Lenovo's REACHit with Cortana gets demoed on video

For those using Lenovo tablets or PCs, REACHit is not a new app. In fact, it often either comes preinstalled, or Lenovo informs you about the app's availability through their Store. REACHit lets you connect up multiple devices and cloud storage services to make finding your files easier.

Late last night, Lenovo and Microsoft announced a new partnership to hook Cortana's power into REACHit so that you can make the Lenovo service feel much more native. Now, a new video posted explains better how the two services work together and what the result for regular consumers will be when Windows 10 launches this summer.

Although Lenovo is one of a handful of companies to announce deeper Cortana integration, the truth is any company can do this due to Cortana Extensibility in Windows 10. Uber, Shopular, and Vine are other services tapping into the power of Cortana, and we are confident other firms will join as well.

REACHit plus Cortana

• Allows users to search for photos, videos, documents and music across devices, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, PCs and tablets
• Gives users the ability to add location to searches, cross-referencing the file event with the location data to produce the most relevant results
• Cortana and REACHit works on Lenovo PCs and tablets running Windows 10.
• Since Lenovo and Microsoft collaborated on this project, this results in a seamless, enhanced Cortana search experience
• A single place to search for your content, whatever it is and wherever it may be
• Support for cloud storage providers like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box
• Support for email services like Gmail, Exchange, and IMAP
• Support for calendar services* like Exchange, Outlook.com, and Google Calendar
• Support for search across multiple Windows 10 devices
• The most natural search – express your search as you would normally speak it, based on what you can remember
• Contextual awareness enables you to search in ways you never thought possible

Finally, while Lenovo loaded apps have traditionally been referred to as 'bloatware', increasingly OEMs are offering useful tools for consumers. REACHit, WRITEit, SHAREit while not for everyone are very helpful and interesting creations, filling in gaps in Windows 10 and letting manufacturers still differentiate.

As someone who uses multiple Lenovo products (X1 Carbon, Yoga 3 Pro, Yoga Tablet 2, ThinkPad 8) but who doesn't currently use REACHit, this Cortana tie-in certainly piques my interest. I can't wait to try it out.

• Sign up to beta test Cortana REACHit

Source: YouTube