Cortana for Android exits public beta, now available for all to download
Microsoft today announced that Cortana for Android (and all third-party mobile platforms) is now a full-fledged app. Cortana is the Redmond company’s voice assistant that’ll help you complete various tasks and keep you up to date with the latest info you care about. It can offer up sports scores, news, weather, and even track packages and flights in a forthcoming update. The Cortana Notebook is really cool — any notes you take or searches you perform are stored in the notebook, and they’ll be synced across all your devices.
But its launch on phones enables some other cool and powerful features, such as the ability to get a text on your Windows 10 PC when you miss a call, and the ability to let Cortana send a text to the caller letting them you know you’ll back to them.
Unfortunately Cortana can’t be the deep system-level experience it is on Windows Phone, where it can be activated by voice, toggle device settings and launch apps, but there’s one exception. The company teamed up with CyanogenMod to allow you to launch the app using the “Hey Cortana” command, and perform the following actions:
- Toggle network modes
- Power down your phone
- Turn on Quiet Mode
Not too shabby. Those with Windows PCs can get going with Cortana by saying “Hey Cortana, Phone Companion” on your Windows PC. Or, you know, do the less cool thing and simply download it from Google Play. Wondering how Cortana works? Be sure to check out our earlier video highlighting Cortana for Android and its features.