Skip to main content

First Look at Microsoft Cortana app for Android

Microsoft to planning to bring Cortana, the digital assistant we saw on Windows 10 to Android. A leaked copy of Cortana for Android shows that the user interface of the app is very much similar to the Windows 10 version of Cortana with a dark theme mixed with white area for content. You can access Cortana’s notebook to control information stored about you apart from the usual options for bringing up events, nearby places to eat and drink, news, sports, weather and other stuff. Cortana for Android allows users to make a voice search or enter queries in text. However the ability to activate the digital assistant by saying "Hey Cortana" found in the Windows version is missing.


The step taken by Microsoft to bring Cortana to Android and iOS (also) is probably part of Microsoft's plans to get users of rival platforms to take interest in Windows and other services offered by the company in order to gain popularity. The Android version of Cortana requires a Microsoft account. The company is likely to reveal an official preview version of the app within a few weeks.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to enable Chrome tabs in Android Lollipop

In Android Lollipop, Google changed the way tabs are handled in Chrome browser. Now, by default, Chrome tabs do not appear within the app. Instead they appear as separate apps in the Overview which also displays other recently used apps. Although, Google thinks that it is better to have tabs as separate apps, but you might not feel so. It's easy to get lost within recent apps and tabs. Thankfully there's a simple remedy to this problem. All you have to do is open Google Chrome and head to Settings > Merge tabs and apps. Then just turn off the feature. You will be notified that the tabs will move inside the Chrome app. That's all! You can now switch between tabs in Chrome just like you did in the previous versions of Android.

Google launches Android Pay on Google Play Store

Google is beginning to roll out the Android Pay app on the Google Play Store. The Mountain View Company announced Android Pay earlier this year at Google I/O along with Android M, the successor of Android Lollipop. Android Pay is a new NFC-based payment service for Android phones and is an effective successor to Google Wallet, although Google Wallet still remains as a service for sending P2P payments. The roll out of the new app actually began last week as an update for Google Wallet users, however, from now onwards the app will be available to all users for direct download. The smartphones must be running Android 4.4 Kitkat or above and equipped with NFC hardware in order to use the app. Presently, the service will only be available in the US and will support a variety of credit and debit cards from various US banks and credit unions.

Android Phones vulnerable to hacks with just a single text

Android is the most popular mobile operating system with around 80% smartphones running on it. And now according to security experts at the firm Zimperium, there's a major security flaw in the Android operating system that can let hackers crack into someone's phone just by sending a text. Well, users of Google's OS can relax for a while, thanks to the fact that this security hole is so far not widely exploited. Now here's how the attack would take place: The hacker makes a short video, hides the malicious code inside it and texts it to your number. As soon as the message is received by the phone, it does its initial processing triggering the vulnerability. This can happen even before the sound of an incoming message reached your ears. The problem is more exaggerating due to the fact that even if Google patches the hole, it would not reach the majority of users immediately since the updates to most phones are provided by their respective manufacturers and carrier...