**Continuum: A New Way to Use Your Windows Phone as a Computer**

In this article, we'll explore what Continuum is and how it can be used to turn your Windows phone into a full-fledged computer. We'll also discuss the benefits and limitations of using Continuum, as well as some tips for setting it up and getting the most out of it.

**What is Continuum?**

Continuum is a feature introduced by Microsoft that allows you to use your Windows phone as a desktop-like computer. It's essentially a docking station that connects your phone to a monitor or TV, allowing you to access a full-fledged Windows 10 operating system on your device. The dock includes three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, a display port, and a micro-USB port, which allows you to connect your phone to a variety of devices.

The downsides to using Continuum are that it requires its own power adapter, which can be inconvenient to carry around, as well as the dock itself. The device is currently priced at $99. However, there's another way to get Continuum working: Miracast. Miracast is a protocol for wirelessly streaming your display to any monitor or TV. If you have a TV with Miracast built-in, you can simply open the Continuum app, tap "Wireless," and connect to your TV's network. Alternatively, you can buy a Miracast dongle that plugs into any HDMI port on any monitor or TV.

**Using Miracast for Continuum**

One of the biggest benefits of using Miracast is its portability. Most Miracast dongles are small enough to fit in your pocket and can be easily taken with you wherever you go. They're also wireless, which means you don't have to deal with any cords or cables.

Another advantage of Miracast is that it allows for seamless casting of your screen wirelessly. This makes it easy to project your phone's display onto a TV or monitor, allowing you to use your Windows 10 operating system in a more traditional desktop setting.

**Using a Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard with Continuum**

To get the most out of Continuum, you'll also need a good pair of Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. We used a small Bluetooth mouse that we found accurate and reliable, as well as a compact Bluetooth keyboard that didn't require any adapters or dongles. Both devices are perfect for using on-the-go.

**The Limitations of Continuum**

While Continuum is an exciting development in the world of mobile computing, there are still some limitations to consider. For one thing, it's not actually a full-fledged desktop operating system – it's more like a simulated environment that mimics the experience of running Windows on your phone. This means that you can't run normal Windows apps or use traditional desktop software.

Instead, you're limited to using apps that are specifically designed for ARM processors, such as Microsoft Office. These apps work well with Continuum, but they're not necessarily as robust or feature-rich as their desktop counterparts.

**Real-World Use Cases for Continuum**

Despite its limitations, Continuum has some exciting potential use cases. For example, you could take your Windows 10 phone and use it in a hotel room to get some work done while traveling. The little Miracast dongle and Bluetooth mouse and keyboard would allow you to create a full-fledged computer environment on the go.

This might also appeal to people who are looking for a new way to justify buying a Windows phone, rather than just as a mobile device. With Continuum, your phone could become an ultra-portable computer that's always with you – perfect for freelancers, students, or anyone else who needs to be productive on the go.

**Conclusion**

Continuum is a promising feature that's sure to generate excitement among tech enthusiasts and business users alike. While it has its limitations, there are many benefits to using Continuum, including portability, wireless connectivity, and access to a full-fledged Windows 10 operating system. If you're interested in learning more about how to set up and use Continuum, be sure to check out our next article for some expert tips and tricks.

