Microsoft brings some Cortana magic to Skype Preview for Android
Microsoft has brought a little bit of Cortana magic to the Skype Preview app on Android.
If you use the Skype Preview app for Android, then you can now interact with Cortana alongside all of your other chats — so long as you call the U.S. home. The latest update to the app, which acts as sort of a beta testing ground for new features, adds Microsoft's digital assistant as a bot, along with a couple of other notable features.
Cortana in Skype Preview acts much as you'd expect if you've already used it on other platforms. Once you've granted Cortana access to the requisite permissions, the digital assistant can offer help in completing tasks like navigation, general facts, and weather. Skype even helps things along by offering up some sample phrases to ask Cortana.
Alongside Cortana, Skype Preview has also picked up other goodies like panoramic photos. Here's a look at all of what's new:
- Panoramic photos - share panoramic photos with friends via chat or your highlights.
- Sprinkles - simply tap on the wand to add fun Sprinkles to your photos.
- Cortana - We're bringing the intelligent assistance of Cortana into Skype (US only).
- General performance and reliability improvements.
Like so many other things when it comes to new features from Microsoft apps, Cortana is currently only available in Skype Preview for U.S. users. If you want to give it a shot, however, you can grab the latest version of Skype Preview from Google Play now.
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Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl.