Gadgetory

if you've been following Windows 10 news than by now you've heard of continuum the feature that lets you plug your Windows Phone into a monitor and keyboard to transform it into an approximation of a desktop computer I tried it for the first time last week and was pretty blown away by its potential but what exactly is continuum then maybe more importantly what isn't it I'm Michael Fisher with pocket now let's find out let's start with what continuum is keep in mind that we're using it very soon after initial availability with Illumina 950 made it to a Philco magistead stealth keyboard and a surface ark mouse your mileage will vary with other devices and as Windows receives updates going forward first and foremost continuum is a really good way to handle email and scheduling if you don't want to be confined to a phone's virtual keyboard the new outlook client takes to a large display very nicely with support for multiple panes multiple accounts and a lot of formatting options to choose from once you actually get down to the business of writing an email you can do that with either a Bluetooth keyboard or a wired one that plugs into the display dock and you can get moving at a pretty good clip once you actually get down to the typing part when it's time to make an appointment or check your schedule there's a handy shortcut built right into Outlook to let you jump over to the calendar which benefits greatly from the added space in a pinch continuum can also be a really handy full-size browser I say in a pinch because you're not going to want to use this for anything complicated or for a lot of tab juggling more on this in a second but for simple pages like mostly text-based sites it works pretty well and if you're using it to show off some vacation photos or share a presentation in PowerPoint then you're going to be right at home you can do either of those through miracast as well if instead you're looking for news weather financial information or something more specialized you're going to get a better experience out of one of Microsoft's preloaded apps which really shine when they get too spread out over a big display or TV and some third-party apps like Tweety M have also jumped aboard with more to come in the months ahead running a few apps at a time showcases another continuum strength it really does replicate the feel of a full PC you can use keyboard shortcuts like alt f4 to close a program alt tab to jump back to a previous app the windows key to bring up the Start menu which is just your phone's Start screen by the way and if you're using a mouse you can use right-click in most of the places you'd expect you can even browse some of the phone's file system using File Explorer if you've got your phone connected to a Bluetooth speaker like I do continue won't also functions as a surrogate media player most media apps still only run on the phone rather than in full screen but there are workarounds like running Netflix in the browser if you've got the patience that patience is key to making continuum work because as much as it tries to be a Windows Phone running continuum is not a full PC you'll notice this if you try to download and run any legacy Windows programs most of which are built for x86 processors the Snapdragon SOC and the Lumia phones is ARM based and it can only run a smaller subset of apps designed for that architecture so you can forget your dreams of downloading and running steam for example it just won't work continuum is also not a multitasking powerhouse it can be easy to forget that everything you see on the screen is being powered by the phone but that's exactly what's happening so you can't run apps side by side nor can you even run them in individual windows it's fullscreen or nothing if you've been watching for a while you know I'm a long time Windows Phone fan but as a Google user that also means I've spent a long time chafing at the platform's ecosystem disadvantage so the first thing I did when I got continuum up and running was try to have a Google Hangouts conversation in the browser loading the Gmail interface was enough to crash Spotify which I'd been using to play music in the background and then Microsoft edge hung with me for one hangouts message before the phone ran out of memory and the whole browser crashed this has happened repeatedly so if you think you can use continuum to graft a Google friendly experience onto a Windows Phone well right now that's a pipe dream all that can be boiled down into a pretty simple statement about what continuum isn't it's not an escape from the limitations of a smartphone if you treat it like a PC you'll be let down continuum is best enjoyed for what it is an occasional larger workspace for your smartphone for light work keep that restriction in mind and you might very well find it quite useful assuming you've got the hardware lying around to take advantage of it our full Lumia 950 review lens later this week folks watch out for it both here on YouTube and at pocketnow.com and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it till next time this has been michael fisher captain two phones on twitter reminding you to keep your continuum quirky thanks for watching we'll see you next time