There were many rumors beforeSurface Phone, the Surface Duo with a dual-screen design finally appeared, and it also seemed to open the door for Microsoft to return to the competition in the smartphone market.
I originally thought it was designed with dual monitors and Windows 10 X operating system.Surface NeoIt was going to be the finale of Microsoft's press conference, but unexpectedly, the Surface Duo that appeared at the end was the most eye-catching product.
Surface Duo uses a design almost identical to Surface Neo, also supports stylus operation and can make good use of the dual-screen design to correspond to different screen content usage modes. However, the overall size is significantly smaller, with a single-side screen of only 5.6 inches. The operating system uses the Android version output by Google for dual-screen displays, and the built-in processor is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855, which has been widely used this year.
The operating system also works closely with Google, connecting not only to the Google Play service market ecosystem, but also to Microsoft's Windows-related application services, allowing Surface Duo to be sufficiently competitive in the mobile phone market.
However, since the launch time is expected to be at the end of 2020, it is expected that at least the processor specifications should be replaced with the products that Qualcomm plans to launch next year (perhaps Snapdragon 865), and it is also possible that support for 5G connection functions will be added.
According to Microsoft, since it has been promoting services on the Android platform for a long time, it is expected to provide a high degree of service integration in the Android operating system equipped with Surface Duo. At the same time, it will also provide developers with rich development application resources, which is expected to enable developers to bring more service content to Surface Duo.
With the official launch of Surface Duo, Microsoft's Surface series of products has officially joined the mobile phone category, making the Surface series of products cover the laptop, tablet and mobile phone market categories.
"Dual-screen" mobile phones are not new, and software design is still the key
Compared to Samsung's flexible screenGalaxy foldThe Surface Duo, created by Microsoft, is obviously closer to LG's V50 ThinQ with expandable "dual-screen" accessories, or the recently launched G8X ThinQ in terms of user experience. Although the dual screens can display content separately, or be combined to display the same content, and can even be linked to each other, there will inevitably be a border between the two sets of screens, and it cannot display the entire picture like a foldable flexible screen.
However, from the perspective of product feasibility and stability, it is obvious that the usage model of Surface Duo is more reassuring, and it can also make it easier for developers to create suitable application services. However, the degree of surprise that it can bring to people with black technology will be relatively reduced.
Furthermore, this isn't the first time an Android product has featured a dual-screen design. Sony's Tablet P, launched a while ago, also featured a dual-screen design. Subsequently, similar devices were released by manufacturers including NEC and Kyocera, but ultimately withdrew from the market due to insufficient app content and poor user experience. Therefore, the success of the Surface Duo will clearly hinge on the compatibility of its app services.
