2020 will be the year Android finally catches up to one of iOS's best features, AirDrop, and while Samsung's plans for a similar feature in the upcoming Galaxy S20 were already revealed this week, today (January 24), XDA Developers has obtained a preview of Google's AirDrop replacement, Nearby Sharing, working with two Pixel devices, courtesy of.

In the video, XDA's Mishaal Rahman takes us on a brief tour of Nearby Sharing; using pre-release versions of the Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 4, he was able to move a handful of photos and video files from one device to the other He was able to move a handful of photos and video files from one device to the other.

Like AirDrop, Nearby Sharing users can set who they want to receive their files. They can also use a quick toggle in the notification shade to turn the feature on and off, which is a very useful addition. They can then choose to use data for sharing or simply exchange files over Wi-Fi only (the latter is much faster).

Two devices can only use Nearby Sharing if they are at most one foot apart. Photos and videos transferred via Nearby Sharing are stored in a specially named folder in the Android phone's DCIM directory. In theory, Nearby Sharing should be available on all Android devices running the latest version of Google Play Services (Rahman cites another user who was able to perform this function on his OnePlus 7T), but it is unclear whether Google still in the dark as to when it intends to roll it out to everyone.