Microsoft begins to integrate Android and iOS into Windows 10, starting with Android

[Nowak]

Sauce: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/26/16035666/microsoft-windows-10-phone-link-android-ios

 

Y'know, just in case you're more comfortable with Google or Apple snoopin' your phone calls than Microsoft.

 

Quote

Microsoft first revealed its plans to bring Android and iPhone phones closer to Windows 10 earlier this year, and now the company is letting public testers play with the new features. In a new Windows 10 preview (build 16251) released today, Android users will be able to test a new “Microsoft Apps” application that links a phone to a PC. Microsoft hasn’t revealed when iPhone users will be able to test similar functionality, so it’s Android only for now.

Microsoft announced their intentions to let you be able to work even if you use a non-Microsoft phone back at Build 2017, and now Android users are able to test this functionality in the latest Windows 10 Insider build. Although, right now it's limited to Android only, with iOS coming at a later, unspecified date, and the overall functionality is limited to just sharing links between your phone and PC right now. More features, including a shared clipboard, will be coming in later builds.

 

Quote

The link will enable new cross-device features, including the ability to share a link from a mobile directly to a Windows 10 PC. It’s the first of many features Microsoft is planning to closely align Android and iOS to Windows 10, and in the future the company will also allow apps to directly share contents to and from PCs, alongside the ability to copy and paste content from a universal clipboard.

People have been asking about SMS support, but that functionality is already provided by Cortana. Would be nice to see them add in SMS messaging support as well, though, especially for people who don't want to install Cortana on their phones!

 

Oh yeah, on the subject of Cortana, Cortana's functionality was changed in build 16251. It now opens up web results within itself, rather than a browser.

 

I feel like this is an obvious move for Microsoft to make. It's pretty clear that their own Windows 10 Mobile is struggling to gain a foothold in the corporate environment as well as the consumer environment. This also sends a pretty clear message: you do not need to own a Windows phone to stay in the Microsoft ecosystem. Again, though, this was an obvious move. Also, for those of you wondering, this feature is planned to roll out in the stable Windows 10 channel in the Fall Creators update.

[Droidbot]

oh man time to add my phone to the Micro$haft botnet, as well as the google botnet woah

[ARikozuM]

The Big Data movement is coming along smoothly. When shall we start Skynet, though?

[Droidbot]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

The Big Data movement is coming along smoothly. When shall we start Skynet, though?

It's in the works according to Nadella, and it should be powered by Micro$haft Azure™ Cloud. 

Coming 2020. 

 

 

[captain_to_fire]

Nice move since a lot of iPhone users that I know are PC users. So this is Microsoft's subtle way of saying "fuck Windows Phone, let's focus on the two platforms that will pay us money more". 

 

Meanwhile... 

 

[DrMacintosh]

Ayyy finally a time when I can say 

 

"Apple has been doing this for years!" 

 

Microsoft can try all they want but it will never be as good as iCloud, Handoff, and Continuity. 

 

Its the main reason I bought a Mac. 

[CoolMarquis97]

I've been waiting for this for so long being somebody who owns an iphone but has a PC. 

[GoodBytes]

51 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Ayyy finally a time when I can say 

 

"Apple has been doing this for years!" 

 

Microsoft can try all they want but it will never be as good as iCloud, Handoff, and Continuity. 

 

Its the main reason I bought a Mac. 

You should have said this back when Windows 10 was released. As phone integration came to Windows 10 Mobile.

Still waiting for Android users to be able to send/receive SMS from their PC like it is possible on Windows 10 Mobile. Much better to type with a keyboard than with touch screen

[Nowak]

Just now, GoodBytes said:

Still waiting for Android users to be able to send/receive SMS from their PC like it is possible on Windows 10 Mobile. Much better to type with a keyboard than with touch screen

We already can via Cortana. I don't have Cortana on my Pixel though, because Google Assistant is enough  

[PlayStation 2]

I smell an offshoot comment from someone.

On topic: kind of a good move on Microsoft's part.

[GoodBytes]

32 minutes ago, Daring said:

We already can via Cortana. I don't have Cortana on my Pixel though, because Google Assistant is enough  

Not really. You can only send a reply from a text message you receive via the pop-up notification. You can't go through your contacts on your PC, pick someone, see the history of the conversation, and post something.

 

We will see if it comes to Android soon. Hopefully. It would be pretty cool

[DrMacintosh]

6 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Much better to type with a keyboard than with touch screen

Too bad atm you have to use Windows 10 Mobile to be able to use it. MacOS and iOS is a much better paring than Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. Sure Windows 10 has such a great ecosystem but Windows 10 Mobile just doesn't, like at all. 

