Google Announces Improvements Across the Android Ecosystem

Google today announced a surprisingly long list of improvements and changes to the Android ecosystem, many tied to device interoperability.

“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,” Google vice president Sameer Samat writes in the announcement post. “Today at CES, we’re announcing updates to help you get more done across your phone, laptop, Bluetooth accessories, TV, smart home and car … these updates build on improvements we made to our ecosystem at last year’s CES.”

They sure do. It looks like we only covered the audio-related Android announcements at CES 2023, but the firm also announced Matter support for Fast Pair, an expansion of Nearby Share and Cast availability, improvements to Wear OS, Phone Hub in Chrome OS, a new Android Audio design, and a software-based Google TV remote control for Android. And with that in mind, here’s what’s new this year:

Quick Share. Google partnered with Samsung to replace Nearby Share with a singular solution called Quick Share that will work across all Android and Chrome OS devices. Quick Share combines the best of Nearby Share and Samsung’s old Quick Share feature, and Google is working with PC makers like LG to add it to Windows as well. Quick Share will replace Nearby Share beginning next month.

Fast Pair comes to Google TV. Google’s Fast Pair feature makes it easy to connect your phone or Chromebook to compatible Bluetooth devices like the Google Buds Pro. But it’s coming to Google TV soon, starting with Google’s Chromecast with Google TV next month. This will let users quickly connect to headphones, earbuds, and speakers, and, when needed, quickly switch back to the default TV audio on the fly.

New Cast capabilities. You can now cast TikTok content from your phone to any Chromecast-compatible device, and this will soon support live video broadcasting as well. And later this year, users will be able to move playback of Spotify and YouTube Music podcasts and music from a Pixel phone to a docked Pixel Tablet. (Google’s partners are also releasing more Chromecast compatible TVs this year, and the firm reports that there are now over 220 million monthly active Google TV and Android TV OS devices.)

Improved Matter interoperability. LG TVs and select Google TVs (and other Android TV OS devices) will be upgraded to become Matter-compatible Google Home hubs later this year. “So if you have a Nest Hub, Nest Mini or compatible TV, it [will be] easy to add Matter devices to your home network and locally control them with the Google Home app,” Samat says.

Android Auto improvements. Android Auto will get real-time battery information sharing with Google Maps so that it can estimate your battery level when you arrive at your destination, make charging stop recommendations en route, and estimate vehicle-specific charge times. This feature is coming first to the Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning in the coming months, Google says. But Google Maps, Assistant, and Play integration with in-car displays is coming to Nissan, Lincoln, and other brands soon. And today, you can start sending trips you’ve planned on your phone to Google Maps in your car. There’s more info here.