Before Instagram launched the Hyperlapse app for iOS devices last summer, Microsoft had announced it was working on a similar technology, and although it's late to the game, the company has finally launched what it's been slowly developing.

Called Microsoft Hyperlapse, it is a new technology built on more than 20 years of research in computational photography. It basically creates stabilised time lapses from first-person videos. The whole idea is you'll use it when you want to make cool videos that are silky smooth. Imagine taking shaky GoPro footage and spinning it through Hyperlapse in order to get a jittery-free clip with a time-lapse effect.

The main features include the ability to capture video or import a video (up to 20 minutes long) and select a timelapse speed from 1x to 32x. When you play back the final version after editing, you'll notice the footage is not only sped up but also as smooth as can be. Keep in mind Instagram's app only processes videos shot with the app. It also relies on gyroscope data and the phone’s camera to stablise video.

Microsoft Hyperlapse is different in that it leverages an algorithm that can spot common points from frame to frame in order to create a model of the environment and determine how the camera navigated that environment. It then ditches any frames that don’t line up with the path of the environment, and the final result is always even, non-choppy footage.

READ: Getting started with Hyperlapse by Instagram

Microsoft Hyperlapse is available now on Windows Phone and as a beta for a select Android devices (10, in fact). It appears limited to certain devices - much like Instagram's Hyperlapse is limited to iOS - because these types of apps require certain demands from hardware.

You can also check out a pro version of the app. It's available for Windows desktops as a preview.