Google says that ever since they introduced Fast Pairing, there have been more than three million pairings between speakers and earbuds to Android smartphones. It has indeed made things easier with its one-tap notification rather than always going into your settings to pair them up. They are now bringing even more capabilities to it to make life even more convenient for those who have Bluetooth accessories, especially the true wireless earbuds, including the recently released Google Pixel Buds now available in the U.S.
For those who constantly forget where they last placed their wireless earbuds, you can now locate them by ringing one or both of the buds, depending on which one/ones you’ve misplaced. Another upcoming feature that can help you locate them is by using the Find My Device app. But it will only work of course if your Location History is turned on. Your headset and speakers will also now be named like “Ida’s Pixel Buds” once it successfully pairs with Bluetooth.
If you have true wireless earbuds and you open the case, you’ll find out the battery levels of both earbuds and the carrying case (if applicable) through a notification on your smartphone. If any of them are running low on juice, you’ll also receive a notification so you can charge them when you can. If your smartphone is already running on Android 10 you will be able to adjust the headphone settings from the device details page.
These new Fast Pair features will not be available for all Bluetooth devices just yet. For true wireless earbuds, only the Harmon Kardon FLY and the new Google Pixel Buds will be able to see the new features but it will roll out to other devices as well. The Find My Device connection will be rolling out in the next few months, but they didn’t have a specific timetable for that just yet.
The new Google Pixel Buds are also now available to order on the Google Store and other online retail sites, 6 months after it was first announced. Fast Pair is just one of the things to enjoy there but you have other new things like real-time translation, Adaptive Sound, Google Assistant support, etc.
