We only recently learned that Windows 10 Mobile will have tools that make it very easy for developers to transfer their iOS and Android applications over to Windows 10 Mobile, which I talked a bit about yesterday. The reason this move seems so great is because it will (hopefully) take care of one of the major issues that has made Windows Phone a difficult switch for many people: the “app gap”. It’s a huge move for Microsoft, but it’s not the only punch they’re throwing.
We often talk about how closely our smartphones related to full-fledged computers now. Processing power, amount of RAM, and overall functionality of smartphones are enough for some people to not need a PC at all. With that being said, there are still plenty of functions that personal computers can do that smartphones can’t (or in the very least have trouble performing as well). But what if you had the option to use your smartphone as a computer when you need to? Microsoft makes this possible with Windows 10 devices, smartphones included.
All you need to turn your smartphone into a working computer is a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, which are pretty much readily available in most places where you’d need the feature anyway (the home, office, school). Now if you need to share Office documents and presentations or certain types of media on a larger screen, you can with very little hassle. Your smartphone will emulate a similar set-up to a regular Windows 10 PC when you plug it in.
Sound familiar?
The feature is different from the norm, but Microsoft isn’t the first to think of the concept. One of the major selling points of the Ubuntu for phones a couple of years ago was the very same feature under the name “Convergence”. The concept was pretty much identical: Plug your Ubuntu phone into a desktop set-up and your phone would then emulate a desktop mode on the computer screen. However, as we can see today, Ubuntu for phones unfortunately never made it terribly far. As of right now, Ubuntu for phones only officially runs on a single smartphone, the BQ Aquaris E4.5. As unfortunate as that is, the feature is certainly something that people would find useful for their smartphones, and Microsoft might as well be one of the first major companies to implement it. After all, Windows OS is the most popular computer operating system in the world, so it makes sense.
Not only is this fantastic for Windows Phone, but I also think that this will cause a domino effect for the other platforms as well. If nothing else, it will at least pressure them to think about implementing this feature, especially for Apple, who owns the second most popular operating system next to Windows. Even if Windows 10 Mobile doesn’t become as successful as we hope, I could see this very feature also becoming extremely popular with the iPhone. It might not emulate the entire OS, no, but even a basic emulation of desktop mode for Windows or OS X would be a handy feature for either mobile OS to have.
As it stands, though, we can at least look forward to Continuum on Windows 10 Mobile. Continuum seems like it would be a convenient feature for a lot of people, therefore (hopefully) making it another big plus for Windows 10 Mobile. The struggles of Windows Phone has been real in the past, but with the latest news regarding apps and now Continuum, we can see that Microsoft is truly taking its Windows 10 development seriously. Windows 10 has quickly become the most interesting development in mobile tech, and otherwise.
