Google has confirmed that it’s bringing Nearby share feature in Android 6+ devices, which is similar to Apple’s Airdrop. Just like AirDrop Nearby will allow android user to share files between devices wirelessly and quickly.
Google rolled out the same along with the latest beta build of “Google Play Services”.
Like AirDrop in Apple devices Nearby Sharing also will allow it’s user to share anything between devices from links to large files seamlessly with out any additional setup
That’s pretty much everything about Nearby Sharing, let’s start with the setup
Inorder to use Nearby Sharing we have to enable it and we have to set up Device Visibility to be discoverable.
The feature won’t let you spam files to everyone nearby, as it appears to be limited to just those within a user’s contact list.
It’s having very clean and minimal look(Just Google Things), all you need to do is select Nearby Sharing inorder to use this feature in share sheet and BOOMMMM…
Transfer completed!
We tried to test with 100mb file and result is pretty good, to complete transfer of 100mb it took around 30 seconds, Sources saying that this feature is also going to be in Chromebook as in latest canary builds evidence this option.
Overall Google is giving some cool stuff to it’s user and it took file sharing to next level with clean, quick and straight forward experience.
How to use Nearby Sharing
Anyone who wants to give Nearby Sharing a shot will need to have opted into the Play Services beta so you can test out new features (the test is only rolling out to some devices, so there’s a good chance that even if you have the Play Services beta enabled, you may not see it on your device). You can download the APK of the Play Services beta from APKMirror, though that isn’t without risk.
Once the feature is available, it looks quite painless to use. Users just need to go to the share sheet as they would if they wanted to text or email the file to a contact. Next, tap Nearby Share and turn on the feature. After that, users will need to choose their default device name and visibility settings. From there, Nearby Sharing looks for other devices with which to connect. Of course, those devices will need to have the Play Services beta with the feature up and running as well. If they do, they’ll receive a notification that someone in their contact list is looking to share with them.
