Google prepping split-screen view for android tablets

Google tablets may soon get a super-handy feature already available on the iPad and Windows tablets: split-screen multi-tasking.

During a Reddit Ask Me Anything Thursday, Google's Pixel C team revealed that they are working on a split-screen multi-tasking feature for Android tablets, though they did not say when it might arrive.

"We're working hard on a range of enhancements for Android in this form-factor," Android and Chrome User Interface Director Glen Murphy wrote, referring to the company's new Pixel C tablet. "There are many things, like multiwindow, that we've been spending a lot of time on — hopefully we can share more about this soon."

To clear up any possible confusion, Google's Consumer Hardware Director Andrew Bowers added: "Split screen is in the works!"

Apple, meanwhile, finally added a long-awaited split-screen multi-tasking feature for newer iPads in September as part of iOS 9. The feature, known as Split View, lets you use two apps at once, "still only works with a limited but growing collection of apps, so you can't, for example, simultaneously run two taxing video games at the same time to really put it to the test," PCMag noted in its review of iOS 9.2. Microsoft's Surface tablets have also offered a "snap" multitasking feature for some time, letting you run multiple apps on the screen simultaneously.

But Google's new high-end Android tablet, the Pixel C, just hit the market this week without such a feature. Priced at $499, the 10.2-inch, 32GB device does offer some other cool features, however, like the ability to stick it to your fridge (or any other metal surface in your house).