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Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

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Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#331

Post by SchemaLoad »

ricardobeat wrote: post #256
felipeerias wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was experimenting with this technology almost a decade ago as part of my work as interaction designer: https://darker.ink/writings/Mobile-design-with-device-to-dev... It has a lot of potential but unfortunately it has been kept back until now by lack of support and interoperability.

Waayy back in 2009 we had Bump [1], which allowed transfer between devices and later web apps as well – by banging your phone against the spacebar. It worked 98% of the time and was faster than AirDrop is today, even though we only had 3G. Google acquired it and immediately killed it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_(application)

What's sad is what largely replaced device to device transfers was just messaging apps. But messaging apps compress media horribly. iMessage isn't so bad, but send a photo through almost anything else and all meta data is stripped, and the image resolution and bitrate are the absolute bare minimum to look ok on a phone. But try to print it and it will be horrible.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#332

Post by artursapek »

sneak wrote: post #330
artursapek wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hilarious that such a simple thing has taken this long for the world to build, and it's only because Apple was forced to allow it.

Apple's users bought iPhones en masse without them having this feature.

I understand that. But "this feature" is simply sending a file around between the two big mobile operating systems. It's absurd to me how this is a big product launch in 2025.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#333

Post by whywhywhywhy »

SchemaLoad wrote: post #331
ricardobeat wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waayy back in 2009 we had Bump [1], which allowed transfer between devices and later web apps as well – by banging your phone against the spacebar. It worked 98% of the time and was faster than AirDrop is today, even though we only had 3G. Google acquired it and immediately killed it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_(application)

What's sad is what largely replaced device to device transfers was just messaging apps. But messaging apps compress media horribly. iMessage isn't so bad, but send a photo through almost anything else and all meta data is stripped, and the image resolution and bitrate are the absolute bare minimum to look ok on a phone. But try to print it and it will be horrible.

> iMessage isn't so bad

iMessage is very bad in certain circumstances, think if the recipient is on 3G or 4G it really compresses videos. It's not obvious and doesn't tell the recipient or offer an option so if you're working in video you keep being told "Can you make it higher res" when this happens

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#334

Post by DANmode »

array_key_first wrote: post #181
MiddleEndian wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In high school (2003-2007) it was super easy for any of my friends and I (varying technical levels) to send arbitrarily large files to each other with AOL Instant Messenger's Direct Connect. Honestly not even sure how a non-technical person would do that nowadays.

Nowadays it's done by uploading something to Google drive and then sharing the link so someone can then download it. Expensive, overly complex, and stupidly slow.

and deeply surveil-able.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#335

Post by interpol_p »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #159
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirDrop uses P2P wifi for the actual transfer which can make it significantly faster than transferring through the internet, which makes a big difference for photos, videos, and other large files. It also works out in the middle of a forest where there are no wireless connections as well as it works in the middle of NYC.

It’s great. I used it to move entire folders from my Mac to an account-less iPad with no Internet connection. I thought it was going to be slow, but hundreds of gigabytes was fully transferred in less than a minute.

It's fast, but it's not that fast.

My son regularly borrows my iPhone 14 Pro for shooting video, and I inevitably have to do a large AirDrop transfer to him of all his footage. We usually see about 10 GB per minute, which is really fast

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#336

Post by SchemaLoad »

pxc wrote: post #313
Gigachad wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Desktop OSs are the worst for mixing random system files with the users own documents. Theres a better balance now where the “Files” app has your documents, downloaded stuff and similar, while system and app data is hidden.

Isn't that pretty much just Windows? That basically never occurs on Linux and it's not common on macOS, either. All the garbage I have on my work computer (a Mac) in ~/Documents is stuff that OneDrive synced over from when I used to have a Windows computer there. (If I could turn the OneDrive feature that takes over ~/Documents and ~/Downloads, I would.)

Linux software is notorious for spewing crap all over the user's home directory. Delete everything inside your /home/name and see how well the system still works. On iOS/iPadOS nothing happens other than not having the documents you saved in there.

I'm not sure there even is a good place where programs can store their internal system files without requiring root other than mixed in with the user Home.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#337

Post by SchemaLoad »

marcodiego wrote: post #62

Around 2008 I saw two girls, not too versed in technology, share a mp3 song over bluetooth. At the time I thought that if technology finally arrived at the point where "normal people" could be able to do things that required lots of technical knowledge just a few years ago then we were very close to a future where technology could be a giant enabler of powers to everyone. I am really ashamed by how wrong I was and ho…

Sadly for "normal people" you just share links now. You don't have an MP3 to even send.

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#339

Post by benwaffle »

codethief wrote: post #241

Do we know yet whether this will require Google Play Services and the like on Android? Or, worse, SafetyNet? I dream of using this on GrapheneOS without any Google stuff.

QuickShare already requires Google Play Services, so I don't think that will change

Re: Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10

#340

Post by apitman »

josephg wrote: post #183
layer8 wrote: post #146

This is based on Wi-Fi Aware: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Alliance#Wi-Fi_Aware Some background: https://www.ditto.com/blog/cross-platform-p2p-wi-fi-how-the-... On the Apple side, this was prompted by the EU Digital Markets Act: https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/questions-and-answe...

This is great! I notice that’s on the ditto blog. I can see why the ditto developers are watching with keen eyes! I have a modern digital camera complete with wifi and bluetooth. There’s an app that lets me connect the camera to my iPhone for monitoring, remote shooting and copying photos. Very useful! But right now the only way for the camera to connect to my phone is through some super complicated song and dance, i…

I really hope we see a resurgence in local-first networking. My wife and I can't even play a LAN game of Age of Empires 2 on a plane unless the flight has wifi.
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