There are many tools for controlling your Android phone from a Windows PC (or vice versa), but the most popular is Microsoft's Phone Link . Phone Link displays your phone's notifications, messages, photos, and other data on your Windows PC, but with a little extra setup, it can do even more. Soon, Phone Link will also let you remotely lock your PC and instantly access its clipboard right from your Android phone.
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When you first connect your Android phone to your computer via Phone Link, not all features are enabled by default. For example, you can use your Android phone as a computer camera or access its files directly through Windows File Explorer, but only if you enable these options first. To enable them, open Windows Settings, go to Bluetooth & devices > Mobile devices > Device manager, and enable the options “Use as a connected camera” and “Show mobile device in File Explorer.”
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In the same menu, you’ll find other toggles, such as “Get notifications for new photos” and “Show device name in Windows Share.” However, users testing recent Insider Preview builds are seeing additional features in this menu. For example, Telegram user Lance Adams, who’s using the latest Dev build, has a new option called “access computer clipboard.” As the name suggests, this feature allows your connected Android phone to access text and images you copy to your computer.
This new feature is currently one-way – it only syncs your computer clipboard to your phone, not the other way around. For full, two-way sync, you’d typically need to use SwiftKey ’s “ sync across devices ” feature or Phone Link’s “ copy and paste across devices ” option . The latter option, however, is only available on phones that come with Phone Link pre-installed, which isn’t the case with Google’s Pixels . As such, the new PC-to-phone sync is especially useful for Pixel users, who have been missing out on the native clipboard integration found on Samsung, OnePlus, HONOR, and Xiaomi devices .
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For Windows and Android users, it's encouraging to see Microsoft continuing to strengthen the partnership between the two platforms. Google has less incentive to improve its own operating system's compatibility with Windows, as it's mostly focused on its own ecosystem, Chrome OS, which directly competes with Windows. Based on the latest information, Google is working on merging Android and Chrome OS into a single platform, which suggests that this strategic direction is not going to change anytime soon.
Source: androidauthority
