In anticipation of tablet improvements coming to Android 13, Google Workspace has rolled out improvements for “Android’s larger screens”.
The choices are limited when it comes to Android tablets, but there are a few like Lenovo’s Yoga Tab and Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra that rival Apple’s iPad Pro.
Google could turn the tide on the lack of Android tablets in 2022 after abandoning the Pixel Slate in 2019. Recent improvements have come via Android 12L – a version of Android 12 for tablets and foldable devices – and the upcoming Android 13 which is currently in beta. Google revealed in May that it is making a Pixel tablet, but it probably won’t be released until 2023.
The Workspace updates bring improvements to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep that make sense on “bigger screen” Androids, including drag and drop, keyboard shortcut support, and a side-by-side view of Drive windows.
“Earlier this year introduced Android 12L, a software update to make devices with larger screens, such as tablets, more user-friendly. At I/O, we shared plans to update more than 20 Google apps on tablets to take full advantage of the extra space on those bigger screens,” said Scott Blanksteen, senior director of product management at Android.
“For starters, today we’re making Google Workspace apps even better on the larger screens of Android with updates to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep.”
Android tablet users can now use the drag and drop functionality for multitasking between Docs, Sheets, and Drive. Users can now drag text or images from Chrome or Sheets and drop them into an existing Docs document or Sheets cell and vice versa.
Google Drive now allows users to upload files by dragging and dropping them into the app. Users can add links to Drive files by dragging the file into an open app such as Keep.
Drive on Android tablets now has a side-by-side view to see two Drive windows. The second instance helps users preview the contents of folders before opening them.
To view Drive windows side by side, users can select the three-dot menu in any Drive file > choose the “Open in new window” option > navigate through each Drive window individually.
According to Google, the updates will be rolled out to Workspace and users with personal Google accounts in the coming weeks.
Android 13 inherited tablet improvements from Android 12L, which introduced improved notifications, quick settings, lockscreen, overview and home screen for tablets. The 12L taskbar also allows users to view a split screen by dragging an app from the app library onto the screen.
Stylus improvements in Android 13 aim to reduce accidental actions caused by users resting a hand on the screen.
Apple’s iPadOS has had Split-View side-by-side for a while, but iPad iOS 16, currently in beta, introduces Stage Manager, which supports four different apps in resizable windows (rather than preset or equally sized windows). ).
According to Google’s Workspace blog, keyboard support for Drive, Drag and Drop in Drive, and multi-instance support on Drive are now available. Keyboard support for Docs & Slides and Drag & Drop in Docs & Sheets will roll out on July 28.
In January, Google posted jobs to improve the “Android Tablet App Experience”, stating that it believed the world was moving towards more powerful and capable tablets.