Nearby Share for Windows, available as an app download on PCs around the world, has now been installed by more than 1.7 million people. With photos and videos being the most popular file types to send, we’ve seen over 50 million files transferred between PC and Android devices since launch. No need to search for any cables or cords – sharing media to your own devices or with nearby friends and family is possible with just a few clicks.
Today marks the official launch of Nearby Share with Windows, offering improved performance and new functionality that can make it even easier for you to share content and stay productive.
Ronald Ho
I have never been quite satisfied with most methods to share files between phones and PCs. The initial way of connecting them with a USB cable has the fastest transfer speed, so it’s great for backing up photos (especially because I shoot RAW on my smartphone as well) and other files, but for a small number of files it’s unwieldy to gather the cable and navigate folders to locate the files. Uploading them to OneDrive or other cloud services can also be time-consuming, as the app sometimes logs you out and you still have to search for the files. I could never get used to Microsoft’s Phone Link, as in its earlier iterations it failed to connect more often than not and newer versions were obnoxious with its constant notifications and permissions requests – not to mention I simply don’t need most of its features.
Compared to these alternatives, Google’s Nearby Share is fast and seamless to use, ideal for sending a few files back-and-forth, when I need screenshots from my phone for a blog post for instance. The Windows app adds a context menu entry ‘Send with Nearby Share’, and on Android it’s integrated into the share sheet, so it’s easy to access on each device.
The only issue I came across is that sharing from my PC to my Galaxy smartphone only works when the device visibility on the phone is set to ‘Everyone’ – curiously, I can send the other way around, phone to PC, with both set to ‘Your devices’, while ‘Contacts’ doesn’t work in either direction. You must also keep the PC app running in the background for it to receive files, which I generally don’t do, but I also don’t need this on a regular basis.
Earlier this month, Google announced a collaboration with Samsung to merge the Quick Share and Nearby Share features, which should presumably make it available to more Android users. I’m not convinced this is going to lead to massive adoption, as outside of Apple’s ecosystem people are just sending files and photos via messaging apps, which have the added benefit that you don’t need to be in Bluetooth range. But I’ll happily keep Nearby Share for my personal use, as long as Google is willing to support it.
Post a Comment