Sometimes, the ecosystem is more important than the individual devices

When I go on a work trip, I always try to change something up to see if I can pack better than last time. I’ve taken trips with and without my DSLR camera, some with just a tablet, some with a VR headset alongside a mouse and keyboard, and others with just a phone in my pocket. Each of these setups is good for different types of trips, but what about the times you need a little bit of everything?

Android Central Labs

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

Android Central Labs is a weekly column devoted to deep dives, experiments, and a focused look into the tech you use. It covers phones, tablets, and everything in between.

Android Quick Share finally made file transfer a breeze, enabling extremely fast, one-tap transfer between Android devices, Windows devices, or both. I regularly pass files between my Windows-based laptop and any number of Android phones in my possession, and it’s made my life and job so much easier.

But what about sharing screens or even transferring mouse and keyboard input between devices? That’s a lot harder, but some companies have created ecosystems that work well with each other in a nearly seamless way. People have stuck with Apple for this reason, and now a few Android companies have finally caught up, offering easy cross-device connectivity between phones, laptops, and tablets, all without having to download extra apps or paid services to get the job done.

I’m going to highlight what I think are the three best interconnectivity solutions available on Android today, all of which work a little differently and have a slightly different scope.

Hello Moto

Smart Connect new update

(Image credit: Motorola)

Of all the available solutions, Motorola takes the cake for device simplicity. Motorola Smart Connect just requires you to have a Motorola phone or tablet, and the rest falls right in line. It requires the most setup of the three ecosystems I talk about today, but that’s because you can use any Windows-based laptop to connect your phone or tablet as if they were one big, cohesive device.

Once you’ve got the Motorola Smart Connect software installed on your computer, pairing it with your Motorola smartphone or Lenovo tablet is just a QR code scan away. From there, all linked devices will share a clipboard and have easy file transfer. You can even pull up your phone or tablet’s storage on your PC as if it were a USB drive.

What’s particularly cool is that you can run individual phone apps on your PC, letting you multitask your favorite idle clicker game alongside those work spreadsheets, all without having to touch the phone. Motorola lets you control your phone or tablet with the same mouse and keyboard as your PC. So they feel like an extra monitor instead of separate devices running different operating systems. Plus, you can use your phone’s camera as a webcam for any meeting, which could come in handy in several scenarios.

Uncle Sam(sung)

Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra connected wirelessly to Samsung monitor via Samsung DeX

(Image credit: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)

Samsung makes a lot of electronics. From washing machines to TVs and refrigerators to smartphones and tablets, the company does an impeccable job of cohesively connecting all these devices. Samsung smart home devices work with non-Samsung phones and computers via the SmartThings app, but for the scope of this article, interconnectivity between your phone, tablet, and laptop all have to be between Samsung Galaxy products.

It’s easy to share your Galaxy S25 Ultra’s screen with a Samsung TV by tapping “share screen” in the notification shade. Moving windows and apps between a Samsung tablet and phone just requires you to enable multi-control. And if you’re lucky enough to have a Samsung Galaxybook laptop, you can even share your Samsung GalaxyBook’s keyboard with your phone.

You can also transfer files between devices by using familiar interfaces — either the share dialog on an Android device or File Explorer on Windows — as well as share clipboards between devices. There are few things handier than copying a link on your phone and being able to instantly paste it somewhere on your PC.

Samsung DeX has been around for the better part of a decade and provides an easy way to use your phone like a laptop, letting you hook it up via USB-C cable to any monitor to project UI that looks and works exactly like a PC. Samsung hasn’t done much with DeX in a while but it still works well for those times when you need better multitasking and don’t have a laptop around to do it.

It’s been an Honor

Connecting an Honor Pad V9 to the Honor MagicBook Art 14 Snapdragon laptop via Honor Magic Ring

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

But while I really like all the interconnectivity from Samsung, there’s still a bit of setup that’s required to get everything working together. Honor’s Magic Ring, the company’s oddly named interconnectivity solution, automatically recognizes and enables connectivity between any Honor device around it that’s signed into the same Honor account.

Magic Ring is a centralized connectivity suite that shows all adjacent devices with all potential actions available for each. The same UI is found on every device with Magic Ring support — Honor tablets, phones, and laptops — so there’s no misunderstanding about what devices support which functions.

If I tap the laptop icon, I can tap either screen sharing or input sharing, then tap the accompanying device to perform that action. In the case of my most recent work trip, tapping screen share and then tapping the tablet icon gave me an instant second monitor I could use while working from my hotel room.

Connecting an Honor Pad V9 to the Honor MagicBook Art 14 Snapdragon laptop via Honor Magic Ring

(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

Likewise, tapping the icon for the Honor Magic 7 Pro smartphone or the Honor Pad V9 tablet gives me additional options like taking a picture and instantly sharing the photo to my laptop.

Magic Ring was also vital to my job during Hurricane Helene last Fall when I had no home internet for a month. I didn’t want to pay T-Mobile for an unlimited hotspot package, and Magic Ring let me run my Honor Magic V3 foldable in split-screen on my tablet so I could quickly transfer files and browse the web from the larger screen.

Aside from great interconnectivity, Honor’s devices are also a lot better for me to use because of my PWM sensitivity.

Staying connected is vital

Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra using Samsung DeX with multiple windows open

(Image credit: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)

Interconnectivity between devices is more than a gimmick or convenience. It’s a huge part of what makes device ecosystems better than others and why people often choose to use Samsung or Honor devices over some other Android manufacturers.

These companies aren’t alone in offering interconnectivity — OnePlus, for instance, offers auto-connect capabilities between devices like the OnePlus 13 and the OnePlus Pad 2 — but Honor and Samsung offer more devices than most other Android manufacturers, making their interconnectivity solutions a bit more valuable.

The recently announced Honor Alpha Plan aims to go beyond current offerings by extending interconnectivity to all devices — not just ones made by Honor — including iPhones and other non-Android devices by utilizing the power of AI.

It remains to be seen just how well this works, but it’s exciting to see interconnectivity continuing to be pushed. Who knows, Honor’s model may eventually become ubiquitous in smart device connectivity the way Matter is with smart home connectivity.