XDA Developers is reporting that Samsung is working on Quick Share, an Android alternative to Apple’s AirDrop feature.
AirDrop is a peer-to-peer service on Apple devices that allow them to share files without the need to email, upload to the cloud or even be connected to the same WiFi network. Instead, AirDrop uses Bluetooth and WiFi to create a peer-to-peer WiFi connection between two devices. This allows for extremely convenient and fast file transfers.
Unfortunately, up until now, most Android users have not had a similar feature. That appears to be on the verge of changing, according to XDA Developers, at least for Samsung Galaxy customers.
“This will basically work like most of these other nearby sharing services. If you are near another user with a supported device, they will show up and you can share the picture, video, or file. You will have two options for sharing: contacts only or with everyone. ‘Contacts-only’ will only allow you to share files with other Samsung Social users who you have in your contacts. ‘Everyone’ will let you send or receive files from anyone with a supported device in your area.
“Unlike other services like AirDrop, Quick Share will have a cloud aspect to it. Quick Share will let you temporarily upload files to Samsung Cloud. These files will then be streamed to Samsung Smart Things devices and downloaded locally. These files can be up to 1GB with a total of 2GBs being sent per day.”
As XDA Developers points out, Google is also working on its own version of the feature. It remains to be seen if the different services will be able to communicate with one another or if this will lead to further fragmentation in the Android ecosystem.