**Final Thoughts**

We hope this video has been helpful in explaining what Continuum is and how it can be used to turn your Windows phone into a full-fledged computer. If you like this video or if you have any questions about Continuum, please don't hesitate to reach out in the comments below. We love reading your comments and chatting with you guys. And if you enjoyed this video, please thumbs up it or share it – we appreciate it! If you want more videos like this, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter – we're trying to be more active there and chat with you all about tech and gadgets. Thanks for watching!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enone of Windows Phone 10's greatest features and the one that probably sets it apart from all the other operating systems is called Continuum essentially this feature allows you to plug in a monitor or a TV uh to turn your Windows phone into a quote unquote full-blown Windows PC so it's pretty simple to set up but it's not quite that simple uh also there are some differences between it and a full-blown Windows desktop so I figured in this video I would show you how to set it up what Continuum actually is and what it can actually do and not do so essentially there are three main ways to set up Continuum you basically need a way of getting the phone screen to be projected onto either a monitor or a TV and you also need an input device namely a mouse and a keyboard so the most obvious way of doing this is to use the display dock which is a purpose-built accessory just for Continuum this small brick allows you to connect your phone to any monitor or TV that has either an HDMI or display port you can then use its other ports to connect to keyboard mouse or other peripherals besides the US BC port that you use to connect your phone to it that also charges the phone by the way it includes three USB 2.0 ports an HDMI port a display port and a micro USB port the downsides to this method is the fact that it has its own power adapter that you have to carry around you also have to carry around the display dock itself if you're traveling uh and it's about $99 another way you can get Continuum to work is by using Miracast Miracast is a protocol for beaming your display wirelessly to any monitor or TV some TVs even have it built in so if that is the case for you you can just open the Continuum map tap wirelessly connect and it'll just connect right then in there done if you don't have a display with that built in you can easily just buy a mirrorcast dongle um click the link below for the one that I used in this video uh and that will plug into any HDMI port on any monitor or TV and essentially do the same thing allow you to wirelessly cast the screen the real benefits of this are obviously there's no wires uh but beyond that it's also just super portable most of these little mirrorcast dongles are very small chomecast size and they can be put in your pocket for the most part finally you can use a good oldfashioned USBC to HDMI cable regardless of which of these methods you use to connect your phone to a monitor or TV the best thing for you to do to get a mouse and keyboard to work is to get a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard I used this mouse because of its small size accuracy and the fact that it doesn't need a dongle I also used this keyboard um basically for the same reasons if you want to know which keyboard and mouse I used you can click the link below for where to get those but honestly any Bluetooth keyboard and mouse will work so now that we have it set up it is a bit of a misnomer to say that it's a full-blown Windows 10 computer now while it may seem that way at first glance there's a few things that it really just can't do first up there is no actual desktop uh instead of having a desktop and a start screen which is what it kind of looks like it's actually just a static image in the background and your phone's start screen so the difference between this and a regular desktop uh is is that you can't actually put anything on that static image no icons no shortcuts nothing like that next up there is no real multitasking or Windows for that matter uh anytime you open an app it just takes over the entire screen opening on your phone pulls it from that screen back to your phone uh and you can never really have two running side by side soon as you open another app it replaces the other one that's open and finally the big one uh contrary to what most of us were led to believe at the launch event the phone version of Windows can't actually run normal Windows apps the only thing you can actually use are programs that are meant for an arm processor so this is very similar to the old Windows RT on the original surface with all that said you're probably wondering what can it actually do well it can allow the apps that actually do work like the office suite for example to run in much the same way that they do on a desktop computer and with the assistance of a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard you can use them a lot more efficiently than you can on a phone also those downsides I mentioned are just at the time of me doing this video the hope hope is that Microsoft actually gets past those things allows you to install real apps has a full-blown version of Windows 10 that allows for multitasking Etc if they could do that it would be a pretty cool feature I mean you can imagine yourself taking this phone with you the little mirrorcast dongle and the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard and say you were on the Road and at a hotel room boom now you have a full-blown computer uh anywhere that you possibly would go this might also help people justify buying a Windows phone not as a phone but as an ultra portable computer there you guys quick video explaining what Continuum is and how to set it up and how it works Etc um if you like this video or if you like the idea of Continuum or anything like that please let me know in the comments below I love reading your comments and uh chatting with you guys there uh if you enjoyed this