iPhone 8 Rival Samsung Galaxy S8 Getting Microsoft Continuum-Like Feature: Report

As the 2017 launch of Samsung Galaxy S8 draws near, more leaks and rumors about the device have started surfacing. The newest rumor points to a desktop connectivity feature just like the Microsoft Continuum software — the first time that an Android Nougat device will be wirelessly connected to a PC using official Samsung software.

In the year following the Note 7 scandal, Samsung will be competing with its arch-rival Apple for market share, and the best bet for the company is to endow its flagship smartphone with features that set it apart from Apple’s offerings.

All About Windows Phone reported Monday citing a leaked Samsung slide that the South Korean conglomerate might try to replicate Microsoft Continuum-like workspace experience.

For the uninitiated, Microsoft Continuum is the company’s multi-platform software that lets consumers use their phone as their desktop. In the context of Microsoft phones, a good example would be the ability to design PowerPoint presentations on your phone itself, using an app that functions on your phone just like it functions on a Windows 10 PC.

Microsoft announced the feature in 2015, but till date has had no smartphone that truly matched up to the PC experience, since the available phone hardware simply isn’t built to deliver a complete desktop experience.

The leaked slide did not reveal much, but featured a Samsung smartphone connected to an external monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. The monitor in the slide was labeled "Extended Workspace," but there was no indication that Samsung’s feature would be compatible with Windows PCs. Instead, the compatibility was shown between the Android device and an OS similar to Google’s Chrome OS.

Simply put, the leak indicated an Android/Chrome OS experience rather than an Android/Windows one.

According to BGR, Continuum in an Android device might boost productivity for users. However, you might have to depend on Google apps such as Google Docs and Sheets, instead of Windows PC applications like MS Word.