The best of Microsoft’s Mobile World Congress event in 7 minutes (video)

Microsoft highlights of the Mobile World Congress press event.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft did a big splash demonstrating a few new features in Windows 10 for phones. Although, there weren’t big surprises, the company did highlight interesting features that will make its operating system more unique.

In my previous write up, I pointed readers to watch the full 38 minutes press event, but today the software maker has published a new video highlighting the most important moments of the press conference.

As a recap, during the event Microsoft unveiled two new Windows phones: the Lumia 640 and its bigger brother, the Lumia 640 XL, both phones share almost the same technical specs with the difference that the 640 XL has larger screen and better camera.

The demo presented by the company was using a Lumia 930 and Lumia 630 running the latest preview of Windows 10 for phones, and to show how features interconnect with all the devices using the new universal apps, Microsoft used a Surface Pro 3. Just a as a note, it’s still unclear when the software maker will release a second preview for its new operating system for mobile devices.

Project Spartan web browser for Windows 10 on phones

Microsoft’s Spartan browser arrives in the next Windows 10 build

Here is a recap of all the features demonstrated during the Mobile World Congress presentation:

Conversations: With Windows 10, Microsoft is focusing on bringing all conversations, SMS and Skype messages, into one place. During the demo, the company showed off how easy is to start an SMS conversation and then easily switch to Skype in the same interface.

Project Spartan: It’s not a secret anymore that Microsoft is planning to retire Internet Explorer and it’s beginning to do that with a fresh new web browser. The version of Spartan for phones shares various similarities with the version built for the desktop. 

As part of Project Spartan, the company also showed off the Reading List and Reading Mode built-in the web browser. Reading List can be used to save internet articles for later viewing and Reading Mode strips out all the web page clutter and shows users a clean PDF like version of the article.

Maps: Windows Insiders can already access the Maps Universal app in Windows 10 Technical Preview, but the company showed off the app for the first time on the phone. The most interesting feature shown during the presentation was the Universal app being able to sync locations across all devices, which enables users to start using Maps on a computer and continue on a phone.

Cortana: Microsoft’s digital assistant is also another feature included in Windows 10 preview and on Windows Phone, but the company showed off how reminders, favorites, and data will sync across PCs, tablets, and phones.

Office: In the event, Microsoft also showed off Outlook and how users will be able to have a full Office experience in the phone.

As you can see, nothing really major has been announced, but it’s interesting to see that Microsoft is now showing how Windows 10 and cloud services are coming together to make users more productive.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.