Cortana Device Setup App teases the arrival of Microsoft's Echo Show competitor

Some time ago we reported about Microsoft’s Home Hub plans which would be for a new above lock screen experience for Windows 10 designed for family use.

Home Hub will power new shared PC experiences in Windows 10. For instance, Home Hub’s home screen will show the calendar for the family, their to-do lists, as well as all of their notes. According to previous reports, Home Hub will be able to distinguish between different users just like Google’s Home speaker, meaning that users should be able to check out their own personal to-do lists, and schedule on their family’s Home Hub as well. The welcome screen in Home Hub devices will apparently be always on, which is certainly an interesting feature.

More importantly, Home Hub will let users control their smart home devices. Windows 10 users will then be able to control all of their smart devices in their home right from their Home Hub device using the dedicated app — for instance, they will be able to control their Hue lights right from the app, or control their Nest thermostat from the exact same device.

No PCs or dedicated devices with Home Hub have been announced, but the icon for the Cortana Device Setup app now not only features the HK Invoke, but also a new device which clearly has a screen.

The app still appears dedicated to only the Invoke speaker, so we still have no idea when the new screened experience will arrive, but with the Echo Show currently setting expectations for how such a device should work Microsoft would be wise to get their offering out sooner rather than later.

Read more about Home Hub in our earlier articles here.

Via Andrew Bennet