Towards ever simpler connection and data transfer between smartphones and PCs running Windows 11.
Although Microsoft has never managed to gain a lasting foothold in the smartphone sector, the American firm cannot ignore these millions of terminals and intends to simplify communication as much as possible between these machines running on Android / iOS and our good old PCs running Windows, well Windows 11 at any rate. To this end, a number of initiatives have already been launched: last year, for example, Phone Link, an iOS application also available on Android, was used to improve exchanges between iPhone and PC.
Here's a permission request dialog related to this feature. pic.twitter.com/sCYeFDY7qS
- PhantomOcean3 🌳 (@PhantomOfEarth) June 8, 2024
Phone Link then evolved to, for example, enable the recognition of text spotted on a photo: a feature still in development, but which has already interested a good number of users. This time, Microsoft wants to develop interconnection between the two environments (smartphones/PC) via file transfer. The idea, of course, is to simplify what already exists today, with the ability to view the smartphone directly in the Windows 11 file explorer, without having to search for the missing files.
The XDA Developers site explains how this works: the principle is actually quite simple, with an option that can be activated/deactivated to access the smartphone's files. Once this option is activated, Windows 11's File Explorer makes the smarpthone appear like any other storage device, with all the notifications that go with it. Spotted by a certain PhantomOfEarth, the feature is obviously not yet deployed, but reserved for members of the Insider program, and no doubt still needs a long testing phase. The question now is when Microsoft will deem it sufficiently robust to be accessible to all.
