Microsoft today released a new photo-sharing app for Windows Phone and Android. Dubbed Xim, it comes with a twist: If you use this app, you will no longer need to pass your phone around to share photos.
Xim (pronounced "zim" as you might expect) comes to us from Microsoft Research, which is starting to get the "ship it" religion this year to nice effect. And the theory behind the app is a good one: Today, if you want to share photos on your phone with others around you, you have to physically hand them your phone. And that can be problematic, as my son infamously discovered just one day into iPhone 6 ownership.
Or, you can share photos to a service and wait for them to upload, and then tell those around you to go find them. There must be a better way.
"Our goal with Xim," Microsoft's Steve Ickman says, "is to change the way people share in the moment."
Using Xim—apps are currently available for Windows Phone and Android, and an iPhone version is "coming soon"—users can now use the Xim app to select 1 to 50 photos and then send invites via text or email. Only the originator of this sharing needs the Xim app, and everyone who is invited can view the photos at the same time, in a synchronized experience across each of their devices.
Here's a video describing how it works.
I haven't had a chance to check this out yet, but it looks pretty interesting.
You can download Xim for Windows Phone from the Windows Phone Store
