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Universal Remote Desktop Coming To Windows 10 Soon
jones_supa writes: For those using the Continuum feature of Windows and who work from home or in the office, you'll be pleased to know that the Remote Desktop Universal app is not only happening but will be released soon as a Technical Preview. This follows up on the Remote Desktop preview, which is already available for PC. The news came from Jason of the Microsoft Continuum team: "We've heard a lot of buzz around being able to connect to a remote desktop from Continuum for phone. We are excited to share that the Remote Desktop Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app will be released very soon in Technical Preview."
Remote desktop on the phone screen itself is a done deal. Continuum, the new feature in WIndows 10 Mobile that lets you attach the phone to a "real" screen and use it like a Windows 10 PC (for universal apps only), an updated or new universal app is needed that will run on the big screen when in Continuum. Existing WinPhone 8.1 apps can't do that and need to be updated to support use in Continuum on the big screen. I have one of the new Lumia's with the Continuum dock, it's a pretty slick feature, but mostly a demo right now since very few universal apps, especially from 3rd parties, have been updated to support use in Continuum and therefore can run only on the small phone screen.
How I understand it:
Windows 10 has a 'Desktop Mode' and a 'Tablet Mode'; in the latter the UI is more tuned for touches, gestures, and small displays.
App developers can likewise create separate desktop and tablet UIs.
On a desktop, Windows and apps will use their desktop UI, on a tablet, Windows and supporting apps use their tablet UI. On a convertible device like the Surface Book they can even change as the screen is docked and undocked.
This is Continuum.
Continuum didn't extend to RDP, though, so when you used a tablet to connect to your desktop, Windows would still render the desktop UI. This change will allow your desktop to switch to the tablet UI when you connect via a tablet or other touch device. Of course, it's still up to app developers to support it.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Continuum is a feature of Windows 10 Mobile (renamed mobile OS no longer following in line from Windows Phone 8.1). It allows your phone to be hooked up to monitors/TVs and controlled like a desktop, which includes hooking up (directly or via Bluetooth) a keyboard and mouse.
Windows 10 running on tablets already inherently support this kind of thing by switching out of tablet mode (or even semi-confusingly while in tablet mode), but it's a very different thing to allow apps from your phone to be scaled up to PC resolutions.
Android tried it a few years ago, but it was a very different beast. Continuum benefits from "Universal" apps, which can _literally_ be the same app running on a full PC, scaled via a different UI (and only the UI) to run on a phone. Some apps, like the Office suite go about this by having a "mobile" app that is scaled down feature wise to simplify it, but it still offers a full PC resolution option that is more usable rather than just with your finger(s).
This is pretty much the "killer feature" of Windows 10 Mobile; combined with the "Universal" apps, it's the only thing that may actually save Windows 10 Mobile by making it truly brain-dead simple to make a PC app that converts almost seamlessly in a mobile app with little-to-no code changes.