C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
đ Good day, Andy here once again! With Hadlee in Barcelona for MWC 2023, Iâm again taking over the reins. Thanks to an early power cut, I had a late start to the morning, but weâre back for a few hours at least.
Setting up for greatness
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
The team has been playing around with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra for quite some time, discovering its positives and weaknesses and understanding its advantages over its rivals. Now, AAâs Dhruv Bhutani got to grips with another positive â Androidâs new Fast Pair system.
- No one wants to spend the entire day setting up a smartphone.
- For us, we go through this process many times a month when a new device drops.
- Thankfully, Google is finally extending its Fast Pair serviceâs capabilities to encompass the entire smartphone setup process.
The process improves
- Fast Pair is baked into Android and uses a combination of Bluetooth Low Energy and software to initiate a pairing response between two devices.
- Initially, this was limited to accessories like headphones or earbuds. Now, those capabilities include smartphones.
- So, how does it work?
- When setting up a new phone (in our case, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra), a prompt will appear on your existing phone with a QR code.
- âScanning the QR code on the phone popped open Samsungâs Smart Switch utility, after which it was a simple matter of choosing the apps and files I wanted to carry over to my new phone,â says Dhruv.
- For older Android phones, youâll need to jump through a few more hoops.
- âThe QR code and prompt to set up a new phone will still be there, but what they do is fast-forward Androidâs regular setup by automatically connecting your new phone to your Wi-Fi and importing your Google accounts without making you type those,â notes Dhruv.
- From there, youâll still need to enter your Google password to enter Androidâs usual restore process.
So whatâs the verdict?
- The new Fast Pair improvements are a welcome addition to the Android toolkit, especially since most Android OEMs have their own data transfer utility.
- Fast Pair merely acts as a trigger for these utilities, but buyers who arenât necessarily tech-savvy are immediately pointed in the right direction.
- Dhruv is full of praise for these upgrades, but itâs also thanks to Samsungâs own software.
- âThe app not only moved my existing applications but also maintained the sign-in signatures for most of them. All my files were also copied and placed in the same location where they were before.â
- For now, the new Fast Pair system is only available on Samsungâs latest smartphones, but keep an eye out for the adoption of the improvements across more major brands in the coming months.
Thursday thing
Remember all those eventually-identified balloons found floating across North America just a few weeks ago? Japanese authorities have encountered something even stranger (h/t The Guardian).
- Whatâs described as a large iron ball measuring about 1.5 meters across was found sunbathing on Enshu beach, Hamamatsu.
- Although initial fears were that the ball was a weapon, X-rays suggest itâs entirely hollow.
- There are also no indications that the ball was involved in North Korean or Chinese espionage activities.
- Of course, thereâs a boring theory of its origin.
- Two raised handles on either side suggest that itâs part of a buoy mooring that somehow worked itself loose.
- Alternatively, some people think itâs one of the Dragon Balls.
- Others think it was a UFO that fell from the sky.
- Well, we should know in the coming days exactly what the strange iron ball really is (when aliens come looking for it, of course).
Have a great Thursday,
Andy Walker, Editor.