As part of its Better Together With Android announcement tied to CES 2022, Google says it will be creating its own versions of two of Apple’s most notable audio features: The ability to seamlessly move your headphones’ Bluetooth connection from a phone to a computer and vice versa, and support for head-tracking spatial audio.
“To amplify your visual and audio experiences,” the company said in its press release that “your devices should instinctively know which of them you want to use and when. We’re building a technology for Bluetooth-enabled headphones that will enable them to automatically switch the audio to whatever device you’re listening to.”
As an example, Google says that if you’re wearing headphones to watch a movie on your Android tablet and you receive a phone call, the movie will pause and your headphone audio will automatically switch to your
That description is pretty much exactly how automatic audio switching works within the Apple ecosystem, if you’re using iOS, iPadOs, or MacOS devices with Apple or Beats Bluetooth earbuds and headphones. With Apple’s version, you must be signed into iCloud on all of your devices in order for it to work. Google hasn’t indicated if its version of automatic switching will require a similar signed-in state or not.
It also looks like Google is very keen to bring Apple’s head-tracking spatial audio feature to non-Apple headphones and devices. Head-tracking
Google hasn’t confirmed that its version of
Adding these features to
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