Remote desktop on the phone screen. (credit: Microsoft)

One of Windows 10 Mobile’s truly distinctive and unusual features is Continuum. If you hook a phone up to a screen and, optionally, a mouse and keyboard, you can run desktop-style apps, albeit still powered by the phone. The connection to the screen and other peripherals can be wireless, using Miracast and Bluetooth, or wired, using the USB 3 Display Dock.

While the novelty of this is appealing, I’m not altogether sure that it’s ever going to be a major selling point. There are a couple of reasons: first, it requires quite specific hardware (although Miracast with Bluetooth is quite widely available); second, it requires Universal Windows Apps that specifically enable the ability to run on a large screen.

Remote Desktop in Continuum mode. A full-size desktop on a full-size screen.

A new preview app has me feeling a little more excited about Continuum. Microsoft has released a preview of the Remote Desktop client for Windows 10 Mobile that includes Continuum support. The value of this is obvious: you can connect to a desktop PC running desktop apps, but unlike traditional smartphone remote desktop apps, you don’t have to try to use those desktop apps from the small screen of a phone. Just Miracast the display to a big screen, and those desktop apps will look and work exactly the way they should.