Microsoft announced Windows 10 Build 14316 to insiders yesterday, and Cortana is one of the major highlights. What is even more exciting about the new features of Cortana is that Microsoft plans to make them work cross-platform, and not just cross-devices. Its been sometime Cortana has made its presence on Android, and Microsoft is all set to take it to the next level.
To use these features you will need Windows 10 PC running on Build 14316 and Cortana on Windows Phone or Android. The later will need Cortana version 1.5 which you can download from here for U.S. and download here for China.
Low Battery Notifications:
Many a times you don’t realise that battery is low, specially with battery saver turned on. While that saves big time, Cortana will pop-up a notification on your PC, just like missed calls, so you can put it in charge before you move out.
https://youtu.be/99aPUSJkYL0
Find my phone/Ring my phone:
Google’s Find my Phone implementation is the best. All you need to do is type “Where is my phone” on Google search. Microsoft is going to use Cortana to take on this, and all you need is to ask her. The feature will allow users to locate their phone from their PC through geo-location and by having Cortana ring your phone.
https://youtu.be/bOGLBu4_cyY
You can use voice command “Hey Cortana, Find my phone”, and it will show your phones last location on the native maps application. A prompt will appear on the PC, and a notification will also show up on the phone as well. This is a major improvement compared to multiple steps that had to be taken to locate the phone using the web interface.
Share map directions across devices:
When you find directions on your Windows 10 PC, it will be instantly shared to your Windows Phone / Windows 10 Mobile as well. This is convenient when you are about to leave for somewhere, and redoing it on your phone is an extra step.
https://youtu.be/zbZ1xS1Kc6o
What I would really Cortana to do is give me an option where I can manually share it with other Cortana users or an option which says send to that device. I will dig into this more to find out how exactly it works.
