Motorola ThinkPhone Microsoft Windows streaming test: cloud PC in your pocket
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Microsoft recently announced that it has partnered with Motorola over new productivity tools for the business-oriented ThinkPhone line. Users of the Motorola ThinkPhone can now get fully integrated support for the Windows 365 cloud function, as well as a Push To Talk integration with the Walkie Talkie feature on Microsoft Teams.
Our PhoneArena envoy at the IFA 2023 expo in Berlin took the advertised "complete PC experience With ThinkPhone and Window 365 cloud PC" for a spin there to check how well the integration with the features and security options of the Microsoft cloud went with the versatility of a PC via the ThinkPhone.
Microsoft and Motorola bring a cloud PC to your pocket
Connecting the ThinkPhone to a display with a USB-C cable and hooking up a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse is rather straightforward and works as advertised. The display setup included a Lenovo ThinkVision P27h-30 monitor with a 27-inch QHD display, and the Lenovo Professional Wireless Rechargeable Combo Keyboard and Mouse, plus the Lenovo Go Wireless Headset with noise cancellation option.
The Bluetooth mouse worked fine, but the keyboard lagged a tiny bit which can be frustrating if you are a fast typist by the way of a tech journalist at an expo with post deadlines hanging.
The ThinkPhone's display can, by extension, also be used as a touchpad if you don't have a wireless mouse lying around, too. Lenovo said that they decided against providing a display keyboard, too, as the experience would've been subpar on the cramped 6.6-inch screen of the phone.
The Microsoft-Motorola partnership over 365 cloud streaming with the ThinkPhone claims that it brings to users the "complete Windows PC experience with all their personalised apps, content, and settings, wherever they are," and we can attest that the streaming works as advertised.
When we stopped streaming our Windows session and then returned to it, the display picked up from exactly where we left off, like on a laptop you've closed the lid of and sent the computer into hibernation.
The Windows 365 cloud streams in resolutions up to the remarkable 4K, even though the IFA expo internet was not really up to par with the task as there were too many users hooked up at any given time on the show floor. One can pick a lower-res, QHD streaming to match the Lenovo monitor's resolution too, though, or any other popular preset desired to speed things up at slower connections.
When it comes to audio streaming, the Windows cloud sent sounds through the phone, respectively through the headset connected to it. The tough phone crafted out of Aramid fibre and with a screen protected by Gorilla Glass Victus has met the MIL-STD-810H tests for durability and water resistance, and offers a fast processor, as well as a big 5,000 mAh battery with fast 68W charging.
Its cameras and the Push To Talk integration with the Walkie Talkie feature on Microsoft Teams can be used for video streaming during Teams sessions with much better results than on most laptops, too. All in all, Microsoft and Motorola seem to have nailed their intention to use the ThinkPhones that the IT departments have distributed to business customers as their personal computers, bringing both cost savings and convenience in the process.
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