Microsoft brings Sunrise features to mobile Outlook

Sunrise has a new dawn in Microsoft's Outlook mobile apps, after the company bought and shut down the third-party calendar tool.

Microsoft picked up the calendar app last year, with reports suggesting it paid $100 million for the productivity tool. At the end of August, it killed off the standalone app.

But Sunrise's features haven't been gone long. An update to the Outlook app for Android and iOS introduces a host of new features, many of which are pulled from Sunrise.

"As we continue to bring more of the Sunrise design expertise to Outlook, we updated our date and time pickers so that scheduling is easier than ever," noted Javier Soltero, vice president of Outlook, in a blog post. "Our new design provides a simpler, more intuitive way to choose the date and time when creating a meetingmatching how Outlook works on the web or desktop."

Outlook apps for mobile will also use icons to show the type of event, an idea taken from Sunrise. "Try typing 'coffee' or 'lunch' next time you create an event and see what happens in your agenda viewthe keywords automatically trigger an icon that matches your event title," Soltero said. "Icons come in handy when you want to scan your day quickly and see what's coming up.

He added: "Also, they're fun."

Plus, maps will be integrated directly into event details.

"Just start typing a location next time you create an event, choose one of the handy suggestions (powered by Bing) and Outlook will include a map with your event details," noted Soltero. "Now, before your next event, you can simply tap on the map in the event details and get directions from your favorite maps app."

Other changes include "Interesting Calendars", which lets users subscribe to a sport's team to get events automatically in their calendar. TV shows and other topics will be coming soon, Microsoft said.

Microsoft has also added the ability to edit recurring meetings from a mobile device and set up Skype for Business meetings from the app.