Everything You Need to Know About Android Screen Mirroring on Windows 10

[The AchieVer]

Everything You Need to Know About Android Screen Mirroring on Windows 10

Windows 10 April 2019 Update, also known as version 1903 or 19H1, is already in an advanced development stage, and although you’d expect Microsoft to focus mostly on refinements and last-minute fixes, the software giant thinks otherwise.

The latest Windows 10 19H1 preview build introduced a new experiment that allows users to mirror the screen of their Android phone right on their desktop.

The engine powering the whole thing is the Your Phone app, which has until now been responsible for providing easy access to data like messages and photos in the gallery on Android.

The Your Phone app, however, is getting new capabilities that allow for screen mirroring, so before anything else, you need to make sure that you’re running the correct version. Your Phone must be at least version 1.0.20701.0.

Then, you must be running Windows 10 build 18335 or newer – at this point, it’s not yet known if Microsoft can finalize this feature before the public rollout of Windows 10 19H1, so it remains to be seen if the functionality is supported in the stable release.

Android 7.0 or newer is required, and for now, the feature is limited to Samsung Galaxy S models, namely Galaxy S8 and S8+, Galaxy S9 and S9+. Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy S10 aren’t on the list of supported phones for now.

Also, your device must support Bluetooth radio with low-energy peripheral mode. To check if your device boasts such capabilities, here’s what you need to do:

Device Manager > Bluetooth > Properties > Details.

In the drop-down, look for Bluetooth radio supports Low Energy Peripheral Role and check if the value is true or false. True means that your device supports this feature, and false means it does not.

For the time being, only the Microsoft Surface Go is supported, and Microsoft says that further models would be added at a later time.

Your PC and Android phones must be paired with Bluetooth on and connected to the same network.
 

 

 

If this feature is available, launch the Your Phone app, and in addition to Photos and Messages sections in the left sidebar, you should also see a third option called Phone screen (in preview). Clicking it opens a live view of your phone’s screen, which you can access with a mouse, just like you’d normally work on your PC. You can launch apps, browse the web, or access photos in the gallery, all with your mouse.

Even if the feature is already available on the Microsoft Surface Go, which comes with a touchscreen, touch input isn’t available for the time being. The sound from the apps that you launch with screen mirroring also plays out of the phone speakers, but Microsoft says that in a future update, it should be routed through the PC speakers.

There are several bugs at this point in the development process, like some applications, including here Feedly and Pokemon Go, not yet supporting mouse input. Because touch isn’t available either, once you launch these apps there’s not much you can do.

Also, the screen mirroring only works in portrait mode and there’s no way to switch it to landscape, which could make more sense especially if a full-screen option is added.

The best of all is that no cables are required, and mirroring the phone’s screen on the Windows 10 desktop is possible as long as the mobile device is in range and connected via Bluetooth.

Certainly, there’s a lot to improve about this feature, but sooner or later, screen mirroring should be one of the key features of Windows 10. Obviously, don’t expect such capabilities to be offered to iPhone users given Apple’s walled garden.

 

 

 

 

Source

[straycat19]

Feature?  Just more bloatware, as if there wasn't enough already.  Why doesn't Microsoft listen to people who only want a basic operating system without all the 'extra'  applications?  It's one reason that Windows 7 will be around for years to come.

[masterupc]

1 hour ago, straycat19 said:

Feature?  Just more bloatware, as if there wasn't enough already.  Why doesn't Microsoft listen to people who only want a basic operating system without all the 'extra'  applications?  It's one reason that Windows 7 will be around for years to come.

 

You can easily uninstall the app, can't you?