According to a recent report, OnePlus, Meizu, Realme, and Black Shark have joined the “Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance” – a group formed by Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo – to provide their customers with an additional file-sharing option directly from and to their phones.
While there are many ways to transfer files between devices, the new Peer-to-Peer Transmission Alliance is trying to provide a faster and smoother way to share files between different models without relying on Internet connection or installation of any third-party apps. The new standard uses Bluetooth for fast pairing and then relies on Wi-Fi P2P (Peer-to-Peer) connectivity for wireless data transfer at an average speed of 20MB/second. Moreover, this new file transfer protocol supports multiple file formats and there will not be any disruption if you are browsing the Internet over Wi-Fi while you are transferring files between two phones.
This feature is already available on Xiaomi (as Mi Share) and OPPO (as OPPO share) phones, and will soon make its way to OnePlus devices too. Since the feature does not require any additional new hardware, it should make its way to older devices that are still being supported by these OEMs. The move is expected to benefit over 400 million users around the world.
This is almost similar to Apple’s proprietary AirDrop technology. Google has also been working on a similar feature that would enable Android users to share photos via wireless, text, and other files to nearby devices using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct. Originally called Fast Share, the feature has since been renamed to Nearby Share.
Although it is not known how OnePlus, Realme, and Meizu will implement the feature on their respective Android user interfaces, Black Shark has recently made some announcements. The brand has revealed that it’s new JoyUI 11 includes a P2P file transfer protocol. The company has rolled out the update to Black Shark 2 and Black Shark 2 Pro smartphones, which means that these devices should already feature support for the file transfer protocol, along with the company’s latest Black Shark 3 series.
It is worth noting that OnePlus and Realme are the sister brands of Vivo and Oppo, all owned by the Chinese tech giant, BBK Electronics. Similarly, Black Shark also started life as Xiaomi’s gaming-centric brand before spun off as an independent operator. So except Meizu, all the brands that support the new file-transfer protocol are from BBK or Xiaomi.
Samsung and Huawei group remain the last major Android companies that are not a part of this file transfer alliance. Interestingly, both of them already have functioning file transfer systems for their ecosystem of devices, and even extends to laptops.
