What you need to know
- Google is reportedly still working on an alternative to Apple’s NameDrop for Android users.
- Recent discoveries show that an animation could play when sharing contact details before your sharing contents are (ideally) displayed.
- This feature was first spotted in early code strings last month, as Google mentioned “Gesture Exchange,” NFC usage, and more.
Sharing contact info is simple, but it could be faster and even more seamless, which is why Google is supposedly chasing a method Apple has already done.
Smaller Google updates tend to give tipsters, like AssembleDebug at Android Authority, information about new developments, which is where this NameDrop-reminiscent feature comes from. After sifting through a recent Play Services beta, AssembleDebug was able to (in a way) activate Google’s version of Apple’s contact sharing feature. The tipster’s video evidence shows how this could work between devices, as they hold one phone atop the other.
There appears to be some distance between phones; however, an almost creamsicle-colored animation appears shortly after.
The lights appear along the top portion of both phones, rolling through their rounded corners and down the display partway. The animation will likely appear, alongside the contact information you’ve shared and received. The animation recedes to the punch hole selfie camera once the process is completed.
NFC still appears to play a major part in this contact exchange, but, as the tipster states, it’s unclear just how reliant on it the feature will be. As development progresses, the tipster speculates that NFC could simply kickstart the feature before throwing things over to a user’s Bluetooth or even Wi-Fi connectivity for the rest.
One tap, done
This is the second time Google’s version of Apple’s NameDrop has appeared in rumors. The first instance occurred in November when early strings of Google’s code reportedly alluded to its existence. The code called the feature a “Gesture Exchange,” while other important code bits highlighted its reliance on NFC. It’s been speculated that, much like Apple, Google’s version would let users share their phone number, photo, name, and email.
That earlier discovery even leverage a small menu, which could greet users before sharing information.
Users may find a checklist of details they’d like to share before “tapping” their phone on somdone else’s to begin the transfer. Another menu was spotted, one that would explain the contents of what the opposite phone has given you in return. It seems that Google’s Calling Cards aren’t enough, as it seeks to truly streamline and make it easy to keep in contact with others.
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