are signed in with the identical Apple ID account. However with Continuity, you may proceed to make use of a function on one other Apple gadget, akin to taking a photograph and viewing it in your Mac.
Whereas Google means that you can sync your bookmarks and purchases whenever you log into Android or ChromeOS, the identical cannot be mentioned when looking a webpage, or midway via listening to a Spice Women tune or re-watching The Batman. . †
There are hints for this already being known as Faucet to Switch within the Android 13 public beta, however no affirmation from Google but. With this in thoughts, for this reason Handoff must be one of many tentpole options in Android 13, with room to broaden to different Google gadgets.
Arms up, palms out
I’ve been an Apple consumer since I purchased a 3rd technology iPod in 2004. I traded my PC for one of many first Intel iMac fashions and I imported the primary iPhone in 2007.
All through all of this, I’ve at all times appreciated the options that allowed me to handle my content material throughout all gadgets, with out the old school technique of emailing it to myself.
With Continuity and Hand Off, these options enable me to seamlessly transition my workflow from my iPhone 13 Professional to my MacBook Professional 14-inch.
However there are customers who solely personal Google gadgets — whether or not that is each a Pixelbook and a Pixel 6, or a Google Nest and a Fitbit. However managing and transferring your information and content material between these gadgets is not as straightforward as Apple’s technique proper now, and in 2022, that is no good.
Android 13 appears to have a function that alleviates this considerably, tentatively known as “TTT” or Faucet to Switch.
Beginning with an early construct in January, you may ship the media you watch or take heed to on an Android 13 gadget to a close-by gadget.
But it surely must be far more. It must be simpler to switch your music out of your Pixel 6 to a Chrome internet browser, along with having the ability to proceed listening to a tune in Google Play Music that is in your OnePlus 10 Professional, on a Pixelbook.
It is time for Google to understand that ease of use for gadgets is essential. Whereas current efforts with Materials You and the redesigned themes for Android have been warmly obtained, there’s nonetheless extra work to be carried out.
As extra merchandise seem (and extra seem like on the way in which, with one reportedly being the Pixel Watch), it is extra essential than ever to see extra gadget coherence. Getting extra management over your content material on the gadgets you personal will enchantment to many, and it appears Android 13 is the primary signal that Google is conscious of this.
It is now a query of whether or not the identical function is not going to solely seem in the remainder of its product line, however whether or not the function is best than what Apple has carried out in recent times.