The Phone Hub feature was discovered as a flag on the Chromium Gerrit last year and it recently went live for some users running Chrome OS 90 on the Canary channel. So, as per earlier reports, the said feature lets users turn on/off the mobile hotspot, enable Do Not Disturb mode, locate their misplaced Android device, sync notifications and reply to them directly from their Chromebook. However, a recently discovered flag, dubbed #eche-swa, hints that the Phone Hub feature will let users cast the screen of their Android device directly on to ChromeOS. According to a report by 9to5Google, this Chrome OS feature will be using a “special app” to mirror the phone’s screen. So, when users click on a notification in Phone Hub on Chrome OS, they will receive a notification on their Android phone. They can then tap this notification to cast their phone’s entire screen on to their Chromebook device. This way, users will be able to see and control the apps on their Android device right from their Chrome OS device. Image: 9to5Google Now, as per the report, this feature might be exclusive to Pixel devices initially, before rolling out for other Android devices. This is because folks from 9to5Google found the Javascript for the app in a Google source code folder that is specific to Pixel phones instead of in the Chromium source code folder. Nonetheless, the Phone Hub feature is still in its very early stages of development. We do not know when the feature will be publicly available on Chromebook devices. However, if it is launched as a Pixel-exclusive feature, Google might add it to its quarterly Pixel feature Drops.
