- Google has been working night and day on ChromeOS
- Phonehub is a feature to connect your Android Device seamlessly to Chromebook
- Now, notifications on Android smartphone can be displayed on Chromebook
What is Phonehub?
As part of Google’s suite of “Better Together” features, Chrome OS already offers easy integration with your Android phone for things like text/RCS messages, automatic Wi-Fi hotspot, and Smart Lock. Lately, Google is working on expanding Chrome OS’ integration with Android devices with a new “Phone Hub” feature.
A recent code change discovered on the Chromium Gerrit points towards the upcoming Phone Hub feature flag, which “Provides a UI for users to view information about their Android phone and perform phone-side actions within Chrome OS.”
The feature is expected to offer deeper integration between Chrome OS and Android devices. The only information and actions available to users are viewing and responding to text/RCS messages.
Another code change regarding the feature reveals that the Phone Hub will be located in a new section of the Connected Devices page. This will be right below instant tethering, smart lock, and Messages.
The section will include three new settings, namely Phone Hub Notifications, Phone Hub Notifications Badge, and Phone Hub Task Continuation. Meanwhile, the code change doesn’t highlight what exactly will be available to users in the task continuation feature. Possibly, the feature will let users continue tasks from their Android device on a Chromebook.
What’s New?
A new feature for Chrome OS called ‘Phone Hub’ will connect Chromebook to your Android phone. Now we’re beginning to see the feature come to fruition on the Android side by way of an update to Google Play Services.
Today, an update to Google Play Services version 20.42.14 began rolling out through the Play Store’s beta program. Lately, a variety of new texts referencing Chrome OS’s Phone Hub and the ability to mirror notifications to a Chromebook arrived.
<string name=”phone_hub_notification_opt_in_title”>Chromebook</string>
<string name=”phone_hub_notification_opt_in_text”>View your phone notifications on your Chromebook.</string>
<string name=”phone_hub_notification_connected_text”>Connected to your Chromebook</string>
<string name=”phone_hub_notification_connected_subtext”>Phone conversations will show on your Chromebook</string>
This String Code was worked on by Dylan Roussel. He managed to enable the first step of the onboarding experience. It is to connect your phone and Chromebook to share notifications.
Similarly, work is still ongoing on the Chrome OS side. Eventually, its connection to Play Services, and the UI all will work together seamlessly.
