has quite the duopoly with Android Chrome. The latter is the world’s most popular mobile operating system, while Chrome dominates the charts when it comes to browser usage.
So it’s long past time to make these two stalwarts play together a little more closely. Yes, we know that the ay Store is coming to Chromebooks, but there are still millions of people who either by choice or necessity do their desktop computing in ndows or OS X.
Android Chrome complement each other in a few ways already. Your browsing history active tabs can sync across devices. Chrome supports rich notifications for most of the third-party services that you probably use across mobile the desktop.
But there is still a lot more that could do to tie the two closer together, which would alleviate the need for third-party solutions. If there’s a comparison to be found it’s with Continuity, which is the way Apple engineers Macs iones to connect so tightly. It’s a powerful motivator to stick with Apple hardware, should serve as a target for how could make the mobile desktop experience an irresistible motivator to stick with the company’s ecosystem.
Hello, Chrome. It’s Android!
One of the most useful integrations that Mac ione users have is with phone calls. You can leave your phone in one part of the house not worry about missing a call if you’re at your computer because the ione will ring your Mac. It creates even more opportunity to leave the phone on the desk.
at would be lovely is if Chrome could also pull this off. Certainly the capability is already there, as this is pretty much how Voice works when fused with Hangouts. But it’s not exactly convenient to switch to a new number or even port it over to Voice, thereby canceling your mobile contract.
Hangouts can make receive calls on the desktop when connected to Voice.
Of course there’s oject Fi if you want to completely go all-in with for your wireless experience, but it’s a very early experiment with no family plans, it’s limited to modern Nexus phones. That just won’t work for most of us.
Essentially, why not bring the capabilities of Voice to all? low any Android phone to tap into Hangouts or another -powered app (hello, lo Duo!) to sync your messages take phone calls. Of course there would be a lot of technical work to be done, this might be one of those U.S.-only rollouts for a long while.
But it could be pretty powerful if you throw in some extras, like make the desktop dialer work similarly to the Nexus dialer, which intelligently searches for numbers offers -powered caller ID. There’s a lot of possibility here, especially since is really into connecting you with all its services lately.
Make the notifications richer
Chrome already has rich notifications, which can ping you when you get a new mail message, Facebook alert, or allow any third-party service to push information your way through Chrome. But responding is a little clunky compared to how quickly you can make in-line responses on mobile.
Starting with services, you ought to be able to make an in-line reply from the browser, just like you can on Android. This would allow you to fire off a Hangouts message, SMS text, or perhaps a Gmail response without getting redirected to a new browser tab.
In-line replies, particularly in Android N, are a less obstructive way to respond to a message.
It’s a little thing that may not seem like all that big of a deal, but it’s a real time-saver on mobile because you don’t have to hop into another app. You could just type your response go. Microsoft has even gotten in on the act with ndows 10, as the latest Insider build syncs your notifications allows you to write in-line replies (if you have the Cortana app installed):
You can reply to messages get back to what you were doing very quickly.
could enable this feature with its own services, but then roll out an A for use by other developers. It would be another powerful way to make Chrome Android more powerful allies.
Imagine: Notification mirroring on your desktop, with rich actions replies. And all you need is the Chrome browser installed.
t ’s AI to work everywhere
’s biggest messaging reboot yet is coming in the form of lo, a platform that’s infused with the new assistant. It promises to be always listening offer smart cards based on a new restaurant you want to visit or as a way to purchase movie tickets.
lo is injected with plenty of smarts.
But all that fun only goes so far if it’s stuck on mobile. needs lo to function much like iMessage, with a web client that also takes advantages of all the platform’s strengths, just as Facebook has done with Messenger. It’s halfway there with Hangouts, but the whole promise of bots artificial intelligence is that it makes services better. If does that with lo, then the same goodness needs to happen on the web as well.
Easier link sharing
Chrome was way ahead of competitors when it came to connecting the browser across desktop mobile. However, the process could be even smoother than it is now. By contrast, when you open the browser on an ione you’ll see an icon appear in the dock. Once you click it, you’ll open that link right away in the browser.
OS X iOS tie the desktop mobile device close together when it comes to what’s open in the browser.
It’s a little more cumbersome with Chrome. The links are buried in the settings menu (see below).
Chrome tabs stay synced across all your devices, though you have to navigate to the history tab.
ed, it’s not exactly terrible, but if you find something on your phone that you’d rather read on the desktop it’s not as smooth of a transition as Apple’s platform. Chrome could use a more front-facing notification or shortcut to find these more quickly, which could definitely speed up the workflow encourage you to stick with Chrome for all your browsing.
Mirror, mirror
I recently discovered Viewer, which offers a very easy process to mirror your Android home screen. It’s surprisingly useful, especially if you want to use check in on an app, take a screenshot, or navigate to something on your phone without the need to unlock it find your place.
Viewer is pretty useful, such a -built tool would certainly be welcome.
offers a similar tool for the desktop with its Chrome Remote Desktop. But given how much work has put into Chrome, certainly the same could be done with a web-based tool that would offer various methods to mirror your phone. Then there’d be no need to update another piece of desktop software for this purpose.
Chrome is pretty great already, but Android could certainly get a lot cozier with its desktop cousin. Such initiatives would make the productivity flow even smoother give you more reason to continue to go with all your devices.
