Windows 11: Top new features explained
Microsoft Windows 11 is now official. It will be offered as a free update to all Windows 10 users starting autumn of 2021 and going all the way into 2022.
The most obvious visual update on the OS has to be its new taskbar with centred icons including the Start menu. It’s unclear whether these can be realigned to the left in settings.
The Start menu itself is all-new a completely redesigned UI. There’s a new search bar on top of the menu alongside pinned apps and a bunch of recommendations below it. The Live Tiles have been dropped for good and now the menu looks more like an app launcher from Android.
Talking of Android, there’s big news. Windows 11 gets a brand new Microsoft Store for its apps as well as Android apps on Windows. Microsoft has teamed up with Amazon and Intel, and will be using the latter’s Intel Bridge technology to run apps like Instagram and TikTok on PCs.
On the new Microsoft Store, developers can now use their own “commerce engines” without giving any commission to Microsoft!
Windows 11 also gets new widgets in their own dedicated screen space which can be pulled up from the left edge of the screen. These widgets will show quick information just like they do on popular mobile platforms.
Microsoft also claims that the performance of Windows 11 is as much as 40 per cent more efficient and updates now happen smoothly in the background.