After a long development period, Google did last year Close post For simple data exchange between two or multiple (future) devices. Neighbor Sharing uses offline technologies and can send required data directly between devices without an internet connection. Some Googlers are now providing interesting insights into how and for what purpose this technology is used.
There are often several ways to send data between two devices, with a choice of different solutions depending on your needs. Messages and snapshots are sent via Messenger, documents may be sent via email, larger files via cloud storage, and the cloud can also be used for photo collections. Every smartphone has Bluetooth, which is also available in most laptops, but it seems that only a few users should use it for these purposes.
Using Neighborhood Sharing, Google has created a solution that is also based on Bluetooth technology, but combines it with other technologies such as Wifi Direct. Establishing a connection is very quick and easy, devices can find each other and save them in lists and thanks to WiFi, the transmission speed is very high. Now it should just bring everything closer to the people who, in the crowd, shouldn’t know that Nearby Sharing is only one entry away in the sharing list.
To promote close engagement, Google has now published some mini-reports from its employees expressing their enthusiasm for the feature. Not surprisingly, but some of the scenarios are interesting and maybe there is one thing or another that could make the use of nearby sharing viable.
My wife and I like to travel a lot – preferably away from crowds of tourists. At the end of each holiday, we collect our photos and pick the best ones, then send them to family and friends back home once we have an internet connection again. With the Nearby Sharing feature, we can now share photos between our devices offline and our loved ones at home almost still on the air.
But my friends and I still keep our distance. And with Nearby Sharing, I can still easily show them my latest trick with my dog. In the meantime, learn to jump through a hoop. What I think is cool is that I can hide my contact information so that my data is protected.
The close post was really helpful the last time I was helping my kids with a school project about birds. We found a suitable image of a peregrine falcon on my smartphone and were able to edit it in just a few steps, transfer it directly to my Chromebook and insert it into the presentation as a starter slide.
For me, the best thing about Nearby Share is that I can easily use it to share not only files or MP3s, but also snippets of text and URLs, without having to email myself.
It’s great that you can exceed the maximum size of email attachments and send multiple files at the same time quickly, securely and easily.
» More examples in Google Germany blog
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