 

Hopefully Microsoft can figure this out with Android and iOS and make it somewhat similar to Apples implementation on MacOS and iOS which is currently the model for Microsoft to follow. 

[captain_to_fire]

Just now, GoodBytes said:

Still waiting for Android users to be able to send/receive SMS from their PC like it is possible on Windows 10 Mobile. Much better to type with a keyboard than with touch screen

I think it can be done with 3rd party apps from Google Play. 

 

But then, replying to texts and answering calls from a computer is something Mac & iPhone users have been enjoying since iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite via Continuity. 

[Nowak]

4 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Not really. You can only send a reply from a text message you receive via the pop-up notification. You can't go through your contects on your PC, pick someone, see the history of the conversation, and post something.

 

We will see if it comes to Android soon. Hopefully. It would be pretty cool

Yeah, it'd be a cool feature to have, and would make sense under Microsoft's "any phone works with our ecosystem" ideal. Dunno if it'll come to iOS tho, because... well, Apple can be stingy  

[TetraSky]

Personally, I don't see any real use case scenario that I would genuinely use this feature, ever...

If I was at home to begin with, why the hell would I browse on my phone over my PC that's always readily available nearby.

Is this for the disgusting sub specie of "humans" who bring their phones with them when they are on the toilet and want to continue off where they left off?

I'd rather see something more advanced like Continuum instead of what seems to be sharing weblinks. Might as well just send yourself a text to get it on the PC via Cortana or an email, containing the link of the page you were on. Sounds to me like it'd be as simple as the "share" button.

[Nowak]

9 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Personally, I don't see any real use case scenario that I would genuinely use this feature, ever...

If I was at home to begin with, why the hell would I browse on my phone over my PC that's always readily available nearby.

Is this for the disgusting sub specie of "humans" who bring their phones with them when they are on the toilet and want to continue off where they left off?

I'd rather see something more advanced like Continuum instead of what seems to be sharing weblinks. Might as well just send yourself a text to get it on the PC via Cortana or an email, containing the link of the page you were on. Sounds to me like it'd be as simple as the "share" button.

This is for the mobile professional. That's how they positioned it at Build, with the idea being that you don't have to stop working just because you're away from the office.

[GoodBytes]

21 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Personally, I don't see any real use case scenario that I would genuinely use this feature, ever...

If I was at home to begin with, why the hell would I browse on my phone over my PC that's always readily available nearby.

Is this for the disgusting sub specie of "humans" who bring their phones with them when they are on the toilet and want to continue off where they left off?

I'd rather see something more advanced like Continuum instead of what seems to be sharing weblinks. Might as well just send yourself a text to get it on the PC via Cortana or an email, containing the link of the page you were on. Sounds to me like it'd be as simple as the "share" button.

I don't know, I can see people coming from work using, say, public transport, where they were reading an article, come home and send the page to their desktop to view. I greater integration between Android and Windows in the future (iOS might miss some features due to the locked down OS nature)

[RagnarokDel]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

Microsoft can try all they want but it will never be as good as iCloud, Handoff, and Continuity. 

 

Its the main reason I bought a Mac. 

Yeah about that, never is a very long time.

[Ezio Auditore]

The sad part is that web sharing thing will be only accessible via edge

[Nowak]

12 minutes ago, Ezio Auditore said:

The sad part is that web sharing thing will be only accessible via edge

Nothing saying you can't copy the link from Edge into a different browser  

[Ezio Auditore]

2 minutes ago, Daring said:

Nothing saying you can't copy the link from Edge into a different browser  

But that destroys the 'seamless' point. I would rather sync my chrome.

[RagnarokDel]

call me when you can get android apps directly on the windows store otherwise meh.

[Max_Settings]

4 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

The Big Data movement is coming along smoothly. When shall we start Skynet, though?

You do realize that skynet is a real thing right?

[syloui]

RIP Windows Phone, you were great, lag and crash free, and had the best keyboard. Only thing that made people not want you was the lack of app support. By the way, whatever happened to that class action lawsuit against google regarding them purposefully choking out third party app ecosystems by not giving them google play services support (which a large percentage of apps use on both android and ios)?

 

I used my WP until the few apps we did have left stopped getting updated and APIs changed so the old versions didn't work much anymore. I still use it as my alarm clock, and it still has the best touchscreen keyboard.

[suicidalfranco]

3 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

You should have said this back when Windows 10 was released. As phone integration came to Windows 10 Mobile.

Still waiting for Android users to be able to send/receive SMS from their PC like it is possible on Windows 10 Mobile. Much better to type with a keyboard than with touch screen

been doing this since 2012, it's called AirDroid, glad to see MS finally caught up. only took them 3 years even thought their main platform to benefit from this crashed hard