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Use Windows Phone to control Xbox

Microsoft details Xbox Companion App.

Wesley Yin-Poole avatar
News by Wesley Yin-Poole Former Editor-in-Chief
Updated on
39 comments

Microsoft has revealed how you use the Windows Phone as an Xbox 360 controller.

The Xbox Companion App, which will be a free download for Windows Phone users, isn't yet available, but when it is, will let you navigate the Xbox 360 using your smartphone.

Microsoft breaks it down into three areas: Find, Learn more about and Control content from Xbox Live Marketplace.

You swipe and touch the Windows Phone to navigate menus and trigger actions on your telly. The entire catalogue of games, movies, music and TV shows is available to browse. Touching a movie tile, for example, takes you to an info page for related information.

Once you hit play on the selected content, the Xbox Companion switches to controller mode, allowing you to navigate your Xbox or control video playback of your video.

According to Microsoft's Windows Phone evangelist Ben Rudolph, the controls are "virtually instantaneous - easily as fast as using my controller or a TV remote".

The app is coming soon, Microsoft said.

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