By Stephen Schenck | April 16, 2012 7:24 PM
None of us like waiting for apps to load. While we’re only talking about a matter of seconds, those pauses add up over time, and when you’re in the middle of working on something, who likes taking a hit to their momentum? Microsoft is apparently working on an idea that might help drastically reduce app load times in Windows Phone by trying to guess what you want to do before you actually do it.
Fast App Launching with Context, or FALCON, tries to predict the next app you’re likely to use. In order to make that guess, it gathers information about what you’re currently doing on your phone as well as contextual information like the time of day and where you’re located. Based on your own past habits, as well as those of other Windows Phone users, FALCON tries to figure out what app you might jump to next. In anticipation of doing so, the OS starts loading the program in the background, ready to jump over to it at a moment’s notice should its prediction prove accurate.
We’re not sure that a system like FALCON would be idea for all users, but if you happen to be among that group where your phone usage follows regular patterns, we could see this having a very positive impact on your experience with Windows Phone.
