“CES 2023: Google showcases Android’s latest connectivity features, products, and milestones”
CES 2023, one of the world’s largest technology events, took place from January 5th to the 8th in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the event, Google made a number of announcements regarding new features, products, and milestones for Android.
One of the major announcements was the redesign of Android Auto, which aims to make it easier for users to access their favorite Android phone experiences, such as navigation, media, and communication, on their car’s display. Additionally, Google has partnered with several car manufacturers such as Honda, Polestar, Volvo, Chevrolet, GMC, Renault, and Cadillac to integrate Google Assistant, Google Maps, and other apps from Google Play directly into the car’s system, allowing users to control the car’s temperature with their voice and even turn on their house lights from their car before they arrive home.
Google also focused on expanding its connectivity features to enable seamless switching between devices. The new Phone Hub feature in ChromeOS allows users to view and respond to notifications from messaging apps on their Android phone directly from their laptop. Additionally, Chromebooks now come with productivity features that help users get more done with their Android phone, such as grabbing the latest photos from the phone’s camera roll, sending files with Nearby Share, and sharing and connecting to saved Wi-Fi networks.
These features are available on the new Chromebooks announced at CES including the ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX34 Flip and HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook.
Connectivity milestones
In addition to the new products and features, Google also highlighted several connectivity milestones at CES 2023. One of the most notable of these is Fast Pair, a feature that allows users to quickly and easily find and connect to nearby devices, such as headphones. With Fast Pair, the setup process for pairing your favorite devices is greatly simplified, and it currently supports over 300 headphone models from brands like Beats, JBL, OnePlus, and Sony. Additionally, Fast Pair also works with Matter, which allows users to connect smart home devices to Google Home and other apps directly from their mobile devices.
In 2022, over 320 million Fast Pair pairings were made to instantly find and connect nearby accessories to your devices.
Nearby Share, which allows Android devices to share content easily, has seen 3 billion devices using the feature since its launch in 2020.
At CES 2023, Google also highlighted the success of Chromecast, its dongle that allows users to stream online entertainment to regular TVs, smart speakers, and soundbars. The device now supports over 3,000 audio and video apps, providing a wide range of entertainment options for all types of users. Additionally, Google TV, an app that enables Android devices to act as a remote control and cast shows and movies from apps directly to compatible TVs, has reached 150 million monthly active devices. This highlights the growing popularity of the app and its ability to simplify the process of streaming content to TVs.
More Google TV devices are also set to launch within the year including the TCL Q-Series TV and the Hisense ULED TVs, Laser TVs and Laser Cinema lineups.
The wearable market has seen significant growth, as reported by Google. The number of active devices using the Wear OS operating system has tripled since May 2021. Wear OS is designed specifically for smartwatches and other wearable technology. The latest version, Wear OS 3, offers features such as the ability to level up selfies using the Camera app and remotely control the camera shutter on Pixel phones, as well as the ability to control compatible smart home devices using the Google Home app. Some examples of devices that use Wear OS include the Pixel Watches, Samsung Galaxy Watch5 series, and Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition.
