Lenovo and Microsoft are partnering up to put the latter's productivity apps on the former's Android devices.

In other words, selected Microsoft apps – which include Office, Skype and OneDrive – will soon start popping up pre-installed on Lenovo's 'premium' Android devices.

In announcing the partnership, the companies also noted that the deal includes a patent cross-licensing agreement which will allow for the usage of Microsoft's intellectual property on both Lenovo and Motorola hardware.

Redmond certainly hasn't been sluggish when it comes to leveraging its IP, and the software giant took the time to remind us that since its IP licensing program kicked off back in 2003, it has sealed over 1,200 licensing agreements.

Productive marriage

Nick Parker, corporate vice president OEM Division, Microsoft, commented: "Microsoft's thrilled that our productivity apps will be pre-installed on Lenovo's premium devices. The marriage of Microsoft's apps and Lenovo's Android-based devices will enable customers around the world to be more productive, more connected and achieve even more."

In other recent Microsoft news, yesterday we witnessed the company acquiring chatbot startup Genee, a digital assistant that helps you manage your meetings more effectively. We can doubtless expect Genee's skills to be applied to Office 365 soon enough, although exactly how it will be incorporated into the suite, and how it will fit with the freshly revealed Microsoft Bookings, isn't clear at this point.

• Check out our list of the 10 best office apps for Android

How to remotely access

We live in such a fast-paced world that it's sometimes difficult to take our computers with us. That's part of the reason why mobile devices are so popular: We can do all of the necessary computer functions just as easy and more efficiently on a 4- to 10-inch device.

However, there are moments when you need to remotely access your Mac or PC (or that of a client), whether it be to grab a file you forgot to upload to the cloud or something as simple as changing configurations around during your lunch break. It can be quite difficult to grab those resources while you're on the go, but fortunately there are ways to access a computer remotely without needing to go back home or to the office.

Remote desktop applications save you that trouble, allowing you to access important files and data on your computer from your iPhone or iPad. There's little setup involved, and it takes the pressure off if you happen to forget that important proposal on your computer before a lunch meeting or need to remotely access a client's computer to fix a bug in their system.

In some cases, these problems can be handled by uploading files to the cloud in advance, but that isn't much help if you really do need to remote into a Mac or PC. That said, here are a few ways to access your computer remotely with your iPhone or iPad, whether it be for professional or personal use.

GoToAssist

Developed by Citrix, GoToAssist is a great remote desktop application for IT professionals who need to access client or co-worker computers. If you're on the go or even at home, the software works wonderfully on the iPhone and iPad. It does cost a subscription fee on a monthly or yearly basis, but you can sign-up for a 30-day trial to take it for a spin before subscribing.

To begin setting it up, head over to GoToAssist.com, fill out the form for the 30-day trial, and select "Start My Free 30-day Trial." After that, get on your iPhone or iPad, head into the App Store, search for "GoToAssist," and begin downloading the "GoToAssist (Remote Support)" app. It should only take a couple of seconds to download, based on your connection speed.

Open the app, and fill out your GoToAssist log-in details that you entered when you signed up for the 30-day trial. Select "Log In." Next, tap the "Settings" icon in the navigation panel on the far right corner of the screen. Go through and enable and disable features to fit your needs. In my case, I added a longer Inactivity Timeout and turned off "Uninstall Customer," as many of my clients are recurring customers. Once you're finished, tap "Attended Support" on the far left bottom corner of the screen.

Tap the "Start a Support Session" button in the middle of the screen. It will then take a couple of seconds to begin creating the support session. Next, tell your customer to go to FastSupport.com and give them the key GoToAssist generated for you. After they enter the key, it will take them through the installation wizard to get GoToAssist set up on their computer. This could take a few minutes depending on your client's internet connection.

Once everything is set up, GoToAssist will ask for your client's permission for screen sharing, and if they agree, you now have access to their computer. You can begin fixing any problems your customer needs resolved.

Keep in mind that GoToAssist will only work on Windows and Mac. Linux, Chrome OS, and other systems aren't supported. Also, you and your client will need to run Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. Unfortunately, Google Chrome isn't listed as a supported browser on Citrix's website.

GoToAssist isn't just for customers, though. I've personally found that it works well for fixing problems on a friend or family member's computer. Only, it's a rather expensive to keep that up for charity work. This is where some great free solutions come in for personal use.

