Microsoft Surface Duo Set to Arrive September 10 For $1,399

[Northgrove]

Feels so weird to me that its a Microsoft device running Android.

It's an emergency solution because they couldn't get Windows 10X done in time for these. That's another problem with these. Windows 10X was supposed to come in a special edition just for these and designed for the dual screens. Now they have had to adapt Android to exploit a weird form factor that Android wasn't designed for, probably without help from Google because why would they care. For how long will Microsoft even support this freak setup of Android? I'd be very wary about jumping in head first with this product.

 

[DNichter]

It's an emergency solution because they couldn't get Windows 10X done in time for these. That's another problem with these. Windows 10X was supposed to come in a special edition just for these and designed for the dual screens. Now they have had to adapt Android to exploit a weird form factor that Android wasn't designed for, probably without help from Google because why would they care. For how long will Microsoft even support this freak setup of Android? I'd be very wary about jumping in head first with this product.

I wasn't aware this is what occurred. Feels like it would make much more sense just to delay the product until the software is ready. Dated and half baked to start isn't a successful product strategy.

 

[justin216]

It's an emergency solution because they couldn't get Windows 10X done in time for these. That's another problem with these. Windows 10X was supposed to come in a special edition just for these and designed for the dual screens. Now they have had to adapt Android to exploit a weird form factor that Android wasn't designed for, probably without help from Google because why would they care. For how long will Microsoft even support this freak setup of Android? I'd be very wary about jumping in head first with this product.

I don't know if that is the case. The Surface Duo was always pitched to be on Android, with the Surface Neo (the larger, tablet like device) running Windows 10X. Windows 10X was initially said to be designed for these multi-screen solutions, but since then, the scope has been changed to being just another future version of Windows 10, which has also been delayed, causing the Neo tablet device to be delayed as well.

 

[justin216]

As for the device itself, I'm personally waiting for reviews. $1400 doesn't bother me too much if there's good integration for productivity and IT-targeted apps. I'm hoping it takes off well, simply because more companies, designs and options are good for consumers. I feel like the "candy bar" style phones have been solved at this point, so what else can we do that is interesting?

My concerns for the device are as follows:

1. How many apps will take advantage of the dual-screen format? Or will 95%+ of the Play Store assortment be relegated to one app per screen, with no updates to push the paradigm forward? That's fine and well for multi-tasking, but is that alone valuable enough versus just swiping between two apps?
2. What is the battery life on this thing going to be? No wireless charging feels painful, if just for the casual topping off on a desk or in a car (for the newer cars with wireless chargers)
3. The single camera would be a little wonky to quickly move from front-facing to rear-facing (by folding the device all the way around), but not a deal-breaker. Being able to quickly flip from the device being asleep to a rear-facing camera is nice, this one may take an extra second or two.
4. How will the hinges hold up over time?
5. What is the "pocketability" of the device? I'm not worried about thickness as much as width.
6. Interested to see benchmarks for how the Snapdragon 855 holds up when running two resource-intensive apps.

 

[smulji]

It's an emergency solution because they couldn't get Windows 10X done in time for these.

Windows 10X was never designed or intended to be the OS for Surface Duo. It was initially designed for Surface Neo and dual-display tablet PC's. But you are right, they have backtracked on that strategy and Windows 10X is now going to be installed on traditional laptops only, at least initially. 2022 is the new targeted timeline for Surface Neo and devices of its type. @DNichter

 

[AJACs3]

Just how many people (and how often) will people be in a situation where if they wer “stuck” with only a phone screen, would truly be in a situation that couldn’t be solved by reaching into their bag, or going back to their desk, and grabbing a larger screened device.

For $100 more I could have BOTH the latest iPhone and and iPad mini… and you get all the advantages of two devices.

My prediction: when using it folded back as a phone or when in your pocket, it’s thickness will be annoying; when using it open like a tablet, the centerline (and lack of rigidity???) will be annoying.

I’m not saying there isn’t anyone who wouldn’t genuinely benefit from this design, but I am having a hard time imagining there being a big enough market segment to make this a viable long term product.

