Google also made several announcements during the ongoing CES 2024 expo in Las Vegas, USA. Besides merging Nearby Share into Samsung's Quick Share, Google also announced that it is bringing Fast Pair to Google TV devices. It is also improving the media casting experience on Android and Google TV devices.
Google TV gets Fast Pair
Fast Pair is Google's system that simplifies the Bluetooth pairing process for wireless earphones and other wearable devices. You don't need to enter codes to pair devices via Bluetooth. It all happens through a pop-up menu and Bluetooth LE discovery when you put your accessory in pairing mode. This feature is available on phones and tablets running Android. Now, the same Fast Pair method is coming to smart TVs running Google TV and Chrome OS devices. When you open your new wireless earbuds or earphones featuring Fast Pair, a Google TV device will display a pop-up menu, and you can confirm with a simple press if it's your wireless earbuds. Then, you can start using wireless earbuds to listen to content that's playing on your Google TV (or Android TV) device.
This feature will start rolling out to Chrome OS laptops/PCs and Google TV devices next month. However, the complete rollout will happen “later this year,” according to Google. We wish Google and Samsung would merge their fast pairing mechanisms for Bluetooth accessories into a single feature like they did with Nearby Share and Quick Share for file sharing. It will make it easier to pair non-Samsung wireless earbuds to Samsung TVs and Samsung's wireless earbuds to non-Samsung TVs.
Improved casting brings TikTok to Google TV and Pixel Tablet
Google announced that you can start casting TikTok videos to Google TV devices starting today. The feature also works with devices that feature Chromecast Built-In, which means Google Nest Hub and the Pixel Tablet are also compatible with this new feature. In the future, you will also be able to cast live TikTok videos. By default, when you cast a TikTok video to a Google TV or Chromecast Built-In device nearby, the video will start playing automatically, but you can change that behavior if you find it irritating.
The company is also expanding the availability of Google Cast to more devices, starting with smart TVs from LG. LG's smart TV lineup for 2024, which was recently announced, features Google Cast (Chromecast Built-In). Later this year, hotel rooms with LG (LG Hospitality and Healthcare) devices will get the Chromecast Built-In functionality, which means you can easily cast content from your smartphone or tablet to an LG TV or display in your hotel room.
Speaking of media casting, check out Samsung's new Music Frame wireless speaker, to which you can cast your music in our hands-on video below.
Spotify and YouTube Music now support Tap To Cast (for Pixel Tablet)
This year, Google is also bringing the Tap To Cast feature to more media streaming apps, including Spotify and YouTube Music. It means you can move music/podcasts that are being played on your phone/tablet to a device with Tap To Cast (like Pixel Tablet). This way, you can continue playing your favorite music when you reach home and want to listen to music on better speakers. This feature currently works on Pixel smartphones that feature UWB (Ultra Wideband), but we expect it to come to other Android devices with UWB in the future.
