Microsoft is improving the connection between smartphone and PC with the Windows Connected Mobile application. Thus, a new control panel will be integrated into the Start menu and we will be able to easily extract text from photos on the phone.
In the digital landscape, smartphones have become the most used devices, far ahead of laptops and desktop computers. Therefore, it is increasingly necessary to have a convenient way to communicate between your phone and your PC. Microsoft seems to have understood this well and has for some time been paying increased attention to its Connected Mobile application for Windows 10 and 11.
This software integrated by default into Windows allows you to link one or more mobile devices (Android or iOS) to a computer in order to be able to use them directly on your PC screen. Once the connection is established, it is possible to read and send SMS messages, take or make calls, or view and manage photos stored on your phone, all from your computer.
The application works through the Wi-Fi network and therefore does not require connecting your smartphone to your PC via a cable, which is very practical for quickly classifying your photos (and sorting through the photos of your tank). For example). Good news, Microsoft continues to improve Connected Mobile, with the deployment for all users of automatic recognition of text in photos and the upcoming arrival of a new panel dedicated to the application in the Start menu.
Mobile connected with Windows 11: you can extract text from smartphone photos
In testing for some time in the Windows Insider programs, the detection and extraction of text in photos from connected Mobile is now accessible to all Windows 10 and 11 users. To take advantage of this new function, simply Open the app and let it update. Now, when an image is displayed in Connected Mobile, a button Text is available in the top toolbar.
By clicking on the button Text, it is then possible to select all or part of the text present on the image and detected by the application, then copy and paste it elsewhere. According to our tests, character recognition obviously works very well on screenshots, but also on photographs of printed paper, such as books or administrative documents, even when the photo is not taken perfectly from the front. . In the image above for example, almost all the words near the fold of the book are correctly detected, only one or two located at the very bottom left pose a problem.
Mobile connected with Windows 11: a control panel in the Start menu
In order to further streamline the use of your smartphone on PC and improve the integration of Connected Mobile in Windows, Microsoft is working on adding a dedicated application panel to the Start menu. Published in preview since June 21, 2024, this new feature is currently only accessible to members of the Windows Insiders program, in build 22635.3790 of Windows and version 1.24052.124.0 or higher of Connected Mobile.
The connected Mobile panel can be activated from Settings > Personalization > Start and will display different information, such as the phone’s battery level and notifications, directly in the Start menu, in addition to offering quick access to messages, calls or photos. If no definitive release date for this function is mentioned at the moment, we can hope that it will arrive at the latest in fall 2024, on the occasion of the publication of the big 24H2 update for Windows 11 .