GoToMyPC

As a quick note, GoToMyPC works similarly to GoToAssist, however, it's for your own personal use, whether you need remote access to your work computer at the office or access to your personal computer at home. You can't use it to access a friend's or family's machine, as it's for your personal files exclusively. Unfortunately, it's not a free service, but the price per month is significantly lower than GoToAssist.

GoToMyPC only supports Windows and Mac machines. Similar to GoToAssist, you can try it out free for 30 days by signing up on GoToMyPC.com. You can grab the mobile app by heading into the App Store, searching "GoToMyPC" and downloading "GoToMyPC (Remote Desktop)" by Citrix. Again, it works virtually the same as GoToAssist, just without the need for a client to download the software and give you permission for screen sharing.

TeamViewer

As far as free services go, TeamViewer is an excellent solution to your personal remote desktop needs. While there is a charge for businesses, it's free for personal use, no strings attached.

TeamViewer is a lot quicker to set up than GoToAssist. Simply head over to TeamViewer.com, select "Download" in the navigation panel, and start downloading the software for your chosen operating system. TeamViewer not only works with Windows and Mac, but with various Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat, etc.

Once it's downloaded, go through the setup wizard. After the installation process is complete, it's time to start the setup process on your iPhone or iPad. Open the App Store, search for "TeamViewer," and download "TeamViewer: Remote Control."

Once that's finished, open the application on your desktop so that you can get the ID and password to enter in your iPhone or iPad. Once you have it, enter the TeamViewer ID when the app prompts you to on your iPhone or iPad. After that, it will begin connecting. Once it requests it, enter the password that TeamViewer generated for you on your computer. Press "Accept."

You should now be connected to your computer via your iPhone or iPad. Congratulations!

Honorable Mentions

There are a lot of other options out there for remote desktop applications. Microsoft offers Microsoft Remote Desktop while Google has Chrome Remote Desktop. Both allow you to securely access your computers from any of your iOS devices.

LogMeIn, Parallels 2X, and SplashTop 2 are all good solutions, too. I would encourage you to search for a remote desktop application that works for you. GoToAssist and TeamViewer are my favorites, as they fit well within my needs.

However, your needs may be different, so it's best to do some shopping around when it comes to remote desktop software.

Conclusion

Remote desktop software comes in handy, especially if you on the go a lot. You can easily lighten your load by setting up remote desktop software in advance and leaving your Mac or PC at home. You'll virtually have the same access to your computer on your iPhone or iPad as long as you have internet access.

Of course, there are times where remote desktop software just won't fit the bill. If you're a designer or software engineer, for example, having your laptop or computer with you is just a fact of life. Fortunately, most of us don't need that immediate access to our systems, making remote desktop applications a great solution.

What remote desktop software do you use on your iPhone or iPad to connect your computer at home or the office?

Introduction

Think you understand everything about today's technology? It's time for a reality check. Mine was just a few years ago. It didn't involve getting schooled on the internals of computers or learning the differences between operating systems. No, all it took was the humbling experience of witnessing a person with a vision impairment navigate an iPad, a device that I naively assumed could only be used by those with the ability to see.

She was able to use this technology thanks to accessibility options, which enable some awesome tricks to help those in need of assistance. Your iOS device packs some incredibly smart features that help people of nearly all circumstances revel in the joys of some of today's coolest tech – you just haven't found them yet.

Here's a full breakdown of the built-in features that offer clever ways for those with hearing, vision and physical impairments to enjoy the iPhone and iPad.

Siri, the intelligent personal assistant

The intelligent personal assistant inside of iOS devices has a simple goal: to help you find your content easily, send messages and discover new information using nothing more than your voice. Siri is a well-known feature, but it doesn't get enough credit for its potential as an aid for those with physical and vision impairments.

-To activate Siri, press and hold the home button on an iOS device for a few seconds. Once you hear the double-chime, Siri's ready to assist.

-Saying "Hey Siri" can also grab Siri's attention. To enable this feature, open up the Settings menu. From there, navigate to "General", then tap into "Siri" and finally, select "Allow 'Hey Siri'".

-Apple included a swath of different languages and regional dialects in case you want to change Siri's spoken language. From the same menu where you enabled "Hey Siri", scroll down just a bit to find the language settings.

Siri customization doesn't stop there. You can even change its voice from female to male or vice versa. Go on, ask it something!

VoiceOver

VoiceOver is the key feature that makes using iOS devices more intuitive for vision-impaired individuals. This feature switches the default navigation that previously relied on precise finger presses in favor of one where broad strokes and gestures can complete just about any task.

