The latest update for Windows 11 includes all the stuff you’d come to expect, new AI features for the Copilot assistant, changes to the widgets menu that for the life of me I have never ever seen someone actually use, and a handy little feature that Apple has had for two years now, the ability to use your phone as a webcam.
Now, we say it lightly that Windows is copying this feature, but it’s definitely an example of looking across the fence and saying ‘hey, that’s a good idea, let’s do that’. In 2022, Apple launched MacOS Ventura, which allowed users to switch their Mac camera to their iPhone camera. This is potentially very attractive, because inbuilt webcams are usually quite limited. If you were able to switch to your phone cameras, however, you’d get much better picture quality.
The same will soon be true for Windows. “Your Windows 11 PC and Android phone connection just got better. Soon you will be able to access recent photos on your PC or use your phone as a webcam on all video conferencing apps, making your Android device a productivity partner to your Windows 11 PC,” Microsoft executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog post.
This feature has been rumoured for months when we first heard rumblings of it in December, and now it has been confirmed. The update is being rolled out to Windows Insiders (AKA, opt-in Windows update testers) and it will likely ship in the next major Windows update. The feature is reliant on the Link to Windows app, and is currently limited to Android devices running Android 9 or a newer operating system.
Another cool feature coming in March is ‘Generative Erase’ for the Photos app. The inbuilt Windows photos app now has an inbuilt AI eraser, in case you want to remove annoying details from the sides of your shot. Clipchamp, Windows’ lightweight clip editor, is also getting a silence removal feature, so you can plug the gaps between quiet moments easily.
Expect a Windows update from today.
Image: Gizmodo Australia