Google has rolled out the Nearby Share app for Windows, which has been in beta since March. The new tool lets you easily send and receive files – photos, videos, music documents and more – between nearby Android devices and Windows computers.
During the Nearby Share beta program, 1.7 million people downloaded the application, sending over 50 million files between their Android and Windows devices, according to Google.
Nearby Share isn’t close to being the first file-sharing feature between Android and Windows. It’s not even the only file transfer tool that Google currently has – you can transfer files via Google accounts, such as Drive and Photos, or even via USB.
However, it’s easy to use. Nearby Share doesn’t involve cables, and it doesn’t require uploading files to any existing accounts. Instead, much like Apple’s AirDrop feature, you can quickly send a file from your Android phone to your Windows computer, as long as the two devices are nearby and connected. It’s simply less complicated to use than other existing file transfer methods.
New? Nearby Share has been around for at least a year. The issue is no one knows about it, because as usual Google is horrible with branding.
They should have just called it “Google Beam” or something like that.