At the Google I/O, the Cloud-to-Device API was announced, and while it’s mainly intended for developers to integrate into their own applications, you can start pushing links, directions, and files from your desktop Chrome or Firefox browser to your Froyo‘d Android phone today! This is a simple how-to to get this up and running on your phone with Android 2.2 OS on it.
The extension is available for Google Chrome and Firefox only, in which you’ll have to install the extension to your browser, and then the dedicated application to your device.
1. For Chrome, download the extension here, Firefox users download the add-on from here.
Once installed, and icon on your browser should appear in your browser.
Firefox, and Chrome icons.
2. Download the Chrome to Phone app to your phone and install it.
3. Launch the app, and select “register device.”
4. If it successfully registers, you’re good to go on the phone end.
5. Go to any webpage and click on the icon, you will be directed to sign into your Google account that is tied to your phone.
6. You’re done! Get to sending some links!
Now that you have that all set up, some quirks you may run into, and some tips:
- From my experience, Maps has never successfully sent the directions I was viewing on my computer correctly. It will automatically open the Google Maps application, but not the navigation with the directions. While it may be a little disappointing, this will surely be fixed later on.
- Sometimes in Chrome, after clicking the send to phone icon, it will give me an error message, but the page will still send to my phone.
- Send to Phone from Firefox actually provides more features than Chrome. In Firefox, you don’t always have to hit the icon at the top of the page. Right-clicking a picture or link will give you the option to send just the link or picture to your device. It’s a very nice addition if you just want something on a website, instead of the whole page itself.
- As it progresses, these features will receive many fixes, and possibly much more functionality. We’ll have to wait for Google to allow applications to be sent to your phone, but that’s definitely something to look forward to!
[Via: Droid-Life]