Samsung had a very interesting new development to show off at their first annual global developers’ conference. The name? Samsung Flow. Its purpose? To let you take what you do on your phone, and do it on your tablet. Or computer. Or even your TV. You can liken it to Apple’s Continuity, a feature that lets you send and receive messages, email and calls, edit documents, view pictures and more from your Mac OS computer, iPad or iPhone and sync it up in real time.
Samsung’s Flow follows those same lines. You can be looking at a photo on your phone and send it over to your Smart TV. Pretty basic stuff there. You can also transfer a video call from your tablet to your phone, or from your phone to your TV, and have it pick up where you left off without seemingly seamless hand-offs. You’ll even be able to start editing documents like spreadsheets and presentations on one device and pick it back up on another, or begin watching a movie on your tablet and flip it back over to your TV without having to mess around with a timeline scrubber.
What’s more is Samsung’s using Android’s built-in sharing and viewing intent APIs so developers can make their apps work with Flow with very little effort. It’s a great development, though we’re sure some folks will attempt to call Samsung out on trying to “copy” another Apple feature (even though this sort of seamless hand-off has been worked on by independent developers of apps like Pushbullet and AirDroid for quite some time).
We’re sure Samsung’s going to lock this one into their own hardware ecosystem. It’d be a great feature for all of the Android world to enjoy, but if the Gear line of smart watches is anything to go by they won’t let you in on the fun without buying their products. For now, though, we’re excited to see where this thing is headed, and can’t wait to see what Samsung has in store for the future.
Samsung’s Flow follows those same lines. You can be looking at a photo on your phone and send it over to your Smart TV. Pretty basic stuff there. You can also transfer a video call from your tablet to your phone, or from your phone to your TV, and have it pick up where you left off without seemingly seamless hand-offs. You’ll even be able to start editing documents like spreadsheets and presentations on one device and pick it back up on another, or begin watching a movie on your tablet and flip it back over to your TV without having to mess around with a timeline scrubber.
What’s more is Samsung’s using Android’s built-in sharing and viewing intent APIs so developers can make their apps work with Flow with very little effort. It’s a great development, though we’re sure some folks will attempt to call Samsung out on trying to “copy” another Apple feature (even though this sort of seamless hand-off has been worked on by independent developers of apps like Pushbullet and AirDroid for quite some time).
We’re sure Samsung’s going to lock this one into their own hardware ecosystem. It’d be a great feature for all of the Android world to enjoy, but if the Gear line of smart watches is anything to go by they won’t let you in on the fun without buying their products. For now, though, we’re excited to see where this thing is headed, and can’t wait to see what Samsung has in store for the future.
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