Googlebook launches with its Android integration limited to non-Samsung phones on Android 17

A Z Fold 8 owner opens a new Googlebook and the laptop finds the phone. Then the phone fails to stay connected, according to early adopters whose complaints Ars Technica reported ^[8]. Ars says the latest Samsung phones shipped with Android 17 ^[9], so that owner already meets Google's version requirement. Google representatives confirmed to Ars that the Better Together features are not supported on even the newest Samsung phones ^[5].

Teams buying these will tell themselves they are getting the laptop for Android users ^[1]. What a given user gets depends on two gates. The first is the operating system: Google's support page rules out every device on Android 16 or earlier ^[2]. The second is the phone's maker, and Samsung fails it at launch ^[3]. 9to5Google wrote that at launch "the vast majority of Android users can't use the platform's best features" ^[15]. Neither outlet published figures for how many Android phones run Android 17 today, so "vast majority" is 9to5Google's estimate.

Google's message to Samsung owners, as 9to5Google published it, is two sentences: "Support for Better Together features will be rolling out across all Android 17-supported Samsung devices over the coming weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience!" ^[4]. It sets no date. It also limits the fix to Samsung models that support Android 17, so a Samsung phone that cannot run Android 17 stays outside the integration after the update ^[13]. Google did not say whether it or Samsung has to ship that update, and 9to5Google reasons that Samsung's side might need one ^[10].

For a rollout, the useful sort is a grid of the phones your people already carry. One axis is whether the phone runs Android 17. The other is whether Samsung made it. Android 17 on a non-Samsung phone is the only cell that works on day one, and Ars's summary is that for now this means a Pixel ^[14]. Time-to-value in that cell is pairing the phone, after which app streaming, file access and notification mirroring are available ^[6]. An Android 17 Samsung waits for the coming-weeks update ^[4]. An older phone from another maker works only once it gets Android 17 ^[2]. An older Samsung needs both, and gets neither if it cannot run Android 17 ^[13].

I'd buy Googlebooks on the strength of the phone integration only for staff already in the working cell. For a team that mostly carries Samsung phones, the purchase today is a laptop purchase, and it should be judged on what the laptop does with no phone attached. The tradeoff of ordering now is support load. Pixel users get the features on day one, and Samsung users report a phone that will not stay connected until the update ships ^[8].