Microsoft is finally delivering on its promise to bring the best of Windows 10 to as many devices as possible. Earlier this week, the company officially unveiled Cortana, a standalone Android app that lets Windows 10 users take Microsoft’s personal assistant with them wherever they go.
The company announced what it calls the Android Public Beta on its site yesterday. Windows Blogweeks after the free Windows 10 upgrade finally started rolling out to users. In Windows 10, Cortana resides in the Taskbar and helps with appointment creation, calendar management, searches, package tracking, and pretty much anything else they need. Personal assistance is best described as a combination of Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant. It analyzes email, calendar appointments and more to learn something so it can help. For example, it tells users when to set off based on real-time traffic conditions. The personal assistant started life as a feature in Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system.
Cortana Android Public beta is currently available on the Google Play Store. To participate, users must agree to the terms of the beta process. here. Only then do they get a link to the app itself. Cortana isn’t available to everyone for free on the Google Play Store because it’s still in a lot of testing phases.
Microsoft said it wants to bring Cortana to iPhone and Android so users can have the feature wherever they need it. Cortana may have started life as a Windows Phone feature, but users are more likely to have an iPhone or Android device in their pocket right now. Cortana is built on Bing, Microsoft’s search engine.
Windows Phone and Windows have Cortana built-in. Therefore, it can always listen for commands and check the settings. Cortana for Android is a free app that users add to their phones. Despite this, most of Microsoft’s features on their platform are intact. Reminders, regular calls, package tracking, flight tracking, and tasks are all included with Cortana for Android. Cortana for Android cannot open individual apps. All the interests and information that users share with Cortana on their Windows 10 PC are also available in the app.
Cortana for Android can’t always listen for a command, but it’s easily accessible thanks to Android’s open nature. Users can leave Google Assistant and have a Cortana surface when they hold their finger on their device’s Home button.
Cortana for Android is currently only available in the United States. Microsoft has worked slowly to internationalize the Windows 10 version of Cortana all year, so limited availability should change quickly. Strangely enough, Microsoft hasn’t provided further details about the Cortana app coming to iPhone and iPad, nor has it confirmed that it’s something it’s still working on.
Cortana is a big part of Microsoft’s plan to take down Google and improve the perception of Windows. If the company can make Cortana indispensable, it has a better chance of competing with Google in search. After all, if it’s really convenient to instantly search for information by voice, users will never have to manually search for anything again. Cortana is only available on Windows laptops, desktops, and 2-in-1s. Users who really want to get the most out of the personal assistant will upgrade to Windows 10 and stick with it.
Microsoft has a few more parts to fulfill before it can announce the successful rollout of Cortana. Phones running Windows 10 Mobile – hence the premium version of Cortana – won’t arrive until early fall. Cortana is also coming to the Microsoft Xbox One entertainment console, but not until November.
