Microsoft’s Notepad goes from a simple text editor to a mini-Word thanks to spell check and autocorrect – but could it lose its charm?

The once-unloved Microsoft Notepad app continues to get new features, with spell check and autocorrect reportedly coming to the Windows staple next. Originally debuting as a heavily stripped-down version of Microsoft Word, Notepad is now beginning to resemble Word more and more with each successive update. 

This latest Notepad update is currently only available in Windows 11 Preview Build 26085, which you can get through the Windows Insider Program, Microsoft’s community for professionals and Windows enthusiasts to try out new Windows versions and features before they’re released to the wider user base.

According to MSPowerUser, the upgraded Notepad app (version 11.2402.18.0) is available in both the Dev and Canary release channels of the Windows Insider Program. Apparently, the update will also allow users to customize how these new features are used. This is good news, as Notepad is widely known as a simple text editor, and I’m sure many users will prefer to keep it that way.

Windows Insider @PhantomOfEarth shared the Notepad upgrade on X (formerly Twitter), where he noted that the features are currently being tested by Microsoft ahead of a wider rollout. He also shared a screenshot of what Notepad’s settings page will look like and some of the new settings that users will be able to adjust (specifically, being able to turn autocorrect and spell check on and off).

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While not seen in this screenshot, MSPowerUser claims that additional settings will allow users to tailor their feature preferences even further by selecting which file types the new features apply to. It also reports that beyond Notepad, Microsoft is experimenting with new sections in the Windows 11 settings menu and new user interface (UI) animations that will be included in this Windows preview build.

Early user reception of the new Notepad

The introduction of spell check and autocorrect into Notepad follows the recent introduction of Cowriter, an artificial assistant (AI) writing assistant, which was seen in a previous preview build.

Cowriter didn’t get the warmest user response, as again, Notepad is Windows’ staple ‘simple text app’, and many users aren’t interested in additional bells and whistles. It’s also a pretty overt attempt by Microsoft to carry out its promise to inject AI into as much of the user experience in Windows as possible, which has rubbed some users the wrong way. 

It does seem that Microsoft may have taken note of this backlash in its attempts to try and flesh out Notepad further, with it giving the users options in settings to turn the new features on and off, and tailor what file types they apply to. I think this is wise and Microsoft would do well to keep this behavior up, especially if it insists on changing and removing apps that users love and have gotten used to over decades.  After all, Microsoft killed off WordPad just a few months ago – but that doesn’t mean we all want Notepad to simply replace it. Sometimes, simplicity is better. 

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Windows 11 goes from strength to strength with PC gamers – but not everyone else

PC gamers continue to show a stronger preference for Windows 11 over Windows 10 compared to everyday users, going by the most recent stats from a couple of sources.

We’re talking about the Steam hardware survey for June, a monthly report compiled by Valve on all sorts of facets of the PCs used on the platform, and Statcounter’s latest figures for June (which represent everyday users, or a non-gaming audience – though there may be some gamers among their ranks, of course).

So, let’s look at those numbers for June and the recent past, before moving on to discuss them.

On Steam in June, 35.75% of gamers are now using Windows 11, which is a pretty big uptick of 1.76% compared to the previous month. Indeed, in May, Windows 11 increased by 0.6% for adoption levels, and in April, it leaped by 11% (though that figure was an anomaly, representing a major shift in the survey’s target audience which rather messed up things).

Still, you can see that steady upward progress is the trend, and by taking the aforementioned 11% glitch out of the equation, we can see that March and April went up by just over a percent (combined, so both months witnessed a similar gain to May, effectively).

Moving to everyday users and looking at Statcounter’s figures, Windows 11 adoption is now at 23.91%, up from 22.95%, an increase of nearly one percent – but the kicker is that in May, as we reported at the time, Windows 11 actually fell from 23.11% to 22.95%. So in actual fact, over the last three months, the increase has been a rather shaky 0.82% (compared to 2.36% for gamers).


Analysis: Microsoft relying on Copilot for take-off outside of gamers?

It’s pretty clear to see that things are rather shaky for Windows 11 in terms of its general user base over the past few months compared to the gaming landscape, where the newer OS continues to be on the up and up.

Looking at it another way, rounding up, Windows 11 is at 36% for gamers and 24% for everyday users – so adoption is now 50% greater for the gaming world. That’s quite a difference.

For Microsoft, seeing that just under a quarter of the general computing public has moved to Windows 11 must be pretty disappointing. Remember, the OS is not far off two years old now, and at the same point in its timeline of existence, Windows 10 had captured a 36% market share (as per Statcounter) of everyday users. (Which, funnily enough, corresponds to the level now reached by gamers for Windows 11).

What can Microsoft do about this? Well, fixing bugs is one thing, as reports of issues such as the wonky SSD speeds that have been affecting some Windows 11 users since March will be off-putting to would-be upgraders. And the other point that immediately springs to mind is adding back features that were stripped away in Windows 11 (useful functionality like ‘never combine’ for the taskbar, which is, thankfully, inbound for the OS hopefully before the end of the year).

We’re guessing that Microsoft is probably relying on some big-ticket features to attract the average user to make the leap to Windows 11 – the principal one being Windows Copilot, the introduction of an AI assistant to the desktop. Copilot has just appeared in testing (Dev channel preview build), albeit in a very limited fashion to begin with.

Of course, the other sticking point for Windows 11 is that it has more stringent hardware requirements than Windows 10 that not every PC out there can meet, so some folks will have to wait until they get a new PC. (Or perform a fiddly upgrade, either a physical one – like installing a TPM module – or a workaround, which isn’t likely to happen in many cases for good reasons).

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Motorola Razr finally goes on sale in India today

Motorola’s much-anticipated Razr foldable made its comeback to the market a few months ago and was launched in India. However, the phone never went on sale due to the nation-wide lockdown. After about two months of the launch, the Motorola Razr foldable phone is finally set to go on sale in India starting today.  

Motorola Razr Price and offers

Priced at Rs 1,24,999, the Motorola Razr will go on sale in India via Flipkart. It is available in the noir black colour variant. Originally, the Razr was set to go on sale in India from April 2. But, Motorola had to postpone due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The sale was then pushed to April 15 and again to May 6. Due to the lockdown extension, the company once again postponed the sale, and finally, the phone is going on sale in India today. Deliveries are likely to be slow or delayed in most parts of the country.

As far as offers are concerned, there is Rs 10,000 cashback when you purchase the Motorola Razr using Citibank credit and debit cards. 

Motorola Razr specs

The Motorola Razr comes with a clamshell design similar to the original Razr. It offers a 6.2-inch pOLED primary 21:9 display when unfolded. It has a 2,142 x 876 pixels resolution with a notch cutout on the top. When folded, the Razr offers a 2.7-inch OLED display on the front.

The second screen can be used to quickly glance through the notifications. It is also touch-enabled and allows you to see, respond, and move on. The handset lacks the 3.5mm headphone jack and therefore comes with Type-C Razr earbuds in the box. 

Under the hood, it is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor and Adreno 616 GPU. It is packed with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. To power all the internals, it houses a 2510 mAh that supports 15W TurboPower via Type-C. The fingerprint scanner is present at the front of the device and can be used even when the phone is folded.

The Motorola Razr sports a 16MP rear with ToF 3D depth sensor, dual-LED flash, and gyroscope-based EIS. There is a 5MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture. The device is running on Android 9 Pie and is also splash-proof with water-resistant nanocoating. 

Other features of the device include bottom-firing speaker, Dual SIM, 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi 2.4 + 5GHz, and A-GPS, LTEPP, SUPL, GLONASS, Galileo for navigation. 

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