Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Announces App Mirroring To Let You Use Any Android App On Windows 10
At its Surface launch event, Microsoft announced a new feature for Windows 10 that will let Android users use any app on their device on a Windows 10 desktop. Microsoft is referring to the feature as app mirroring, and it appears to only be available for Android users. "It looks to be a significant step in helping bridge Windows 10 and the mobile ecosystem after the demise of Windows Phone," reports The Verge. From the report: We didn't see an extensive demo onstage, but we did get a look at a user exchanging Snapchat messages with a friend on a Surface device using the app mirroring feature. Microsoft says the feature will be available in the new Windows 10 October update.
It seems an awful lot like an Android version of BlackBerry Blend (for BB10), just offering messaging and file access. It seems kinda redundant since my google drive already has all my photos and files, plus the sms in browser feature that's recently been added.
So... Out of date /. as usual.
I heard you like Apps...
It also sounds a lot like that KDE phone thing that I've never quite found a use case for.
Why is having the app on an Android device necessary? Does Windows 10 need more than the APK file?
The linked article's video is a special windows 10 app that lets you access data on your phone (examples given are photos and text messages).
Sorry Microsoft, but I don't trust you with that kind of access to my phone.
Bill Gates (not me) owns a Samsung phone and we know that MS gave up on WIndows Phone then it is no wonder. MS wants a MS flavored Android with Visual Studio Android .NET Ximarian apps and of course a MS store. WSL for Windows 10 to run Linux was from project Astoria that was meant to run Android apps on Windows 10.
It seems MS wants a piece of Android pie which is so weird but makes sense as MS now loves Linux and open source.
http://saveie6.com/
LOLOLOLOL but you trust Google or Qualcomm or Broadcom? HAHA!
The reason why, M$ want to datamine the Android apps when you use them and that means datamining everything you do with that app, especially when you use that up on an Android device and then use it on PC with that data from the Android device, so no positives, just eww, don't do it, simply do not do it.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Just like my Asus Zenfone 2.
It came with a nice app that allowed me to control my phone from my Windows SEVEN PC and show the results either fullscreen or in a window.
I'll keep using that, thanks.
How's ChromeOS doing? It supports Android right? Yet if you want Android you simply run it on an Android device which are cheap and plentiful.
If they don't buy ChromeOS (Google's own) to run Android, they won't buy Window 10 to run Android, they'll simply buy a smartphone to do it.
The issues of usability on Android tablets aren't fixed by taking another OS around it.
Good luck on your taking refuge in audacity.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3246087/apps/dell-mobile-connect-app-mirrors-your-smartphone-on-your-pc.html
Not enough for me to let Windows 10 near ANY computer I own.
No thank you.
One company to rule All data...
This sounds like the situation with BeOS and Windows applications, but now it's Microsoft shooting themselves instead of their victim.
That plan isn't going to work when by far the most ubiquitous personal computer OS is Android. That only worked back in the days when Windows held that title (and it seems even Chromebook is eating into the desktop space.)
I think this is more a response to two things:
- The fact that nobody actually uses the windows store apps
- Microsoft needs to find a way to keep windows relevant to consumers
The title of this article makes it sound like such a great deal, but it applies only to Android software running on an ARM tablet. The article doesn't say that I can run any Android software, installed on an ARM cell phone, on an Intel PC running Windows 10.
Our most frequently used app is restricted to cell phone use only, so it's not as great a deal as the title makes it sound.
Microsoft is just selling their apps cross platform so when you buy the Android version, they also give you access to the Windows version, so what? Most people don't even use Microsoft apps any more since Google has offered everything they need without monetary cost for years.
If anything, this is a sign of desperation on Microsoft's part, just like the forced and tricked "update" to Spyware 10 and the soon to be implemented OS subscription (while they continue to collect YOUR data without compensation to make themselves richer).
Don't things like Outlook and Gmail try to play these games between themselves?
For your convenience, let me manage all your mail inboxes from all providers, etc.
Also, Windows accesses your phone's photos already. It's called explorer.exe.
If I run Android apps on Windows 10, will it be Google or Microsoft that's stealing my data?
