At Wednesday’s annual IO conference, Google unveiled a number of new products, features and services that will be launched in the coming months. I saw a new Pixel tablet, watch and phone, a new budget Pixel 6a, the first public Android 13 beta and interesting search updates, AI and apps.
But here at Macworld, we couldn’t help but notice how familiar many of the ads sounded. At IO, more than a few features have been revealed that appear to be broken directly from the Apple playbook. Here are 5 features that come with Google and Android devices that Apple users have been enjoying for years:
Google Wallet
One of the biggest announcements about applications from IO was the conversion of Google Pay into Google Wallet. Of course, Google Wallet was a thing before the Apple Card, but this latest iteration requires more than a few clues from the iPhone app. The newly launched Google Wallet is your unique place for your digital life, keeping digital IDs, boarding passes, concert tickets, vaccination cards, loyalty cards, car keys and, of course, business cards. credit. Speaking of experience, Android users will love them.
Better tablet and multitasking apps
To put it bluntly, Google tablets are not exactly in the same league as the iPad. With Android 13, Google is looking to change that by stealing some of the wonderful experience of the Apple tablet. New features coming to Android tablets include easy multitasking, allowing you to use side-by-side apps and new interfaces “to take full advantage of extra space, including YouTube Music, Google Maps, Messages and more.” We’re not sure if this will greatly affect Apple’s dominance of tablets, but it’s better later than never.
Copy and paste from phones to tablets
Apple users have long had the ability to copy something to iPhone and paste it to Mac thanks to the power of Handoff and iCloud, and now Google brings the same thing to Android 13 phones and tablets. a URL or an image on your phone and will paste it on your tablet. ” The system (seen below) looks a little heavier than Apple’s Universal Copy and Paste, but hey, it’s a start.
Pixel Buds Pro
Google unveiled and teased a lot of hardware announcements during its IO speech, including the new budget Pixel 6a, but the most intriguing was the Pixel Buds Pro. While no one would confuse Pixel Buds A-Series wireless headphones with AirPods, Pixel Buds Pro has a very similar feature to AirPods Pro. Get noise cancellation, transparency, spatial sound, and “find me” tracking and an in-ear design that looks awfully similar to the rumors about AirPods Pro 2. Call them rivals if necessary, but we just call them imitators.
Digital crown
Google stopped shortly before launching its first Google IO wearable device, but has finally confirmed the existence of the Pixel Watch. Like other Android Wear OS watches, it has a circular design with a fairly large bezel and a new “touch” crown that looks like the Google version of the Digital Crown on the Apple Watch. We don’t know if it will be as smooth as Apple or with a built-in ECG sensor, but the concept and appearance are pretty much the same.