Microsoft releases a beta version of the new Cortana app on Windows 10

Microsoft is refocusing how it approaches Cortana. And one of the new ways is making it a chat-based app separate from the built-in Windows 10 search bar. It’s going to offer a more conversational experience. It’s being turned into a chat-based app for Cortana on Windows 10. The app supports both text and voice queries. And it still supports most of the existing features, including queries, assistant conversations, opening apps, managing lists, and basics like setting reminders, alarms, and timers. The company has tweaked Cortana so that “Hey, Cortana” is less intrusive. And the assistant now supports both the light and dark themes on Windows 10. Its performance should also be “significantly improved” thanks to new speech and language models.

But not everything is available out of the gate. According to Microsoft Windows Insider Chief Dona Sarkar, Microsoft plans to add more features over time. This version is available in the Fast Ring preview of Windows 10 build 18945. It will come to all Windows 10 users in the first half of 2020.

Source: The Verge