You can think about Apple what you want, but there are real advantages to owning nothing but Apple devices. You can easily hand off data between your phone, tablet, and Mac and continue where you left off. Calls and messages are also seamlessly synced across all form factors. Google is slowly catching up in this area, with features like Phone Hub, which better connects Android phones and Chromebooks. With Android 14, the company might make it possible to seamlessly transfer a phone call from one Android device to another.

Mishaal Rahman spotted a new SYSTEM_CALL_STREAMING role in the upcoming operating system. Strings in the code make clear that this will enable phone call audio streaming across Android devices. The Android expert can additionally point to documentation on CallControl and StreamingCall APIs, published by Google when Android 14 Developer Preview 1 first launched in February. This is a continuation of work first started as early as in Android 12L, when assets showed a new “nearby calling” feature for Android devices and the Google Nest Hub. There were also related API additions in Android 13.

With this evidence in mind, Mishaal Rahman suspects that Google will initially make this hand-off feature available for Android phones and tablets. This would make it possible to take over a call that you receive on your phone with your tablet (maybe your Pixel Tablet once it's there?), which could be useful when you’re currently using your tablet and your phone is in another room.

Since the API is available for all Android devices, it’s possible that it will become available for other device pairs, too — maybe even Chromebooks and Android phones. However, given that Google is rolling out app streaming to Chromebooks, this might not even be necessary. You can simply access your mobile’s calling app via your Chromebook that way.