While Chrome OS is Google’s “desktop” platform for laptops and other computers, many Android users turn to Windows for a more powerful operating system. Google is now fully embracing that trend, with plans to bring Nearby Share and Fast Pair to Windows PCs.
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Besides a slew of Material You additions and other enhancements, Android 12 Beta 5 today expands — as we’ve been expecting — Nearby Share with an “Everyone” visibility option, redesigned QS pane, and multi-device sharing.
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With the OnePlus 9 series launch, the new additions were core focus points – but it looks like there have been a few sneaky removals, including that of File Dash from the File manager app in favor of Google’s Nearby Share.
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After years of users clamoring for the functionality, Google finally debuted its own version of Apple’s AirDrop last year. Now, we’ve spotted what’s next for Nearby Share — the ability to see everyone around you and to send files to more than one person at once.
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Android Beam may have been ditched in favor of Nearby Share, but the ability to tap-to-send files, websites, contacts, and more lives on as the option actually still exists with the help of NFC.
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For over a year now, Google has been hard at work on Nearby Sharing, a handy way to share things like files, contacts, and more with nearby Android devices — and Chrome. Today, the Google Play Store now offers the best example of Nearby Sharing, allowing you to share apps and updates between devices.
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Back in August, Google introduced a native system for quickly sharing text, links, and images across its devices. Nearby Share will soon let you send Android apps to people near you.
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From Photos to Docs and Drive, sharing on Google services is primarily performed with links where a file is sent to the cloud and then distributed. There are times, however, when the upload process takes too long or you want a share to be more ephemeral. Apple’s offering is called AirDrop, and Google has been working on a solution for its devices over the last few years. After testing picked up in the past month, Nearby Share on Android is launching and beginning to roll out today.
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AirDrop is admittedly one of the best features of iPhones, especially because it works with nearby Macs too. Google has been slowly building out its own version of that feature for a while now with Nearby Sharing and, as it rolls out more widely on Android, the feature has also arrived on Google Chrome. Well, sort of.
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One of the more exciting Google developments of the past year is Nearby Sharing, an AirDrop-like service that can transfer files, links, and more between Android devices and eventually almost any device with Google Chrome. Now Nearby Sharing is beginning to disappear from Android phones and tablets just a few weeks after initially arriving.
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Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra goes official in just three short weeks, and leading up to the launch, there have been a number of major leaks. Today, another hands-on video leak of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra details camera and video features, as well as giving quick mention to an upcoming feature from Google.
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Last month, it was discovered that Google was hard at work on bringing Android’s answer to AirDrop, Nearby Sharing, to Chrome OS and Google Chrome for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Now the feature has begun to appear for some on Chrome OS Canary.
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“Nearby Sharing” or “Nearby Share” is the latest attempt to give Android owners and users a proper rival to Apple’s AirDrop.
Following numerous leaks and several accidental mentions over the past year, Google is finally making “Nearby Sharing” official. While the feature still isn’t quite ready to launch, Google has confirmed Nearby Sharing is coming soon and, better yet, is already rolling out to some beta users on Android.
Today kicks off the first segment in Google’s 11 Weeks of Android series. Videos and blog posts this week are all about the upcoming operating system’s focus on “People & Identity.” Homescreen conversation shortcuts were previewed in one video, while we randomly see the rumored “Nearby” feature integrated with the Android 11 share sheet.
For some time now, we’ve been tracking Nearby Sharing as Android’s answer to AirDrop on iOS, allowing you to, as the name suggests, share things to devices that are nearby. Now we’re finding that Google’s ambitions for Nearby Sharing are far greater, with the feature getting close to arriving on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS.
Last June, we exclusively revealed that Google was working on an Android Beam replacement and AirDrop competitor called “Fast Share.” It was renamed to “Nearby Sharing” earlier this year, but ultimately still unannounced. The Android 11 DP2 today surprisingly references the feature.
For the past several months, there’s been an ongoing project at Google that’s never been announced: Android’s version of AirDrop. We first broke the news, and now, Google has apparently renamed the Android feature to “Nearby Sharing.”
Earlier this year we showed you Google’s AirDrop competitor, Fast Share. Now, as we still wait for the feature to actually launch, new screenshots are showing off Google’s progress as it builds out the feature with a revamped settings menu and new share sheet.
Google appears to be working on a new and simple way to share files between a variety of devices, including Android and Chromebooks. We’ve managed to fully enable “Fast Share” on Android today, and here’s how it works.
