A PC in Your Pocket: Continuum for Windows Phones

A lot of vendors are spending design and manufacturing dollars developing PCs on a stick, which are basically thumb drives that run a lightweight OS and not much else.

Microsoft is taking a different tact with Windows 10 for Phones.

Microsoft's Joe Belfiore demoed Continuum for Windows Phones today at BUILD 2015. When Continuum was first envisioned, long before the very first Windows 10 Technical Preview was even available, it seemed just a simple tactic to get PCs to recognize tablet and desktop modes automatically. As the Technical Preview releases have accelerated this feature keeps getting better. But, today was the first time Microsoft has introduced Continuum capabilities for Windows Phone.

Smartphone hardware is as capable as most PCs, and can run the types of apps that users need to be productive and have fun. So, why not take advantage of this PC in the pocket and turn it into something more, and something useful?

Continuum for Phones is a concept that is deep in development that allows smartphone users to connect wirelessly to a mouse, keyboard, and monitor and turn the smartphone into a full Windows 10 desktop experience. And, since Microsoft is finishing up apps that work the same across the various size devices (Office for Windows 10, for example), nothing will be lost by using a smartphone as a mobile PC.

Since we all carry a smartphone anyway, it makes complete sense that we would use these powerful devices to their full potential.

The hardware doesn't support it yet, but will soon. Joe was tethered through a cable connection during his demo. Sources from Microsoft today confirmed that new flagship devices are coming, they just won't show up until Windows 10 is ready. These new devices will directly support the Continuum for phones feature.

Imagine handing a new-hire a smartphone as their only PC. Pretty ground-breaking, cool stuff.