Qualcomm Unveils 'Snapdragon Seamless' Device-to-Device Connectivity

pcmag.com:

Qualcomm previewed a new feature at its Snapdragon Summit in Maui that promises a less fractured multiple-device lifestyle—as long as those devices run Android or Windows. 

The company’s announcement for "Snapdragon Seamless" touts such cross-device experiences as switching a mouse and keyboard from a PC to a phone to a tablet, dragging and dropping files and windows among those gadgets, having earbuds intelligently switch sources based on which device is playing, and projecting graphics from a phone to augmented-reality eyewear.

Those scenarios remain problematic to impossible between Android phones and PCs today. Samsung’s Dex allows its higher-end smartphones to use a PC’s display and input devices, Google’s Nearby Share app can transfer files wirelessly from phones to PCs (except those running Qualcomm’s ARM-based Snapdragon processors, which that Intel-specific app doesn’t support), and that’s about it if you don't want to get into tinkering with third-party apps. 

Qualcomm says Snapdragon Seamless comes with its just-announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform and Snapdragon X Elite PC platform, plus “our wearable and hearable platforms.” Its announcement touts support from Google and Microsoft as well as four hardware vendors: Honor, Lenovo, Oppo, and Xiaomi.  

Qualcomm’s release says these firms will start enabling Seamless in their products “as early as this year,” with this technology expanding to the automotive and Internet-of-Things sectors later.

Having Android and Windows support Seamless should help with that rollout, but phone-hardware support is less clear for American shoppers. Lenovo’s Motorola brand holds a distant third place in the North American market, while Honor, Oppo and Xiaomi remain