Google Announces Unified Quick Share, Fast Pair for TVs, Other Android Updates at CES 2024

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 Quick Share, users can see a list of nearby available devices with a single tap of an icon. Of course, just like Apple's AirDrop feature, Quick Share will allow users to tweak privacy settings to choose who can discover their Android device and send files. According to Google's blog post detailing its CES announcements, the Quick Share feature will start rolling to current Nearby Share enabled devices in February.

Google is collaborating with Samsung to bring Quick Share on Android phones
Photo Credit: Google

Google also announced that it is extending Fast Pair support for Bluetooth accessories to Chromecast with Google TV next month and more Google TV devices later this year. Fast Pair allows users to seamlessly pair Bluetooth devices like headphones to Android phones and Chromebook laptops with a single tap in pairing mode. With the new update, TV audio can be quickly channelled to a pair of headphones or Bluetooth speakers.

There are more updates on the Chromecast front. While users can easily cast content from YouTube and other apps on their TV, Google is expanding the casting ability to more apps. Users can now cast TikTok content from their phones to Chromecast built-in devices. The ability to cast live videos from the social media app to the TV is also coming soon, the company said. Google is also rolling out a new casting feature that lets users cast music and podcasts from Spotify and YouTube Music apps on compatible Pixel phones 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.

LG TVs and select Google TV and other Android TV OS devices will act as hubs for Google Home
Photo Credit: Google

And finally, upgrades are coming to Android Auto as well. In the coming months, EVs compatible with Android Auto will be able to share real-time battery information with Google Maps, according to the company. This feature will provide battery estimates upon arriving to your destination, suggest stops on the route, and estimate charging times.