The Surface Duo device is yet another attempt by Microsoft to enter the smartphone market. Surface Duo is the dual-screen, foldable Android device. The device is running a customized Android 10 version with its own Duo UI shell.
The YouTube user Dave Lee was able to get an engineering sample of Surface Duo and has shared his findings in a video. Check this out:
Microsoft is going support its Surface Duo devices for three years, shipping OS and security updates. This also means that it should receive Android 11.
Microsoft also confirmed to us that the Surface Duo will have an unlockable bootloader. This means that enthusiasts will be able to get root permissions, and create firmware mods. Also, check out the following posts:
- Microsoft’s Surface Duo preorder is open, here is all info about the device
- The Surface Duo's camera app and features revealed
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I would go for the Galaxy Fold 2 definitely over this one because the whole purpose of getting a foldable is bigger screen area that’s not possible with a non-foldable. Your current phone already fits in your pocket so something that folds into a further smaller device is of no interest to me.
Nor are two separate screens of any special particular interest. Microsoft can’t even get multi-monitor support decent on the Windows 10 desktop and now they are entering multi-screen phone market? Sounds like a me-too effort just because Samsung and LG and Huawei did it.
Yes, it may allow some unique experiences like running 2 apps simultaneously or 2 pages of the same app at the same time but do you really need that? Holding it for doing so called “productivity” oriented tasks will inevitably involve typing, and I feel it is precisely this that’s the problem with this form factor – typing will be cumbersome because with the wider width and having to hold with both hands, you can’t get a firm grip where your thumbs are free to type, like you can get with your average candybar form factor smartphone.
And the big gap/two disjoint screens means media consumption won’t be fun/it can’t be combined into a bigger screen. So Microsoft’s device looks to me at least like the worst of both worlds.
Samsung’s approach on the other hand actually gives the flexibility of a normal phone screen when you want one and a bigger screen when you want to enjoy things like photos or videos.
This is just my opinion though, some may actually find Surface Duo good although I can’t imagine how because the biggest challenge with this design is holding it comfortably and typing.