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The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

arstechnica.com

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Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#51

Post by sorenjan »

jeroenhd wrote: post #20

An additional benefit is that the Wi-Fi standard also means that the weird account requirements on Google's Nearby Share can be avoided by independent implementations (i.e. on Windows or Linux or maybe rooted Android, iOS and macOS already have it of course). "Contacts only mode" will always be a challenge, but at least the "I just want to share a file without Google watching me" use case is now resolved by Google im…

Qualcomm has confirmed it's coming to Snapdragon phones soon[0], which maybe hints that it's dependent on the SoC drivers? Samsung uses a mix of Snapdragon and their own Exynos, but I can't see them not releasing it to their Snapdragon phones when others do, and then they pretty much have to release it to their Exynos phones too.

[0] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Qualcomm-confirms-Quick-Share-...

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#52

Post by GenerWork »

star-glider wrote: post #37
tracerbulletx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a libertarian but regulatory intervention made everything about the market better and a better world for everyone involved with a relatively small change that was being stubbornly refused by a company for a small marginal benefit to themselves?

Sure, because I think that, ultimately excessive regulation stifles innovation. I mean, heck, the EU is looking to effectively dismantle GDPR because they're worried that it's going to cause them to miss out on the AI boom. My point was just that Apple is such an outrageously bad actor (and the USB-C and Airdrop rules so beneficial) that these rules were getting even a very pro-market person like me to at least be op…

Your last paragraph doesn't really make you come off as a libertarian at all. If Apple is truly a bad actor, then the libertarian response isn't to have the EU force them to use USB-C on iPhones, it's for people to move away from iPhones to other choices, which means Androids.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#53

Post by jaffa2 »

fragmede wrote: post #30
joejohnson wrote: post #4

I wonder if it's related to Apple's change from AWDL to Wi-Fi Aware, but AirDrop seems much more reliable on iOS 26. I can send to multiple people at once and they often all succeed, but most importantly, if one transfer fails or is cancelled, I can retry and it works. In older versions of iOS, a failed transfer seemed to block all future attempts until the phone was restarted.

the weird one for me is that if I hit share, and then hit the airdrop target, it doesn't work, but if go into airdrop and then select the same target, then works. Apple, fix your shit, yo.

Yep seen this before too.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#54

Post by techpression »

gambiting wrote: post #48
llm_nerd wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Begging? Apple filed a couple of light objections -- basically a "don't regulate us, bro" -- and then moved on. Their resistance was laughably superficial Look, Apple is a predatory, extraordinarily greedy company, but these sorts of "thanks EU!" discussions are a riot. Thanks EU, for making Apple support a clone of an Apple feature that didn't exist until Apple made it, and for "forcing" Apple to transition their li…

>> which they were already almost completely done doing Honest question - why did they stick with lighting on iphones for so long, given that usb-c has been ubiquitus on phones for years before that point. I mean we can sit here and say "duh apple was going to do it anyway" but like.....why didn't they? Why did samsung have usb-c phones long before apple?

They openly said why, millions upon millions of devices (speakers etc) people wanted to use with lightning connectors. There was never a good time and EU putting a deadline on it gets Apple free of the e-waste accusations.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#55

Post by gnulinux996 »

MBCook wrote: post #3

So they forced Apple to drop an Apple proprietary thing in favor of… a Wi-Fi standard Apple helped develop specifically to replace their proprietary thing. Not quite as strong as the headline makes the case sound.

I feel like your take is what an Apple PR person might say in order to downplay Apple's defeat.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#58

Post by timeon »

star-glider wrote: post #37
tracerbulletx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a libertarian but regulatory intervention made everything about the market better and a better world for everyone involved with a relatively small change that was being stubbornly refused by a company for a small marginal benefit to themselves?

Sure, because I think that, ultimately excessive regulation stifles innovation. I mean, heck, the EU is looking to effectively dismantle GDPR because they're worried that it's going to cause them to miss out on the AI boom. My point was just that Apple is such an outrageously bad actor (and the USB-C and Airdrop rules so beneficial) that these rules were getting even a very pro-market person like me to at least be op…

> EU is looking to effectively dismantle GDPR

The reason is lobby, not innovations.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#59

Post by dijit »

lsaferite wrote: post #42
fingerlocks wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple made major contributions to USB-C and adopted it a decade ago in their MacBooks. They were committed to lightning for 10 years starting in 2012-ish, so usb-c was likely inevitable in iOS devices. However I would preferred a backwards compatibility lightning 2.0 upgrade. Cleaning a usb-c port is a huge pain and they are more prone to pocket lint clogging than lightning.

Plastic dental picks work great for cleaning USB-C ports.

just don’t apply too much pressure or the center segment can bend over time, becoming weak and prone to potentially snapping off.

It happened to me at least.

Re: The EU made Apple adopt new Wi-Fi standards, and now Android can support AirDrop

#60

Post by embedding-shape »

gnulinux996 wrote: post #55
MBCook wrote: post #3

So they forced Apple to drop an Apple proprietary thing in favor of… a Wi-Fi standard Apple helped develop specifically to replace their proprietary thing. Not quite as strong as the headline makes the case sound.

I feel like your take is what an Apple PR person might say in order to downplay Apple's defeat.

Hah, right? Everyone understands that Apple wouldn't have done anything by themselves if it wasn't for the DMA.

The whole selling point of Apple was that as long as you're inside the ecosystem, you'll get the smoothest experience. Well, now the law says that devices, apps and products from third parties should be able to be used on an iPhone as seamlessly as Apple's own products, of course they wouldn't have given that up willingly.

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