At its annual IO conference on Wednesday, Google unveiled a range of new products, features and services that will be launched in the coming months. We got a look at a new Pixel tablet, watch and phone, a new budget Pixel 6a, the first public beta version of Android 13 and exciting search, AI and app updates.
But here at Macworld, we could not help but notice how familiar many of the announcements sounded. There were more than a few features revealed on IO that are apparently ripped directly from Apple’s gamebook. Here are 5 features that come to Google and Android devices that Apple users have enjoyed for years:
Google Wallet
One of the biggest app announcements on IO was the conversion of Google Pay to Google Wallet. Granted, Google Wallet was one thing before the Apple Card, but this latest iteration takes more than a few clues from the iPhone app. The new Google Wallet, which will be launched soon, is your only place for your digital life, digital ID storage, boarding passes, concert tickets, vaccination cards, regular customer cards, car keys and of course credit cards. From experience, Android users will love it.
Better tablets and multitasking
To put it mildly, Google tablets is not exactly in the same league as the iPad. With Android 13, Google wants to change that by stealing a bit from Apple’s fantastic tablet. Among the new features coming to Android tablets are simple multitasking that lets you use apps side by side and new interfaces “to take full advantage of the extra space including YouTube Music, Google Maps, Messages and more.” We’re not sure if it’s going to put a big dent in Apple’s tablet dominance, but hey, better late than never.
Copy and paste from phones to tablets
Apple users have long had the ability to copy something to their iPhone and paste it onto their Mac thanks to the power of Handoff and iCloud, and now Google is giving the same to phones and tablets in Android 13. According to Google, “you will soon be able to copy a URL or image from your phone and paste it on your tablet. ” The system (see below) seems a little clumsy than Apple’s completely seamless Universal Copy and Paste, but hey, that’s a start.
Pixel Buds Pro
Google revealed and teased a bunch of hardware announcements during its IO keynote, including the new budget Pixel 6a, but the most exciting was Pixel Buds Pro. Although no one would confuse Pixel Buds A-Series wireless headphones with AirPods, Pixel Buds Pro has a very similar feature to AirPods Pro. You get noise reduction, transparency mode, spatial sound and “find my” tracking and an in-ear design that seems very similar to the rumors of AirPods Pro 2. Call them rivals if you have to, but we’ll just call them copycats.
Digital crown
Google quit a bit to release its first ever portable device on Google IO, but it finally confirmed the existence of the Pixel Watch. Like other Android Wear OS watches, it has a circular design with a fairly large frame and a new “tactile” crown that looks like Google’s version of Digital Crown on the Apple Watch. We do not know if it will be as flexible as Apple’s or have a built-in ECG sensor, but the concept and appearance are practically identical.