Microsoft Teams adds Cortana and resizable backgrounds for smart displays

Microsoft has updated the Teams smart display platform with several new features. As a reminder, smart displays such as Lenovo ThinkSmart View can be used for video conferencing using the Microsoft Teams platform.

First, Microsoft has made the Cortana digital assistant more useful when using the Teams platform. Now the assistant can perform a web search at the user’s request. You can ask him about the exact time, weather, stock prices, and so on, and then quickly share this information with other people during the video call. The feature is currently supported on smart displays for the Teams platform in Canada, Australia, UK, the US, and India. The digital assistant only accepts requests in English. The Microsoft Bing search engine is used to fulfill the queries.

Teams also introduce resizable backgrounds for smart displays. This function was implemented for the desktop version of the platform back in 2019. Teams-enabled smart displays can now blur or completely change the background of a video stream using pre-selected images. The company has also added new live reactions to performances – you can send various animated emojis to the chat.

Quick replies are also available in Teams for smart displays. When receiving a message in the chat, the system can offer several options for prepared answers following what is written in the message. This function will save time by not typing the desired answer yourself.