Android users could soon get a feature similar to Apple's Handoff that allows them to sync their apps and files across Android devices.
Nextbit, a stealthy startup formed by former Googlers who worked on Android in 2010, first introduced Baton at Re/code Code/Mobile conference on Monday. Living up to its name, Baton is a new Android feature that passes on mobile data from a smartphone to a tablet and back. This means a user playing "Candy Crush" on his Nexus 5 could pass on a half-megabyte "snapshot" of his game to his Nexus 7, where he can continue playing where he left off simply by going to the Recents tab and opening the game.
"We live in a multi-device world, and yet it's still too cumbersome to switch between our devices," says Mike Chan, Nextbit co-founder and chief technology officer. "So, we've taken the cloud and deeply integrated it into the Android operating system itself to provide a seamless experience between your phone and your tablet without any effort from developers."
To be clear, Baton is not an app that casual Android users can download from Google's Play Store. It's an entire framework that is built on the cloud and allows users to synchronize their devices at the level of the operating system. And unlike Apple's Handoff, Baton works right out of the box without having to encourage app developers to jump in and make their apps compatible for syncing.
"When you want to sync app data, you don't have to write to a particular SDK like ours, or Dropbox," Chan says. "The [developer] app functions like it does day one."
For Baton to work, it has to be fully integrated into the operating system, which means Nextbit has to convince Google and smartphone manufacturers to either license Baton or acquire the startup. Google's investment arm, Google Ventures, has already participated in a round of funding that raised $18 million for Nextbit, so it wouldn't be too surprising if Google agrees to incorporate Baton in stock Android devices in some way.
"Maybe over time some of these things might get incorporated at Google, but it doesn't mean it will happen in the way that everyone wants it, or that it will be quick," says Google Ventures general partner Rich Miner, who is part of Nextbit's 22-person board.
For now, Baton is available in limited invite-only beta mode for users of CyanogenMod, an open-source Android version used in OnePlus One, but the feature's first public release will be on the commercial version of CyanogenMod. The feature is currently free for us, but co-founder and CEO Tom Moss says the company will eventually roll out a freemium plan to charge user for special features, such as extending the synchronization to TV sets.
Nextbit has also struck a deal with Japan's NTT Docomo mobile carrier to offer customers a service that lets them easily back up and restore their devices. In the future, the company also plans to launch a limitless cloud storage service for music and photos.
