It looks like one of Windows 10’s best new features – the ability to stream Android apps from a smartphone to a PC and use them as if they were Windows apps – won’t just be exclusive to the newly-announced Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra handsets after all. Microsoft’s own Surface Duo dual-screen device will also be compatible.
While Microsoft is still trying to avoid calling the Surface Duo a smartphone, it is a device that runs a modified version of Android – and can make and receive phone calls – so it basically is a smartphone, and it makes sense that Microsoft has now confirmed that it can stream apps to Windows 10 as well.
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However, for people who were dismayed that the cool app streaming feature is only available on very expensive Samsung phones, the fact it’s coming to Surface Duo as well won’t be too much of a relief, as that too comes with a high price tag – an eye-watering $1,399 (about £1,070, AU$1,960).
Your Phone gets better (for some)
While the excellent Your Phone app in Windows 10 allows people with most Android smartphones to send and receive text messages, control media and view photos using their PC, the upcoming app streaming support goes even further, allowing people to view and interact with their smartphone’s apps on their Windows 10 device.
However, this new feature seems to be exclusive to very expensive phones from Samsung – and now Microsoft.
And, while it may come to other smartphones from other manufacturers, as Windows Latest reports, the feature appears to need special drivers in the firmware of a phone, which means the phone maker would have to work closely with Microsoft to enable it – as Samsung clearly has done.
So, for anyone hoping Android app features come to non-Samsung phones, as well as affordable handsets, this news is a bit of a mixed bag.
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