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The lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center is shown prior to the opening of the trade show floor during the 2018 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Steve Marcus

Dell had plenty of announcements at CES 2018, including a new line of monitors and XPX models. On the software side, busy techies are sure to look forward to Dell Mobile Connect, an application that allows PCs to mirror the screens of Android or iOS devices via a wireless connection.

With Mobile Connect, users will be able to make calls, send SMS and receive notifications right on their PC. Gone are the days when you'd need to switch from one screen to another, increasing the hassle of juggling multiple tasks at the same time. Dell Mobile Connect utilises an “advanced mirroring function” that displays the screen of the user’s device without the need to download additional software.

In an interview with VentureBeat, Frank Azor, general manager for Dell laptops, said, “When you look at Dell Mobile Connect and what that solution offers, it’s centered around reducing the frustration of having to manage two devices every day.” Simply put, the app aims to increase productivity by lessening the need to rely on two devices at once.

The only downside, however, is that Mobile Connect will not be available on Dell computers that were released before January 2018. The reason for this is that the company aims to brand the app as an entirely new service. Dell told Digital Trends, “As this is not regular software that you can simply pre-load but software that works with your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chipset, the validation effort is huge and we needed to draw the line somewhere to ensure perfect experience.”

Dell Mobile Connect will be usable on new Dell Inspiron, XPS or Vostro bought from January 2018 onwards. To download Dell Mobile Connect, and for more information regarding the service, users can visit the official site here. Take note that the page states that Dell does not “guarantee that this app will run on all Android devices.”

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