Google, like all other major tech companies, is making its presence felt at CES 2024. The search engine giant announced a bunch of updates at the event Tuesday, including a new way to share images, files, and text between devices. Google is partnering with Samsung to introduce Quick Share, a unified cross-Android file sharing solution that brings Google’s Nearby Share and Samsung’s Quick Share under a single branding. The company said it had integrated the services to bring a default peer-to-peer content sharing option for Android and Chromebook devices. Additionally, Google is also working with manufacturers to bring Quick Share as a pre-installed app on Windows PCs.
With just a single tap of an icon, users of Quick Share can view a list of nearby available devices. Naturally, Quick Share will let users adjust privacy settings to determine who can find and send files from their Android device, much like Apple’s AirDrop feature. Current Nearby Share-capable devices will begin receiving the Quick Share feature in February, according to Google’s blog post outlining its CES announcements.
Additionally, Google revealed that Chromecast with Google TV will support Fast Pair for Bluetooth accessories starting next month, and additional Google TV devices will follow later in the year. With just one tap in pairing mode, Fast Pair enables users to easily pair Bluetooth devices, such as headphones, with Android phones and Chromebook laptops. The latest update allows you to easily direct TV audio to Bluetooth speakers or headphones.
Further updates are available regarding Chromecast. Although casting content from YouTube and other apps to a TV is simple for users, Google is extending this feature to more apps. TikTok content can now be cast from phones to Chromecast-enabled devices. According to the company, casting live videos from the social media app to the TV is also scheduled for the near future. Additionally, Google is releasing a new casting feature that allows users to cast podcasts and music from compatible Pixel phones’ Spotify and YouTube Music apps to a nearby Pixel Tablet in docked mode.
Google is also bringing increased interoperability across devices with Matter, its standard for smart home platforms, apps and devices. “In the future, LG TVs and select Google TV and other Android TV OS devices will act as hubs for Google Home. So if you have a Nest Hub, Nest Mini or compatible TV, it’s easy to add Matter devices to your home network and locally control them with the Google Home app,” the blog said.
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