 

[ccrandall77]

I'm very interested in one of these even though I dislike Android and Microsoft products. I would not use this as a phone since I'll always have my iPhone and Apple Watch with me. But I think this would be a good eReader and if M$ ports Visual Studio Code to this and if Jupyter notebooks is available, it would be a nice portable development notebook that I'll use with my data science classes.
My wife is interested in it too, so on vacations I can just bring this device and leave the MBA and iPads at home. But at $1400, I'm going to pass. Hoping it's a decent devices and in a couple months there'll be options in eBay for sub $1000.

 

[sammyman]

Same with the Surface Studio, nice product, nice idea, but underpowered and overpriced. Another gimmick. Apple will probably take the same idea for it's new Apple silicon iMac models but implement it better, good hardware in mass production at a normal price. The big innovator here will be Apple, not MS.

Wait, you're saying that Apple will copy the Surface Studio, but insert their chips and Apple will be the innovator, not Microsoft? 🤔

 

[DeepIn2U]

If each display is 5.6" in size, those models must have the smallest hands I've ever seen!!!!! All joking aside, as a business phone user I'm quite exited at the form factor of foldable phones. It would mean I possibly wouldn't have to carry a separate device to meetings. it's just a shame a device like the Textblade never came to market, because that would be the perfect set up for quick typing on the go.

everyone is acting like foldable phones is something new; it’s not.

Nokia’s Communicator line has been foldable since 96. This is a second phase with: more powerful CPU’s & RAM, smaller batteries and thinner sides to the fold.

this is more competition to Samsung and I think they got the raw deal with Microsoft.

 

[The Game 161]

This price man this price

Fairly cheap for foldable

 

[aleni]

It’s mind blowing, I can see my productivity increased by using this. I hope apple come up with something like this.

I was like meh before watching this video.

 

[spinedoc77]

It’s mind blowing, I can see my productivity increased by using this. I hope apple come up with something like this.

I was like meh before watching this video.

No matter what happens with this product at least Panos has that bravery going for him. Listening to him I can see this iterating into a much better product in 2-3 years, exactly like the surface pro did. Panos deserves the respect and the benefit of the doubt because of that. It's an interesting product the more I look at it, being so thin and able to be folded to 360 it's really not much different than a regular smartphone until it's folded out. It's going to be a productivity workhorse for anyone married to MS Office and MS products.

My gut feeling is that foldable displays just aren't feasible for MS right now, but you can bet they have plenty of foldable prototypes they are playing with and that's the way they will go in a year or 2. Gorilla Glass is supposedly working on foldable glass with their technology so it may not be as far away as we think before foldables have the same durability. MS will have a head start because they are perfecting their software to be used in a multi window fashion that would work just as well on a foldable screen. They don't care about the vehicle and the Duo is only a halo device for them to tout the multi window paradigm and get businesses/consumers excited about it.

 

[forerunnerg34]

You may want to check this:

 

[DeepIn2U]

It’s mind blowing, I can see my productivity increased by using this. I hope apple come up with something like this.

I was like meh before watching this video.

'Designed to fit in your pocket' LMAO .. you mean in your purse or jacket or back packet Mr Panoz. Yeah he's the closest to a Jobs any company has when it comes to marketing products.

The marketing commercial states "One Drive at your finger tips" LMAO OneDrive has ALWAYS been at your finger tips on any iOS and Android device that supports it.

Productivity:
Shows MS Teams video + MS Word / SharePoint / Excel open.
This is no different that on a computer. During a conversation your editing abilities during collaboration from a video will NOT increase. You have to 'Discuss, assess, agree, then you edit' that pause between each is not 'increasing productivity' it's the same it's been for decades. You may 'think' it will but in practice it really would not. Think ... have these products increased your productivity on a laptop or desktop with 2 screens? Not really the two screens have - mostly digesting more information at once. But you typing, drawing, etc only increases if you can actually be ambidextrous simultaneously.

