This almost feels like a killer feature.
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| Remote desktop on the phone screen. |
While the novelty of this is appealing, I'm not altogether sure that it's ever going to be a major selling point. There are a couple of reasons: first, it requires quite specific hardware (although Miracast with Bluetooth is quite widely available); second, it requires Universal Windows Apps that specifically enable the ability to run on a large screen.
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| Remote Desktop in Continuum mode. A full-size desktop on a full-size screen. |
A new preview app has me feeling a little more excited about Continuum. Microsoft has released a preview of the Remote Desktop client for Windows 10 Mobile that includes Continuum support. The value of this is obvious: you can connect to a desktop PC running desktop apps, but unlike traditional smartphone remote desktop apps, you don't have to try to use those desktop apps from the small screen of a phone. Just Miracast the display to a big screen, and those desktop apps will look and work exactly the way they should.
Sure, this is an obvious use of Continuum; Remote Desktop is an app that easily scales to large screens and conveniently doesn't have significant hardware demands of the phone, since all the apps run remotely.
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| The app can access published apps as well as desktops. |
Continuum still feels like a niche feature. But apps like this make it feel like it could be a little less niche. Using Remote Desktop for both remote administration and, perhaps more significantly, remote app access, makes your phone into much more than just a phone. While the need for suitable hardware is always significant—it's going to be a while before you can reliably hook up a Windows phone to any old monitor and keyboard that you come across—Continuum turns the phone into the ultimate hotdesk-capable thin client. And that's pretty neat.
Images by Microsoft
~ Peter Bright
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