Maybe now people will finally stop complaining about not having a desktop client to send an SMS, whenever a messaging client appears. This was something I could never comprehend why anyone would want it but whatever makes you happy.
But aren't they just playing with a remote control to a Android device? One can also just wonder, who would open a remote access to his phone just in case he wanted to look for messages? And if the connectivity is not done via local Bluetooth connectivity, the data naturally goes via Microsoft's service where it can and will be monetized.
Who's going to use a phone app on a desktop anyway?
No touch screen, no vertical orientation, yada yada.
.
No sig today...
Thanks, but I already run scrcpy on my desktop to control my phone Windows:https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy Debian/Ubuntu: https://xn--joh-9ma.com/contro...
MS are more intersrted in selling their cloud platform tools these days. They have their own Android Launcher which is actually pretty good. No point in trying to maintain a whole OS when you can just maintain the front end.
It seems MS wants a piece of Android pie which is so weird
Not weird at all.
The events has proven that the market can currently only hold a duopoly of ecosyastems (Apple's iOS walled garden, and the Android Google Play Store), there's currently no room for a number 3.
Microsoft tried hard with their Windows Phone stuff and completely failed. (For once they are on the receiving end of the ecosystem's network effect)
To have any chance of survival, a potential number 3 needs to be able to tap into one of the dominant eco-systems (see Jolla's Sailfish), or risk being neglected by consumer because of the "I miss my very-much needed app" situation.
Microsoft knew it, tried with Astoria, failed to achieve anything workable (but salvaged the efforts into WSL), and now this is their attempt number 2. It won't work for phone (because you actually still need a functional android phone to mirror from), but could be an attempt to feature match Chromebook :
You can run your Android apps on Chromebooks' ART containers ? Well you can now also run them on your Microsoft Windows-powered Microsoft Surface (<tiny>...cough... provided that you bring your own android smartphone...cough...<tiny>)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Seriously, many peoples are already using services like https://mail.google.com https://calendar.google.com https://photos.google.com https://messages.android.com/ https://web.whatsapp.com/ etc..
What's is needed is a coherent single Web interface to access all those services.
Bluestacks is in danger then.
Not all Androids are phones. I know that some people use an app I develop for Android tablets in an emulator running under Windows. The interesting question is whether this is better than blueStacks et al.
It seems kinda redundant since my google drive already has all my photos and files
Leaving aside the fact that not everyone clouds things, access to the file system is the first stage of integration. Access to key apps is the second. MS is already working on mirroring any Android app. Right now the software looks a bit useless. It may get less so going forward.
You got it backwards. Such as things are, Microsoft has to do this in order to delay Windows' drift toward irrelevance.
Not a desktop. Surface or other tablet with touch interface is the target. And some people might like to access the same tools whatever device they are on st the time. But mostly Surface users with Android phones.
A growing number of mobile service workers are forced to use their phones to turn in paperwork (work orders, receipts, quotes, etc). I would imagine that this is aiming at them. At my HVAC company we are forced to use AT&T Workforce Manager, a horrible app with gps tracking baked in. I would love to use a keyboard with a larger screen for submitting my reports.
Blend was way more advanced and extremely secure. I installed it on my work laptop so that I wouldn't need to check my messages on my phone and InfoSec came running to my desk like, "WTF? We can't see any of this. Uninstall it now!" I loved Blend, how it gave me seamless access to my computer's files on my phone and vice versa, synced up to my MacBook over wifi in the background the minute I got home. It was truly awesome software. They completely screwed the pooch on marketing that. It was at least five years ahead of its time.
Oh, and running Android apps? Yeah, BB10 could do that too. It's a shame how the little Canadian company got bullied out of the market by the Silly Valley Kool kids and their PR agencies even though BB had superior products by far.
Now Android is extended...
Get ready for the next step.
After trying this feature, I see some pretty serious limitations.
1. It only does text messages and the "stock" Android photos app.
2. In the messaging app, it does not show any pictures that are in a message thread.
3. It does NOT sync with Google Photos.
I was hoping for something more like a remote desktop, but hey, they're trying.
For text messages on your PC, Google Messages for Web is better--it handles photos as well as text.