CES in Las Vegas has wrapped up. Here is an overview of things Google announced for the Android Platform.
Android is all about giving you the ability to choose the devices that work best for you and making sure they connect seamlessly together, regardless of what brand they are.
Today at CES, we’re announcing updates to help you get more done across your phone, laptop, Bluetooth accessories, TV, smart home and car. Take a look at these updates and how they build on improvements we made to our ecosystem at last year’s CES.
A new way to share files
Sharing pictures, files and text between devices should be simple, fast and convenient. In 2020, we introduced Nearby Share to make it easy to share files across devices. Samsung also has its own capability called Quick Share, which is loved by their users.
Collaborating with Samsung, we’re bringing the best of our sharing solutions together into a singular cross-Android solution under the Quick Share1 name. We’
ve integrated the experiences and created the best default, built-in option for peer-to-peer content sharing across all types of devices in the Android and Chromebook ecosystems. And to make sharing even more seamless between devices, we’re working with leading PC manufacturers like LG to expand Quick Share to Windows PCs as a pre-installed app.
This means with a simple tap of the new Quick Share icon, you can see a list of available devices close by. You remain in control of your privacy, and can choose in your phone’s settings who can discover your device and send files, whether it’s everyone, only your contacts or just your own devices. Quick Share will start rolling out to current Nearby Share enabled devices next month.
Fast Pair support expands to the big screen
When you unwrap a new set of headphones, you want to be able to quickly pair and start using it with your devices. Fast Pair is a way to quickly find and connect your nearby Bluetooth accessories to your devices such as your Android phone or Chromebook.
In the next month, Fast Pair support2 is expanding to Chromecast with Google TV and will be expanding to more Google TV devices later this year. After putting your accessory in pairing mode, it’s just a tap to connect your compatible headphones or speakers and start enjoying your favorite movies and shows — even if your partner is reading a book next to you. And with audio output controls, you can easily switch back to your default TV audio at any time. Give it a try and see why people have made over 660 million Fast Pair pairings to date.
Casting capabilities come to more apps and devices
Since we launched Chromecast, we’ve been working to bring casting capabilities to more apps and devices. Starting today, you can cast TikTok content3 from your phone to your Chromecast built-in devices. And we’re just getting started — soon you’ll be able to cast LIVE videos from TikTok to your big screen.
You can also look forward to more devices launching with Chromecast built-in, such as the 2024 LG TV series. And later this year, we’ll extend Chromecast built-in to LG Hospitality and Healthcare so that when you’re on the go, you can continue to enjoy a show or movie from your streaming apps on the LG TV in your hotel room, without having to log into each app and having to remember to log out when you’re done.
And as always, your Google TV devices come with Chromecast built-in, including the latest 2024 Hisense ULED and ULED X Series and TCL Q Class and TCL QM7 line announced at CES this year. In fact, there are now over 220 million monthly active Google TV devices and other Android TV OS devices.
We love listening to music and podcasts, and we’re rolling out a new casting feature this year that will allow you to move what’s playing on Spotify and YouTube Music from your compatible Pixel phone to your docked Pixel Tablet when the device is close by. This way you can continue listening to your playlist once you’re home.
More interoperability across devices with Matter
As we add more smart devices to our homes from all kinds of different companies, we want them to just work together. That’s why we embrace and invest in industry standards to create greater interoperability between them.
We’re helping more homes be ready for Matter. 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.
Google apps and services come to more cars
Android Auto4 is also getting some helpful upgrades. Coming first to the Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning in the coming months, electric vehicles compatible with Android Auto can share real-time battery information with Google Maps. This integration will make driving an electric vehicle easier by providing your estimated battery level upon arrival at your destination, suggesting charging stops along the way and even estimating how long charging will take based on your vehicle.
