Android Fast Pair will connect Bluetooth gear quickly
Connecting a Bluetooth gadget to an Android phone is a hassle; you have to go through the phone’s settings and find the oddly named gadget. It’s not the end of the world, but Google is finally putting an end to all of the trouble. Android Fast Pair will seamlessly connect your Bluetooth gadget with your phone. It’ll work as effortless as connecting an iPhone with AirPods.
Enable pairing mode on the Fast Pair enabled gadget and bring it near your phone, and you’ll instantly see an on-screen prompt to connect the two devices. The on-screen prompt will show a picture of the device and the name. You won’t have to fiddle with the settings to try and figure out what gadget you’re trying to connect.
Android Fast Pair will through software unlike Apple
Google believes in using software over a chip like Apple. The W1-Chip on the AirPods and other Beat headphones let you instantly connect with Android’s Fast Pair. The problem with the W1-Chip is it’s limitation to Apple’s platform. No third-party headphones have added a W1-Chip in, and Android won’t ever support the chip. Android’s Fast Pair will work through a firmware update to any Bluetooth gadget.
As of now, only Google’s Pixel Buds and Libratone’s Q ADAPT On-Ear Wireless headphones support the Fast Pair feature. It’s refreshing to see Android fixing the problem of Bluetooth pairing through software. There isn’t any extra hardware, and any Bluetooth could use this. As long as you keep Bluetooth and location services on, this feature will work.
If Google could convince everyone to use Fast Pair and add Bluetooth 5.0 to their gadgets, we’d have better experiences with Bluetooth.