Microsoft Windows 11 update: Everything new coming to Windows PCs in March

Microsoft has announced changes and new features for the Windows 11 operating system. These new features include the ability to use smartphone cameras as webcam, intelligent snap suggestions, new AI powered tools and skills for Copilot, and more. Microsoft in a blogpost stated that most of these new updates have started rolling out to customers, while the remaining features will be made available over the coming weeks through a controlled feature rollout process. Here is everything new coming to Windows PC with the new update:

Windows 11: Smartphone camera as webcam for PC

Microsoft said that it is gradually rolling out the ability to use an Android device’s camera in any video application on Windows 11 OS. The feature is currently limited to Windows Insider platform, which is Microsoft’s early-release testing platform for new Windows builds and features.

With this feature, users will be able to connect their Android smartphones to their Windows PC wirelessly and stream the video feed from the smartphone onto their PC. The feature will allow switching between front and back cameras on the smartphone and using smartphone’s camera features for streaming on PC.

To use this feature, the connected smartphone must have an Android version 9.0 or later and the Link to Windows app on their device.

To use the feature, go to Settings > Bluetooth and Devices > Mobile devices on your PC and click on Manage devices. From within the menu allow your PC to access your Android phone.

Use Android smartphones as Webcam for PCs

Windows 11: New skills for Copilot

Copilot for Windows 11 is getting new skills and features with the update. Microsoft said that these features will start rolling out starting in the latter half of March.

Once available, Windows PC users can ask the Copilot AI assistant on their Windows PC to change computer settings. For example, with prompts like “enable battery saver” or “turn off battery saver”, Copilot will take the appropriate action. Users can ask the AI assistant to carry out the following tasks:

Turn on/off battery saver

Show device/battery/system information

Open storage page

Show available Wi-Fi networks

Display IP address

Show available storage space

Empty recycle bin

Apart from these, users can also prompt Copilot for Windows to launch accessibility features such as live captions, narrator, magnifier, voice access page, and more. Microsoft also said that they will add new ways to add third-party plugins to the Copilot assistant.

Copilot on Windows 11

Windows 11: AI features in creative apps

The recently announced Generative Erase feature for Photos app has started rolling out to the users globally. The feature lets users remove unwanted objects from a photo by simply selecting and erasing them using the brush tool. Additionally, the company is also rolling out a preview for the upcoming silence removal feature for the video editing app Clipchamp. It essentially removes silent parts in the audio.

Windows 11: Other updates
With the new update, Microsoft is improving the Widgets and built-in Snap layouts features in Windows 11. The Snap layout that allows users to resize and organise apps on windows will now provide personalised layout suggestions to users by understanding their usage patterns. The Widgets board for Windows is getting updated and will let users segregate and organise Widgets into distinct categories such as Work, Play, and more.

Microsoft said it has also expanded the file sharing options to include additional apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Instagram. More applications like Facebook Messenger will be added soon to the list.

DirectSR for Gaming
Apart from the new features for Windows 11, Microsoft in a blogpost stated a new Application Programming Interface (API) called DirectSR. The company said that it has worked with Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) makers such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel to develop this API that will enable integration of Super Resolution (SR) into the next-generation of games. Super Resolution is a technique that adds additional graphical data to upscale the in-game graphics.

Microsoft said that DirectSR enables Super Resolution technique through a common set of inputs and outputs, allowing a single code path to activate SR solutions from multiple GPU makers. List of these SR solutions include NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution, AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, and Intel XeSS.

The company said that the new API will be available soon for public preview in their software development kit Agility SDK.