10 best apps from Microsoft that will turn Android into a Windows phone

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Windows Phone has long been dead. However, Microsoft has a lot of applications that are pleasant and convenient to use.

1. Microsoft Office

The most popular Microsoft products for Android are the office applications Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. With them, you can easily edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations right on your phone or tablet.

The main functions of the apps are available for free. You can subscribe to Office 365 if you need advanced features such as headers and footers. However, for everyday work with documents, free versions of office applications from Microsoft are quite enough.

You can edit files located both on your device and in the OneDrive cloud storage. You can also connect your Dropbox or Box accounts.

2. OneNote

One of the best note-taking apps that rivals Evernote. When the latter raised prices, many users switched to OneNote.

OneNote for Android provides many options for taking notes. As with the desktop version, you can type, draw or write anywhere on the note sheet. OneNote lets you scan printed sheets and handwritten notes. And of course, you can add photos, videos, voice memos and copy web content using the built-in clipper.

OneNote's search function and flexible sorting and organizing system let you quickly find the notes you want. Plus, your notes will always be available offline.

3. Microsoft Launcher

There are tons of Android launchers out there. But Microsoft Launcher has enough features that no other launcher has. The start screen displays news, your events, scheduled calendar appointments, documents and contacts. You can customize apps and widgets and set desktop backgrounds.

The most interesting feature of Microsoft Launcher is the "Continue to PC" feature. By connecting a Microsoft account, you can work on your smartphone with files and documents left on your Windows 10 desktop.

4. OneDrive

A Microsoft cloud storage client that can quite compete with Dropbox. OneDrive integrates with OneNote and Microsoft Office, so you can easily find your notes and documents here.

OneDrive can automatically upload photos and videos directly to the cloud as soon as they are captured. In addition, you can select files in the cloud storage that should be available offline and work with them even without the Internet.

OneDrive provides 5 GB for free. If you subscribe to Office 365, get 1 TB cloud.

5. Skype

Skype needs no introduction. No matter how many alternatives it has, it still remains the best client for video calls. Although the Android version is somewhat heavyweight, it provides good call quality and a user-friendly interface. The app supports chats, video calls and conferences for up to 25 participants.

If the main version of Skype takes up too much space, you can always try Skype Lite. This client uses Android traffic and resources more sparingly.

Skype Skype

6. Outlook

Outlook is one of the best email clients for Android. It allows you to manage email from your Gmail, Outlook.com, Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo and other providers by consolidating all emails into one inbox. You can easily attach files from OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive to emails and archive or delete emails using gestures.

Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Corporation

7. Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge for Android has a pretty user-friendly interface that is optimized for mobile devices. The browser supports Reading Mode, which automatically clears the page of all unnecessary things (like in Pocket), and InPrivate Mode, which does not save your browsing history.

For Windows 10 Edge users, syncing data, browsing history, and bookmarks across devices will be useful.

Microsoft Edge: Web Browser Microsoft Corporation

8. Microsoft Authenticator

If you want to set up two-factor authentication on Windows 10, you'll need Microsoft Authenticator. Now, when entering the system, you will have to authorize the login attempt through the application on your smartphone.

Microsoft Authenticator can protect both your Microsoft account and accounts on other services such as Google and Facebook.

Microsoft Authenticator Microsoft Corporation

9. Office Lens

Office Lens is a document scanning application that can recognize just about anything. Business cards, receipts, documents - you just need to point your smartphone camera at the text, and Office Lens does the rest. The app is integrated with Office, OneNote and OneDrive. So you can convert your scans to Word, PDF and even PowerPoint documents.

In addition, Office Lens recognizes characters in images, which allows you to perform text searches in scanned documents.

Microsoft Lens - PDF Scanner Microsoft Corporation

10. Xbox

This app will come in handy for Xbox One owners. It can act as a virtual controller, allowing you to control the console from your phone. You can also view your achievements and posts and buy games from the Microsoft Store.

Xbox Microsoft Corporation