While Microsoft’s Surface event in New York City was dominated by hardware launches, the company made plenty of other announcements. From important apps for Android, such as Your Phone, to the anticipate Surface All Access service, here’s what the company had to say.
Starting with Your Phone. We have discussed this service a lot over recent months, so know it quite well. Your Phone allows Android users to mirror their device onto a Windows 10 PC. In preview, the feature set has been limited, but today Microsoft expanded the capabilities.
Shilpa Ranganathan, GM of mobile product experience for Microsoft, highlighted the company’s ambitions:
“We want you to move from your Surface, to your phone, and back to your Surface whenever you choose. That’s critical.”
Ranganathan showed how a user can drag a photo from her smartphone and drop it into an app on Windows 10. For the demonstration, she dropped images into Photoshop on a Surface device. This can be achieved without download files or file explorer.
Surface All Access
Microsoft also confirmed Surface All Access, a subscription service for Surface products. Just last month, the company closed its Surface Plus program, which allowed users to spread the cost of a device.
We thought that was the end of the matter, but Microsoft is back with Surface All Access. Like Surface Plus, the program lets customers buy a device from $25 per month.
Office and Android Apps
On Outlook for the web, Microsoft says integrated tasks are now available in the inbox. To-dos are also integrated directly into the Outlook calendar, which is a welcome addition.
Microsoft Launcher on Android is getting some important new features. Chief among them is WhatsApp integration, which allows users to interact with WhatsApp from the launcher. Translation can be completed in real time within WhatsApp, allowing different-language conversations.
Last Updated on April 9, 2020 11:16 am CEST by Luke Jones