-To activate it, press and hold the home button to get Siri's attention and then say "Turn on VoiceOver." Alternatively, scroll down through the Settings menu until you find "Accessibility". Click "VoiceOver" and slide the switch over to turn on the feature.

-Once activated, swipe left or right anywhere on the screen to move the selector, which will cue VoiceOver to read the selection out loud. If you come to an area of interest that you would like to click further into, tap the screen twice.

-Turning on the VoiceOver feature also activates sound effects that will trigger to give the user audible feedback on their gestures and touches. These can be turned off from the same menu.

-VoiceOver can also aid in reading notifications, such as incoming e-mails, text messages, out loud as they arrive on your iOS device.

Similar to Siri, VoiceOver's spoken language or regional dialect can be changed. However, in addition to Siri's more limited settings, users can download higher-quality voices that sound more realistic when using VoiceOver.

Zoom

It's time to throw away that magnifying glass. Your iOS device contains a built-in feature that does more than take its place. It offers a ton of extra functionality that the physical tool just can't match up to.

-The Zoom feature allows you to magnify a section of the screen to increase readability. To activate the feature, navigate to "Accessibility" inside the Settings menu. Then, tap into "Zoom" and tap the switch.

-Double-tapping the screen with three fingers will bring up the Zoom window, which zooms in on a body of text or photo.

-From there, you can drag the window around the screen as you please by pressing and holding a finger on the Zoom anchor on the bottom of the magnified window.

-Zoom is set at a default magnification level, but the intensity can be increased up to 15 times the default font size. This can be done at the bottom of the Zoom menu.

-Users can adjust the size of the magnifying window itself and the lighting filter which you can view text and pictures through (Grayscale, Low light, Grayscale Inverted, Inverted.)

Features to increase screen readability

iOS devices offer a few features to make words more legible and pictures easier to see on the screen.

-In the Accessibility menu, select "Larger Text" to enable the feature, then customize your preferred font size to improve readability while using an iOS device. If that doesn't do the trick, the font can also be bolded by flipping the switch next to "Bold Text".

-For individuals that are sensitive to certain colors, the options to increase color contrast, invert or set the screen's color palette to grayscale are each readily available in the Accessibility options.

How iOS devices assist hearing-impaired individuals

iOS offers a few neat options in the Accessibility menu to assist users with hearing impairments.

-In the Accessibility menu, users can pair a Bluetooth-enabled hearing aid to their iOS device through the "Hearing Aids" option. Once tethered, all audio (music, podcasts, movies) will stream to the hearing apparatus similar to how streaming audio works with wireless headphones.

-If hearing your phone when it rings is an issue, the LED on the back of iPhones (versions 4 and newer) can be activated to flash whenever you receive a text or call. It's a subtle alert, but very noticeable. Activate this feature by toggling the switch next to "LED Flash for Alerts".

-iOS devices across the board offer robust support for subtitles and closed captioning. Located inside the Accessibility menu, "Subtitles and Captioning" allows users to activate and customize how the overlaying text will look. The feature supports over 50 different font styles, four font sizes ranging from small to extra large and eight font colors to choose from.

-Users can adjust the audio balance from left to right in order to receive the full audio delivery in the ear that serves you the best. The slider is located in the Accessibility menu.

How iOS devices assist physically-impaired individuals

iOS is full of cool features that can be accessed with gestures like swiping and pinching the screen. And thankfully, Apple has also made these unique functions easily accessible for those with physical disabilities.

-AssistiveTouch condenses every gesture-activated feature into one virtual button placed front and center on the screen for easy access. To activate this feature, scroll to the bottom of the Accessibility menu and click through to find the toggle switch.

-Once activated, a virtual button in the shape of a square appears on screen. Interacting with a simple tap blossoms the button into a full-fledged menu where you can fly through settings and dive into features that are usually multiple layers of navigation deep, like Siri and Safari.

-Also in the Accessibility menu, users can create custom gestures for their iOS device. These can be used to perform a variety of tasks, such as unlocking the device or typing a quick text message. If you're a gamer, you could even program gestures to control a game's menu with ease.

iOS devices also support the use of external switches in place of using the touchscreen to perform functions. The support for switches ranges from external physical buttons to cameras that can track head movement to navigate around the phone or tablet.

Know of any other neat tricks that iOS devices can do? Be sure to let us know in the comments.