video though please thumbs up it or share it it is greatly appreciated if you want more videos like this please subscribe to the YouTube channel also please follow me on Twitter as I'm trying to be more active there uh you can chat with me there and it's at the unlocker with the E missing in the word unlocker as always thanks for watchingone of Windows Phone 10's greatest features and the one that probably sets it apart from all the other operating systems is called Continuum essentially this feature allows you to plug in a monitor or a TV uh to turn your Windows phone into a quote unquote full-blown Windows PC so it's pretty simple to set up but it's not quite that simple uh also there are some differences between it and a full-blown Windows desktop so I figured in this video I would show you how to set it up what Continuum actually is and what it can actually do and not do so essentially there are three main ways to set up Continuum you basically need a way of getting the phone screen to be projected onto either a monitor or a TV and you also need an input device namely a mouse and a keyboard so the most obvious way of doing this is to use the display dock which is a purpose-built accessory just for Continuum this small brick allows you to connect your phone to any monitor or TV that has either an HDMI or display port you can then use its other ports to connect to keyboard mouse or other peripherals besides the US BC port that you use to connect your phone to it that also charges the phone by the way it includes three USB 2.0 ports an HDMI port a display port and a micro USB port the downsides to this method is the fact that it has its own power adapter that you have to carry around you also have to carry around the display dock itself if you're traveling uh and it's about $99 another way you can get Continuum to work is by using Miracast Miracast is a protocol for beaming your display wirelessly to any monitor or TV some TVs even have it built in so if that is the case for you you can just open the Continuum map tap wirelessly connect and it'll just connect right then in there done if you don't have a display with that built in you can easily just buy a mirrorcast dongle um click the link below for the one that I used in this video uh and that will plug into any HDMI port on any monitor or TV and essentially do the same thing allow you to wirelessly cast the screen the real benefits of this are obviously there's no wires uh but beyond that it's also just super portable most of these little mirrorcast dongles are very small chomecast size and they can be put in your pocket for the most part finally you can use a good oldfashioned USBC to HDMI cable regardless of which of these methods you use to connect your phone to a monitor or TV the best thing for you to do to get a mouse and keyboard to work is to get a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard I used this mouse because of its small size accuracy and the fact that it doesn't need a dongle I also used this keyboard um basically for the same reasons if you want to know which keyboard and mouse I used you can click the link below for where to get those but honestly any Bluetooth keyboard and mouse will work so now that we have it set up it is a bit of a misnomer to say that it's a full-blown Windows 10 computer now while it may seem that way at first glance there's a few things that it really just can't do first up there is no actual desktop uh instead of having a desktop and a start screen which is what it kind of looks like it's actually just a static image in the background and your phone's start screen so the difference between this and a regular desktop uh is is that you can't actually put anything on that static image no icons no shortcuts nothing like that next up there is no real multitasking or Windows for that matter uh anytime you open an app it just takes over the entire screen opening on your phone pulls it from that screen back to your phone uh and you can never really have two running side by side soon as you open another app it replaces the other one that's open and finally the big one uh contrary to what most of us were led to believe at the launch event the phone version of Windows can't actually run normal Windows apps the only thing you can actually use are programs that are meant for an arm processor so this is very similar to the old Windows RT on the original surface with all that said you're probably wondering what can it actually do well it can allow the apps that actually do work like the office suite for example to run in much the same way that they do on a desktop computer and with the assistance of a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard you can use them a lot more efficiently than you can on a phone also those downsides I mentioned are just at the time of me doing this video the hope hope is that Microsoft actually gets past those things allows you to install real apps has a full-blown version of Windows 10 that allows for multitasking Etc if they could do that it would be a pretty cool feature I mean you can imagine yourself taking this phone with you the little mirrorcast dongle and the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard and say you were on the Road and at a hotel room boom now you have a full-blown computer uh anywhere that you possibly would go this might also help people justify buying a Windows phone not as a phone but as an ultra portable computer there you guys quick video explaining what Continuum is and how to set it up and how it works Etc um if you like this video or if you like the idea of Continuum or anything like that please let me know in the comments below I love reading your comments and uh chatting with you guys there uh if you enjoyed this video though please thumbs up it or share it it is greatly appreciated if you want more videos like this please subscribe to the YouTube channel also please follow me on Twitter as I'm trying to be more active there uh you can chat with me there and it's at the unlocker with the E missing in the word unlocker as always thanks for watching\n"