While Microsoft offers a useful Your Phone app to help users enjoy some interoperability between their PC and mobile device, it’s isn’t much cop if you have an iPhone.
That’s why the new Unison app announced by Intel today – for new PCs running some 12th Gen processors from Acer, HP and Lenovo initially and then on 13th-Gen models from next year – could be a big deal for a company attempting to lure iPhone owners back from their Mac and onto a Windows device in the post-Apple Silicon era.
The app will enable PC owners to send files directly to their iPhone form the laptop or desktop, as well as answer calls and send text messages. While it’ll also work with Android devices, this is much bigger news for people who want to use an iPhone and a Windows PC in tandem because the capability doesn’t currently exist.
“Your Windows PC and iPhone will be singing and dancing together,” said an Intel representative demonstrating the technology during the Intel Innovation 2022 expo, which also saw the launch of the 13th Gen “Raptor Lake” processors on Tuesday.
Apple’s iPhone and Mac interoperability works well, and it’s something Google is attempting to match with its Pixel phones and the Google Chromebooks. However, while Android and Windows play nice together, Intel’s Unison will be the first that “seamlessly connects” an iPhone to a PC.
Pairing will be simple, Intel says. From that point, photos taken on the iPhone or Android device will appear in a new gallery on the PC (pictured above). Notifications will also come into the PC’s own notification centre, if the Unison app is closed.
The tech is essentially the Screenovate app Intel confirmed it had purchased at CES 2022 in January and has been rebranded under the Unison name. “Intel Unison is a new software solution that provides seamless connectivity between phones (Android and iOS) and PCs — starting with functionality including file transfer, text messaging, phone calls and phone notifications — coming to new laptops starting later this year,” the company says.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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