Android will soon let apps stream call audio from your phone to your tablet
Google’s finally back in the tablet discussion with the Pixel Tablet, a home entertainment device that doubles as a smart home hub. In his review of the Pixel Tablet, XDA’s Ben Sin says it provides the “best Android tablet software” he’s ever tested. That’s certainly promising to hear because the software experience will hopefully only improve from here as the tablet receives new features through OS and app updates. One such feature it might receive is the ability to stream or transfer calls from your phone to the tablet.
Imagine you’re at home running around doing chores or lounging on the couch watching TV when you get a call from a loved one on Google Meet. Sure, you can take the call with your phone in your hand, but if you move it to your tablet, you’ll get a much larger display and better speakers. Transferring media can be as simple as hitting the “cast” button in-app and then selecting the tablet (this only works with the Pixel Tablet for now since it’s the only Android tablet that supports acting as a Cast receiver). On Android 13+, you can even transfer media to a cast device outside the app through the OS’s output switcher. Eventually, you may even be able to stream Google Meet calls from your phone to your tablet. And this is all thanks to Google’s new Telecom Jetpack library.
During the “building for the future of Android” session at Google I/O 2023 earlier this year, Google announced it would be releasing a new Jetpack library called “Telecom” that simplifies the API surface for telecom stack integration and also makes new features possible, like seamless audio switching/routing and VoIP call transfer. Specifically, Developer Relations Engineer Dan