Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi form alliance to support WiFi Direct on phones
- by Nick Cohen
- in Industry
- — Jan 3, 2020
Three of the largest Chinese smartphone makers Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi are working on a file transfer feature that would work across all the smartphones across the three brands. Oppo has revealed that with ColorOS 7, they will find new Oppo Share button and same can be activated on Xiaomi and Vivo smartphones.
The Peer-to-peer Transmission Alliance will allow users to transmit files, pictures and videos without the need for an internet connection, reflecting how OPPO and its innovative operating system - ColorOS - is open to cooperate with other platforms.
The wireless file transfer system provides a streamlined mobile experience which does not require internet connection. Since the protocol will be using P2P technology, it won't interfere with the Wi-Fi connectivity. Also, the WiFi P2P technology does not interrupt the WiFi connection, meaning users remain connected and can continue their activities on the device during the file transfer. If the other party also has the function turned on, an icon will pop-up to notify the user.
The three firms are looking to add more brands that are willing to participate and expand their ecosystem.
This feature will be gradually rolled out on new vivo devices from February 2020 onwards. Furthermore, it will offer a maximum transfer speed of 20Mbps which is lightning fast when compared to transferring files over Bluetooth. With the market share of over 25%, this means that millions of devices will be able to transfer data worldwide.
Announced on the Chinese social networking site Weibo, the alliance is interesting because Oppo is still technically connected to OnePlus through a parent company. Android, too had such a built-in feature called Android Beam.
According to the reports, the trio Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are developing an AirDrop-like alternative for Android smartphones. The Global name of this collaboration is "Peer-to-Peer transmission Alliance". This system also uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to quickly share files between two Android devices.