5 Microsoft-Centric Features On Samsung's Galaxy Note10

The partnership between Samsung and Microsoft is picking up steam with the debut of the new productivity-focused smartphone.

From the looks of it, the closest thing you're going to get to a Windows Phone these days is the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note10.

The Note10 is serving as Microsoft's launchpad for a number of new mobility features, which are aimed at providing improved links to Windows 10 PCs and enhanced mobile productivity.

[Related: The 10 Biggest Features On Samsung's Galaxy Note10]

The new features were announced this week in connection with the Note10’s debut at Galaxy Unpacked in New York, where Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stage to tout several of the features.

An expanded partnership between the two companies is seeing the combination of "Microsoft's intelligent experiences and Samsung's powerful, innovative new devices," Nadella said during the event.

The 6.3-inch Galaxy Note10 and 6.8-inch Galaxy Note10+ will be available on Aug. 23. Pre-orders are open, and the Note10 starts at $949.99 with the Note10+ starting at $1,099.99.

Microsoft also announced it will be carrying the Galaxy Note10 and Note10+ in its retail stores.

What follows are five Microsoft-centric features on the Samsung Galaxy Note10.

Messaging/Calls On Windows PCs

Microsoft and Samsung will be offering two ways for Note10 users to link their device to a Windows 10 PC.

Microsoft's Your Phone app, which is pre-installed on Windows 10 PCs, will now be bundled on the Galaxy Note10. Your Phone allows users to see recent text messages, notifications and photos from their smartphone on their PC. Later this year, Note10 owners will be able to access messages and take calls from Windows 10 PCs using Your Phone.

A second method is called "Link to Windows," which will be natively integrated into the Note10. In a blog post, a Microsoft executive said the Link to Windows feature enables texting, checking notifications, scheduling rides and dragging photos between the two devices.

Android Apps On Windows

Another Microsoft-centric feature coming first to the Galaxy Note10 is “Phone screen.” The feature will allow users to view and use their Note10's screen on their PC, said Shilpa Ranganathan, corporate vice president for mobile and cross device experiences users at Microsoft, in a blog post.

Phone screen "allows you to access your Android phone’s apps, right from your PC while using your keyboard and mouse, or touch screen," Ranganathan said in the post. Multi-touch gestures—such as pinching to zoom and swiping—are supported on touch screen PCs that are using Phone screen, she said.

Pre-installed Office Apps

The Galaxy Note10 is "optimized for Microsoft’s powerhouse of productivity – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more," Microsoft said in a Note10 page in its online store. The Note10 will come with the most-used Office apps pre-installed—Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

A few special features are also being enabled for the apps in the Note10. In the Outlook app, users will be able to get a "quick glimpse of a message" by hovering the Note10's S Pen stylus over the message, according to Microsoft. Additionally, with users now able to convert handwritten notes into text in the Samsung Notes app, that text can easily be exported to Microsoft Word.

DeX On Windows

The Galaxy Note10 will leverage Windows 10 and Windows 7 to make life easier for DeX users. DeX is Samsung's feature that lets users pull up an Android desktop on an external screen by plugging in a Galaxy device.

With the Note10, users can access their DeX desktop on a Windows 10 or Windows 7 PC—just by plugging the Note10 into the computer using a USB-C to USB-C cable. That way, users can get easy access a keyboard or mouse in situations where they need one--potentially allowing them to do without the need for a laptop, Samsung said.

Users have the ability to move files back and forth between the two devices, and can use DeX in full screen mode on the computer, Samsung said.

OneDrive Sync

Samsung and Microsoft announced that "soon" there will be a native integration of OneDrive into the Samsung Gallery app—with the Note10 confirmed to be the first device to feature the OneDrive integration.

The integration will enable automatic syncing of photos and videos from the Note10 to OneDrive.