Microsoft updates Project Rome for Android with App Services Support
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Microsoft has updated their Project Rome SDK for Android to allow support for App Services.
Project Rome lets a developer continue experiences from one version of their app to another on another device, e.g. from a Windows Phone to a Windows PC, or more commonly an Android phone to a Windows PC, or in Microsoft’s example an Xbox One UWP app.
In an earlier version of the SDK developers were only able to launch apps e.g. if you had a music player app on Android and also the Xbox One, you could use Project Rome in your Android app to launch the same music app on the Xbox One when you got home, and listen to your playlist via the TV.
In this new version, with App Service support, developers would not just be able to launch their app, but they could now also for example use the AppServiceClientConnection API to control the music playing on the Xbox One app from your Android phone by sending messages between the platforms.
Project Rome is an evolution of SmartGlass app Microsoft developed for Xbox. If you have a phone near you when you are working on a PC, your apps on both these devices should take advantage each other. If you have the same app installed on both the devices, you can simply transfer the current state of the app to other device and continue working there.
App developers can design their apps around the user, thus empowering human centric experiences that evolve with an understanding of the individual’s needs Start with discovering and identifying all of the cloud-connected or nearby devices your users come across on a daily basis. Use familiar API’s like LaunchURIAsync and App Services to build powerful experiences that seamlessly transition between screens and even platforms.
To make it easier for developers to get up to speed, Microsoft has also updated their  Xamarin for Android sample with app services.
To learn more about the capabilities of the Android SDK, browse sample code and get additional resources related to the platform, check out the information below:
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