A pair of leaked videos shot during Microsoft Research’s recent Tech Fest event show an updated Fresh Paint app for Windows 8 and better Bing voice search for Windows Phone. The videos spotted by MSFT Kitchen mainly focus on the new features of the Fresh Paint app and the Bing voice search module but also include an interview with Microsoft’s Chief Technical Strategy Officer, Eric Rudder who talks about improving touch experience on Windows and incorporating speech research to improve accuracy and speed with regard to Bing voice search. One other thing that these videos do is prove that the Windows Blue update for Windows 8 and Windows Phone is indeed being worked on.
According to the first video, the Fresh Paint app for Windows 8 will get a bunch of new features that will make using water colours, a more authentic experience. The demo of the app shows that artists will be able to mix colours and also rely on the way the paint takes time to dry. The app will also allow artists to fast-forward time if they don’t want to wait for the paint to dry and will also incorporate oil colours with the same features as water colours. Fresh Paint is an app that’s already on Windows 8 that allows a more touch optimized interface than regular Paint.
The second video includes a demonstration of the updated Bing voice search for Windows Phone 8. The video shows that the updated Bing voice search app is able to deliver search results faster than the current app and is also able to identify voices better within noisy environments. The updated app will also include streaming voice search which means that the app will modify the search parameters and deliver them even while the user is talking.
Microsoft is expected to deliver quicker incremental updates for Windows Phone and Windows 8 through its Blue program. The next update is expected this year and may be rolled out for free.
Sources: CNET, MSFT Kitchen (2)