Microsoft has rolled out a new update for Phone Link that allows users to select and copy text from images synced from their Android phones. This feature is currently live in the Release Preview Insider builds and will soon be available to all users.
Phone Link, also known as Link to Windows on the phone side, offers the capability to sync calls, messages, notifications, and images from your Android phone to your Windows computer. Additionally, users can cast their entire phone screen onto their computer. The app also has limited functionality with iOS devices, enabling the sync of notifications, messages, and calls over Bluetooth.
With the latest update, users can now extract text directly from images within the Phone Link app. Previously, text extraction was possible using the Windows Snipping Tool, but this update streamlines the process by allowing users to do it within the app itself. The OCR (optical character recognition) technology used for text extraction in Phone Link has been found to be decent in testing, although it may not be as accurate as other text extractors from Samsung or Apple.
In testing, it was observed that Microsoft’s OCR technology made more errors compared to Samsung and Apple’s text extractors when extracting text from the same image of a book page. For longer passages, it may be more efficient to use cross-device copy and paste by extracting the text on your phone and sending it to your PC.
The new text extraction feature in Phone Link enhances the user experience by providing a convenient way to extract text from images synced from Android phones. While the OCR technology may not be as accurate as other options, the convenience of in-app text extraction is a welcome addition for users. With Microsoft continually updating Phone Link, users can expect more useful features to improve their productivity and enhance their cross-device workflow.
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