For anyone who rushed out and bought a Copilot + PC, those battery sipping paperweights are about to earn their keep as Microsoft starts to roll out new experiences exclusive to those devices.
In a new Windows Experience blog, Microsoft details some of the new generative and AI-powered experiences coming to Copilot + PCs that include an update to the Photos App to support ‘Super Resolution’ editing, improved Windows search in the File Explorer, interactive overlays, generative fill, expanded 3rd party app support and a schedule for the rollout of Windows Recall.
According to Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows Devices, Pavan Davuluri, Copilot + PC owners are about to have a fun October and November as the company finally starts testing Recall, or Windows Search on AI-steroids as I refer to it.
Starting in October, Windows Insiders will begin to see Recall on Snapdragon powered Copilot+ PCs. Customers who purchase an Intel- or AMD- powered Copilot+ PC will see Recall initially in our Windows Insider program starting in November. Timing details on the broad availability of Recall will be shared at a later date.
Pavan Davuluri – Corporate Vice President, Windows + Devices
Following the initial botched marketing of Copilot + PCs and Recall, Microsoft took to the labs to refine the security and privacy aspects of its screenshot grabbing AI feature and retooled them for more stringent user-protected experiences.
Microsoft just rolled out an Insider update to Windows, but it was sans Recall for now. With the company pumping out Insider build almost weekly; it shouldn’t be too long before Recall enthusiast get their hands on what should have been the crown-jewel of the Copilot + PC experience.
Hey, outstanding battery life is a pretty great consolation prize for Windows users.
Next up, a new feature called Click-to-Do will also be released as a preview in the coming months. While Microsoft euphemistically refers to Click-to-Do a magical overlay that enables enhanced interactions. Functionally speaking, Click-to-Do is like feature packed version of Windows Snipping Tool. When utilized, Click-to-Do becomes a context aware screenshot the enables users to leverage a handful of pre-generative functions such as Visual Search with Bing, applying background blur to images or erase objects from pictures. Other Click-to-Do functions include text editing, summarizations, in-line explanations, web search, website linking, and email shortcuts.
As I mentioned, Click-to-Do is a beefed-up version of Snipping Tool and as such, the way to initiate it is very similar. Users will need to summon Snipping Tool to take a snapshot of their screen and then use Windows key + a mouse click to bring up the enhanced context menu for additional experiences.
The Windows File Explorer is also getting some enhancements with an Improved Windows Search feature. Microsoft has optimized the Search in the File Explorer to better recognize natural language keywords and phrases to describe files, photos, documents and more.
You no longer need to remember file names, settings locations or even worry about spelling – just type what’s in your mind to find it on a Copilot+ PC. You can even find photos in OneDrive by describing the content in the same way.
Thanks to all those TOPS we were subjected to reading about for three months, the enhanced Windows Search works offline as well. Unfortunately, users will have to take Microsoft’s “coming months” as a suitable release timetable for now.
Microsoft is once again giving its in-box Windows Photos app some love with upscaling feature called Super Resolution. Rather than stumbling for a third-party app like Photoshop, Windows users can simply head over to the free Photos app already installed on their device to breathe life into old low-res photos with Super Resolution.
Once again, those highly touted 40+TOPS Microsoft and Qualcomm made a fuss over, are finally paying dividends as they process low-res photos up to 4K equivalents in seconds and offline.
The Microsoft Paint team is also making a case for its development over the past couple of years as it continues to add premium editing features to a platform that had been memorialized as the patch-work image editing experience of the internet.
Now Microsoft Paint can add generative fill and erase to its arsenal of features over the next couple of months. Paint users can now expand their image editing beyond, copy, paste, crop and resize, to add layers, text-to-image creation and adjustable brushes that can help erase unwanted blemishes or distractions in images. Users can also utilize the diffusion layer support Paint has to speed up editing processes as well as adding elements to images.
Microsoft is also touting the growing list of support it’s seeing from 3rd party app developers who have come on board its ten-year Windows on ARM journey. Users who bought a Copilot + PC back in June, or those who have waited until now, can look forward to support from “Chrome, Zoom, Brave, Opera, Slack, Spotify, Adobe (InDesign, Illustrator and Premiere), Davinci Resolve, Algoriddim djayPro, Libre Office, 1Password and Todoist today, with new native apps on the horizon including Vegas Pro, Fantastical, Sketchbook Pro, Arc Browser, Google Drive and more.”
Microsoft’s also seeing fringe to moderate app support for things like VPN hosts and printer drivers, which had been a deal breaker for some during its initial WoA releases.
While Microsoft just released Windows 11 version 24H2, the list of features mentioned above aren’t landing with that roll out. Instead, those upgrading to version 24H2 will be met with different improvements such as tweaks to Hearing Aid support, Bluetooth LE Audio, Wi-Fi 7 compatibility and efficiency, as well as HDR background support. More visual upgrades can be seen in the File Explorer, Settings, Taskbar and System Tray after updating.
If you have been on the fence about a Copilot + PC, now seems like a good time to jump in as these devices seem to be improving over time.