I work in I.T. support and for over a decade all these nice trends still comes down to:
2 hands for rapid typing (unless the form of data entry changes for efficiency and speed faster than touch typing), 1 hand for drawing, 1 microphone and conversation for talking. Nothing really changes.

My sister for all her life is ambidextrous and I can see her doing my job in certain aspects efficiently better than myself. In an uncontrollably way - for brief moments I can simultaneously listen to unrelated conversations and jump in / out of them with coherent and related conversations. I cannot control that and it's random and limited yet many friends and strangers have witnessed it and freaked out joyfully.

Instagram and Twitter. This is a GREAT test:
You can scroll both screens showing unrelated content at the same time ...
but your eyes are binocular ... meaning you can see ALL or specific simultaneously ... your brain comprehends it the same. but you're not reading 1 tweet and 1 gram at the exact same moment, then comprehend and reply / comment at the same time.

Taking Notes while reading a Kindle book ... THAT is sweet. This means your notes doesn't take you away from the page you're reading, nor the word you've highlighted or bookmarked. This is correlated comprehension and data input. posing 2 apps like this is productive and can work. The challenge is seeing WHICH 2 apps and how many can be done like this

Now how are they managing the drivers when the screen is folded behind and your fingers touching it doesn't mess with data entry or selection??

 

[DeepIn2U]

Watching this video 3-4x ... I gotta say Microsoft did a great job at making Android look sweet and modern (from the home pages, icons and even the Microsoft Feed).

Also I think Microsoft is doing what they did to Nokia, to Samsung here. Does Samsung's Galaxy Fold 2 have a chance against this?

Durability,
Seems dual apps will pre-load data. I hope there is end user control of this.
Only comes in slate grey/silver colour? Where's the matte black?!

we'll see how this plays out in real world reviews of shipping products against these two early 2021.

PS: there is a larger MS product as well, cannot recall the name.

 

[Tech198]

Ahha. This looks interesting!

..and small.. I hope that image is reduced a tad

 

[CyberBob859]

I work for a large corporation. Everyone in our company is using either HP or Dell laptops. I rarely if ever see a Surface device.

Microsoft isn’t doing anything different than what’s been tried before. To argue it’s going to work for them because of their foothold in enterprise is a stretch. I can’t see anyone using Excel or Visual Studio on a device like this. And pretty expensive if it’s just for note taking.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1293566115826761728

I work for a large corporation also. I carry a general-purpose Lenovo laptop that was assigned to me running Windows 10 that has the traditional Microsoft Office apps along with enterprise software like SAP. It's a solid but uninspiring system. I access the corporate sites using VPN and everything is completely locked down to prevent people from running their own software on it. I also carry a company-issued iPhone 7 configured to work with corporate systems, but can install apps from the App Store to customize it.

I don't see many Surfaces (there are a few - mostly Surface Pros and Surface laptops, very few Surface Books), but I do see a lot of iPad Pros carried by upper management, and some salespeople and marketing folks. They also carry iPhones.

I really feel that Microsoft wants to get rid of iOS from the corporate world, and the Surface Duo is their first chance at it. This device makes more sense for the enterprise than the consumer. It comes pre-loaded with their software, they will offer large discounts to volume corporate buyers, allow custom enterprise software to run and work with it, and iterate the design as they get feedback. IMO, this will keep them going until they get to Surface Duo 3 - at which point the Dells, HPs, and Lenovos will copy the design and sell their versions into the enterprise.

 

[CyberBob859]

I don't know if that is the case. The Surface Duo was always pitched to be on Android, with the Surface Neo (the larger, tablet like device) running Windows 10X. Windows 10X was initially said to be designed for these multi-screen solutions, but since then, the scope has been changed to being just another future version of Windows 10, which has also been delayed, causing the Neo tablet device to be delayed as well.

You are correct. Panos Panay said that the reason why they went with Android for their mobile device was the app selection. They understood what happened with Windows Mobile and they weren't going to run into the same situation again waiting for developers to come up with apps for Windows 10X.

 

[forerunnerg34]

App groups for ipadOS ! 🙏