At its annual IoT conference on Wednesday, Google unveiled a number of new products, features and services that will roll out in the coming months. We’ve seen a new Pixel tablet, watch and phone, a new budget Pixel 6a, the first Android 13 public beta, and exciting search, AI, and app updates.
But here at McWorld, we couldn’t help but notice how familiar many of the announcements sounded. There were more than a few features unveiled in IoT that apparently broke directly from Apple’s Playbook. Here are 5 features coming to Google and Android devices that Apple users have been enjoying year after year:
Google Wallet
One of the biggest app announcements in IO was to convert Google Pay to Google Wallet. Granted, Google Wallet was a thing before Apple Card, but this latest iteration takes more than a few hints from the iPhone app. The new Google Wallet, coming soon, is your one stop place for your digital life, digital ID, boarding pass, concert ticket, vaccination card, loyalty card, car key and of course credit card. From experience, Android users will love it.
Better tablet apps and multitasking
To put it mildly, Google’s tablets are not in the same league as the iPad. With Android 13, Google wants to change that by stealing something from Apple’s great tablet experience. New features on the Android tablet include simple multitasking that lets you use apps as well as new interfaces “to take full advantage of extra space, including YouTube music, Google Maps, Messages and more.” We’re not sure if this will hurt Apple’s tablet dominance much, but hey, it’s too late.
Universal copy and paste
For the power of Handoff and iCloud, Apple users have long had the ability to copy something to their iPhone and paste it into their Mac, and now Google is bringing the same thing to Android phones and tablets. According to Google, “you’ll soon be able to copy a URL or image from your phone and paste it into your tablet.” The system (seen below) seems a bit clunky compared to Apple’s completely seamless universal copy and paste, but hey, this is a start.
Pixel Buds Pro
Google unveiled and teased a bunch of hardware announcements during its IO Keynote, including the new budget Pixel 6A, but the most interesting was the Pixel Buds Pro. While no one will confuse Pixel Buds A-Series wireless earbuds with AirPods, the Pixel Buds Pro bears a striking resemblance to the AirPods Pro. You’ll find noise cancellation, transparency mode, spatial audio and ‘Find My’ tracking, and an in-ear design that bears a striking resemblance to the rumors of AirPods Pro 2. Tell your competitors if you need them, but we’ll just ‘call’ em copycats.
Digital Crown
Google stopped short of its first wearable release on Google IO, but it did confirm the existence of the Pixel Watch. Like other Android Wire OS watches, it has a rounded design with a fairly sized bezel and a new “touch” crown that looks like the Apple Watch’s version of Google’s Digital Crown. We don’t know if it will be as smooth as Apple or if it will have a built-in ECG sensor, but the concept and appearance are practically the same.