Monday, February 2, 2015

Microsoft's New Picturesque App Turns Your Lockscreen Into A Bing Homepage

Dedicated Google users may not be aware that the Bing homepage consists predominantly of a giant background image, sometimes animated, that changes by the day. In perhaps a fit of creativity, Microsoft has decided to release a lockscreen replacement app by the name of Picturesque that takes this background and makes it your phone's lock screen.

P1 P2

In addition to letting you switch between six days worth of images, Picturesque tosses a Bing search bar at the top, which is effectively the one way Microsoft could hope to get its option in front of eyeballs before they glance over the Google search bar at the top of most Android homescreens. To add to the potential appeal, Picturesque displays weather forecasts, news, missed calls, and text messages. You can also toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness, and volume levels, as well as turn on your device's flash. So yes, there's some useful functionality to be found here.

P4 P3 P5

The number of lockscreen replacements doesn't quite compare to the sheer volume of apps that will swap out your launcher, so if you're looking for additional ways to spice up your locked device, it may be worth adding Microsoft's Picturesque Lock Screen to your list.

Beautiful Bing Homepage images: Your lock screen will be updated with the beautiful daily Bing image; you could swipe through the images from past 6 days or shake your phone to change the image on your lock screen.

Search on the lock screen: You could search for anything on the web directly from the lock screen and read all the linked pages without having to unlock your phone.

Latest news: Keep yourself updated with the latest news headlines and tap through to read the full articles.

Weather: Find out what the weather is at your current location; long tap through on the icons to get the detailed weather predictions for the week.

Notifications on Screen: See your missed calls and Messages quickly from your lockscreen. Quick call or reply from the notification from Home screen itself.

Regional Calendars & Muhurats (Only for Indian users): Personalize the lock screen to access your favorite regional calendars and Muhurat. Now you can figure out what festival is on for the day, rahu kalam, chogadiya/hora timings all from the lock screen itself.

Camera & Phone controls: Access your phone camera from the lock screen; Change your WiFi, Bluetooth, volume, brightness settings; also use your phone as a torch from the lock screen.

Born and raised in the rural South, Bertel knows what it's like to live without 4G LTE - or 3G, for that matter. The only things he likes sweeter than his tea are his gadgets, and while few objects burn more than a metal phone on a summer day, he prefers them that way anyway.
    • 1,038,308
    • 102,420
    • 20,312
    • NBA Releases Standalone All-Star App, Aims To Help Attendees Make The Best Of The Experience

      2015/02/02 9:35am PSTFeb 2, 2015
    • Official LIFX Bulb App Updated To Version 2.0 With Support For Android Wear And IFTTT, A Refreshed UI, And More

      2015/02/02 8:15am PSTFeb 2, 2015
    • Microsoft's New Picturesque App Turns Your Lockscreen Into A Bing Homepage

      2015/02/02 8:09am PSTFeb 2, 2015
    • PlayStation Portable Emulator PPSSPP Version 1.0 Now Available On The Play Store

      2015/02/01 5:33pm PSTFeb 1, 2015
    • [Bonus Round] Son Of Light, Give It Up, Logic Dots, Unium, And Satellina

      2015/02/01 2:38pm PSTFeb 1, 2015
    • Samsung Posts Full Two-Minute 'Next Big Thing' Promo Ahead Of 'The Big Game' [Video]

      2013/02/02 11:43pm PSTFeb 2, 2013
    • Aviary Photo Editor Lands On Android, Brings Free Photo Editing To Your Talon-Err, Hands (This Post Has Puns - Find Them All)

      2012/02/02 11:40pm PSTFeb 2, 2012
    • Paranoid Android Releases First Alpha Of Lollipop Custom ROM For Select Devices

      2015/02/02 8:00am PSTFeb 2, 2015
    • [Inconceivable!] The Verizon Galaxy S5 Is Getting Lollipop Starting Today

      2015/02/02 10:14am PSTFeb 2, 2015
    • Microsoft's New Picturesque App Turns Your Lockscreen Into A Bing Homepage

      2015/02/02 8:09am PSTFeb 2, 2015
    • Samsung Sends Invitations To Its Mobile World Congress Unpacked Event On March 1st

      2015/02/02 7:44am PSTFeb 2, 2015
    • [Weekend Poll] Android Police 2.0: Hot Or Not?

      2015/02/01 5:55pm PSTFeb 1, 2015
<iframe src="//s.thebrighttag.com/iframe?c=xUSduFl" width="1" height="1" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"></iframe>

source: androidpolice

0 comments :