Googlebook’s biggest features don’t work with Samsung phones at launch

Googlebook laptops are finally official and available to purchase, but it looks like early users have discovered a rather disappointing omission from this initial release.

The whole promise of a Googlebook rests on the fact that these laptops are supposed to work seamlessly with your Android phone. However, as things stand, the cross-device features on these laptops don’t work with phones from the world’s largest Android smartphone manufacturer: Samsung.

Yes, you heard that right. It seems Googlebooks don’t yet support their “Better Together features” on Samsung devices.

In a megathread on Reddit, one user said they had to return the Googlebook they bought because it didn’t work with their Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 running Android 17.

“Surely this new laptop OS of the future isn’t built to just work with Pixel devices?” another user commented.

Replying in the thread, Google’s Mishaal Rahman confirmed that Samsung phones are indeed not supported just yet.

“Support for Better Together features will be rolling out across all Android 17-supported Samsung devices over the coming weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience,” Rahman noted.

So, if you’re rushing out to buy a Googlebook to pair with your Samsung phone right now, you might want to hold off until Samsung phones are officially supported for cross-device features. Otherwise, you’ll be left with a new laptop that doesn’t offer many of the convenient features it’s supposed to.

“This is unacceptable for devices and an OS that were supposed to be ready for release, and cost anywhere from $900 to $1,300. And this was not disclosed until after people purchased them, despite Google claiming that it was, in footnotes. People expected these to work as advertised out of the box, and they don’t,” a disgruntled user wrote on Reddit.

It’s quite surprising that Google would wait until after the Googlebooks went on sale to roll out this support. Surely, the company could have anticipated that a major chunk of first buyers would be people who use Samsung phones.