![]() The feature was originally described as being about support for foldables, but its core concept is something Google calls "app continuity." That really just means it's a framework for developers to make their apps support a phone with multiple screen areas and be able to exist across those areas sensibly. ![]() The Duo will supposedly let you drag content from an app on one screen into an app on the other, stretch a single app across both of the screens, and move an app from one screen to the other in a way that feels seamless and natural.Īnd a key difference between the Surface Duo and earlier Android phones that have attempted this two-screen concept - aside from what appears to be just a better hardware implementation - is the fact that Android 10 actually lays the foundation for this sort of thing to happen on the operating system level. How many apps will fully support the Duo's dual-screen setup?Ī key selling point of the Surface Duo's unusual form is the fact that you can - in theory - use apps across the device's two screens in some pretty interesting ways. Will people be willing to pay that much for a product like this? Should they be? 2. screen - makes me think the cost may be closer to the $2,000 tag of Samsung's silly Galaxy Fold than the $1,000-ish price of a typical high-end flagship phone. displays that fold out into what's effectively an 8.3-in. So there's our first question: Just how high of a price of this thing gonna command? Microsoft's positioning of the product as an on-the-go productivity computer for business-minded individuals - not to mention its emphasis on the fact that the (ahem) phone has two 5.6-in. See what I mean? And this almost certainly isn't just about marketing, either after all, if the Surface Duo isn't, in Microsoft's reckoning, a phone, it doesn't necessarily have to be priced like one. It’s a dual-screen Surface that fits in your pocket, bringing together the best of Microsoft productivity experiences, Android apps, and Surface hardware design into a single device you can take anywhere." "Sure, it makes phone calls, but it does much more than that. "Surface has always been about creating and redefining categories this is another example of that," a Microsoft spokesperson told me via email. The company's explanation of the positioning pretty much spells it out: Why? It's simple: By downplaying the "Android phone" angle and focusing on the "Surface computer" notion, Microsoft can - in theory - set its device apart from the pack and allow it to exist in a category of its own. Part of Microsoft's hesitance to frame the Surface Duo as a phone may come down to the fact that the company's hoping to avoid positioning the gadget as Just Another Android Smartphone™ and instead have it be seen as a brand new, one-of-a-kind mobile productivity system. Specifically, as I've been chewing over the news and letting it marinate over these past several days, I've found myself coming back to the same set of burning questions - the answers to which could collectively determine the fate of both the phone itself and its greater impact on Android. Since the Duo isn't expected to ship until next year's holiday season, we're left with some pretty big questions about how exactly it'll work and what sort of value it will (or won't) provide. It's a pretty bold gamble for Microsoft to make - one that could either pay off enormously or cause the company to fall flat on its face once more. It sports two side-by-side screens that are connected by a thin hinge and able to fold 180 degrees in either direction. With last week's announcement of the Surface Duo, the company seems determined to take things up a notch and correct that small but significant limitation.Īnd the craziest part of all? The Surface Duo (which Microsoft insists shouldn't be categorized as a "phone," but, I mean, c'mon) isn't just your run-of-the-mill rectangular Android device. At this point, all it takes is a handful of downloads and a teensy bit of planning to create a complete Microsoft experience within any Android phone.īut that's the catch: The phone isn't Microsoft's - and that means the hardware and the core software experience remain outside of Microsoft's control. Nowadays, Microsoft maintains a sprawling suite of commendable Android apps - everything from its own custom-made home screen launcher to a popular third-party keyboard it snatched up and then slowly but surely started to, uh, Microsoft-ify. And boy howdy, was that one heck of a shift. Now, to be fair, Microsoft's basically been building its own ecosystem within Android for a while already: After years of providing only sparse, subpar versions of its programs for Android, the MS crew started taking Android seriously a few years back.
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