Introduction

Windows 365 Cloud PC’s  have evolved a lot in the last couple of years, and with the Windows app you can access them from practically any device.

The Android based Motorola ThinkPhone is not new however, but I’ve been using it to access my Cloud PC’s from various locations (Sweden, Texas, Florida) over the last several months to get a good idea of it’s capabilities. To assist with that I’ve connected it to the following for ease of use:

• External monitor (Lenovo ThinkVision portable monitor)
• Phone stand (cheap eBay stand)
• USB C port extender
• Wireless keyboard and mouse

This combination might mean that you need to pack less computing power as the Cloud PC does the heavy lifting. You could even skip the portable monitor and use the ThinkPhone’s built in screen but that might be a stretch if your eyesight isn’t up to it.

ThinkPhone & Windows 365

So what does this phone offer exactly in relation to Windows 365 Cloud PC’s ? Well if has built in integration with Windows 365 allowing you to quickly access your Cloud PC’s with a rich experience over the native Android experience via the Window app.

When you connect an external monitor you’ll see the Windows 365 integration first hand and it’s conveniently the first icon shown.

Clicking it shows you what looks like a connection to a Cloud PC but the text at the bottom of the screen informs you to:

Select a Cloud PC on your phone to connect.

I don’t quite get why this is necessary, or why you are not shown the Cloud PC’s on your display to choose from, but this is how it works with this solution currently. It’s a step I’d like to see improved in a later release of this solution.

Returning to your phone, you select the Cloud PC you want to connect to.

and after doing so you are prompted to confirm your preferences in relation to what the remote PC can access on your device.

your Cloud PC magically launches, how cool is that?

You can do your work as normal, browse websites, use Teams for meetings and so on. It actually works very well for general office tasks.

This entire blog post, from start to finish was composed on my Cloud PC using the ThinkPhone while away from my normal office environment.

What needs improvement

As I’ve said already I’ve used this combination (ThinkPhone + External portable monitor + wireless keyboard + mouse) in various locations around the world and for most scenarios it works really well.

However there is room for improvement.

Multiple monitor support

Most people that dock anything to a USB-C or Thunderbolt dock do so with multiple monitors, and straight away, this scenario fails, as it can only utilize one monitor. This is probably why the online demos are always with one monitor.  I’ve 3 monitors in my home office and that’s how I like to work with my Cloud PC’s.

Cloud PC license support

Currently it doesn’t support Frontline licensing, why ? I did notice for a brief few weeks that my Frontline Cloud PC showed up on the ThinkPhone, but it has once again disappeared.

Text markup

I’m not sure if this is an Android thing or a Cloud PC + ThinkPhone thing, but when I mark text (for example an entire paragraph) and want to do an action such as delete that selected text, it doesn’t let me complete that action so I have to delete the text letter by letter instead.

Locking the screen

When using the shortcut (windows key + L) to lock the screen, or when choosing the option to lock screen from the start menu, it completely disconnects the ThinkPhone from the session even though all I wanted was a lock screen, why is this the default behaviour ?

Docking behaviour

When docked, the external web camera connected to the docking station is ignored, only the phones cameras are available, why ?

Watching videos

When watching videos on your Cloud PC via the ThinkPhone, audio lags, you can watch a video but when you focus on what people are saying there lips don’t sync up to the actual audio.

Summary

The Motorola ThinkPhone is a brilliant phone in it’s own right and offers cool features that any phone efficiando would appreciate. But when it comes to Windows 365 connectivity, this is the icing on the cake. It really does offer you the ability to work remotely using just a phone, by docking to an existing USB-C docking station or by connecting external peripherals.

This phone and this solution gets two big thumbs up from me and I’m definitely excited to test the next generation of this release from Motorola and Microsoft.