Apple Features That Android Should Emulate
To show off at Google IO 2022, Android 13 needs to steal a few features from Apple. We’re approaching Google IO 2022, so A public beta of Android 13 has been released, and it contains hints about Google’s take on Handoff, a feature that first appeared on Apple devices.
Handoff enables you to keep using the same app when switching between Apple devices. As long as you’re signed in with the same Apple ID account, this can be Safari, a music track, or a podcast. Continuity, on the other hand, allows you to continue utilizing a feature on another Apple device, such as capturing a photo and viewing it on your Mac.
While you can sync your bookmarks and purchases when you sign into Android or ChromeOS, you can’t do so when you’re browsing the web, listening to a Spice Girls song, or viewing The Batman for the second time.
The Android 13 public beta edition already has a feature called Tap to Transfer that suggests this, although Google has yet to confirm it. With this in mind, Handoff should be one of Android 13’s main features, with the potential to expand to other Google devices.
Throughout my Apple experience, I’ve always liked the capabilities that allow me to manage my material across multiple devices without having to send it to myself.
These capabilities, Continuity, and Hand Off, allow me to seamlessly transition my productivity from my iPhone 13 Pro to my MacBook Pro 14-inch.
However, some people solely possess Google products, whether it’s a Pixelbook and a Pixel 6, or a Google Nest and a Fitbit. However, controlling and exchanging data and information between various devices is currently more difficult than Apple’s solution, which is not ideal in 2022.
Android 13 is expected to contain a feature called ‘TTT,’ or Tap to Transfer, that will help ease some of this.
You could send the media you’re watching or listening to on an Android 13 smartphone to another device nearby, starting with an early build in January.
It should, however, be much more. It should be easier to transfer music from your Pixel 6 to a Chrome web browser, as well as to continue listening to a tune on Google Play Music from a OnePlus 10 Pro on a Pixelbook.
It’s past time for Google to acknowledge that gadget usability is important. While its latest efforts with Material You, the new Android themes, have garnered positive feedback, there is still work to be done.
As more products are released (and more are believed to be on the horizon, like the Pixel Watch), device cohesion will become more vital than ever. Giving you more control over the material on your devices would appeal to many people, and Android 13 appears to be the first hint that Google is aware of this.
It’s now a question of whether the same functionality will not just come to the rest of Apple’s product line, but also whether the feature will be superior to Apple’s current approach.
