If you’re an Apple user, you know how its devices work work together seamlessly. Samsung has the same: improved its Galaxy device integration in the last few years. Now Intel plans to roll out some of the same device integration to other Windows PCs with its Unison software, the company said Tuesday.
Unison makes it possible to connect Android and iOS phones to Windows PCs, uniting multiple screens in one place. You can send and receive text messages from your PC, receive phone notifications, make and answer phone calls, and view and transfer files, photos, and videos from your phone. It resembles Microsoft is your phone app, but with support for both Android and iOS, not just Android phones.
Unison is built on technology from Screenovate, a software company that Intel acquired last year. It first demonstrated its capabilities at CES 2022 in January. The technology uses local Wi-Fi networks or peer-to-peer connections over the network, and Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy when needed to enable the integration experience.
read more: Intel hopes 13th gen is lucky and brings ‘Raptor Lake’ updates to PCs
But there is a catch.
Intel Unison will only roll out during the holiday season to select 12th-generation Intel Core processor-based Intel Evo designs, Intel said in its announcement. Early designs from Acer, HP and Lenovo will be made available, but no specific models were mentioned. Unison availability will increase early next year with the release of Evo designs running on 13th Gen Intel Core devices.
Also, unlike Apple and Samsung, the Intel solution doesn’t seem to extend the integration to things like: wireless earbuds or using a tablet as a secondary display wireless. At least not yet.