
Microsoft Surface Duo - reimertz
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-duo
======
dstaley
Previous discussion from five months ago. [1]

As far as I can tell, there's no new information on the linked page, so I'm
not sure why it's resurfacing (ba dum tisss).

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21137450](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21137450)

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uberman
This seems very impressive. In my opinion it looks like the best multi-screen
phone/phablet to date.

~~~
screye
To me, the bigger potential is from the OS and not the hardware itself.

As more manufacturers move to foldable devices, I see them licensing MSFT's
android skin instead of going through the arduous process of developing one
anew.

It might be what lets microsoft finally get a foothold in the smartphone
market, after many failed attempts.

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mattlondon
The "laptop" one with the flipout keyboard looks great.

I wasn't sure in the video - are these separate devices (large and small
versions of the same thing)?

The laptop sized one would be awesome as a travel device if it were full-
featured proper x86 device... I get the feeling these are android phones
though right?

Edit: The larger device appears to be a "Surface Neo":
[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-
neo](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-neo)

The marketing video for it has an Intel "CPU" animation so guessing this will
be a "real" device?

~~~
dstaley
The Surface Duo is an Android phone running a Qualcomm CPU, whereas the
Surface Neo is a Windows 10X device using an Intel CPU.

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albertzeyer
It looks like this is based on Android? I wonder why they used that instead of
some Windows version.

~~~
freeAgent
Microsoft tried pushing their own mobile OSes for years before finally giving
up when they were down to low-single-digit marketshare in the US.

~~~
mumblemumble
"Tried" is maybe the wrong word. Windows CE was a leading OS on smart handheld
devices for a good long while.

Arguably, the biggest single thing that killed their market position (aside
from the launches of iOS and Android, of course) was that they didn't retain
backward compatibility, so Windows Phone 7 and later were effectively a
completely different OS. Getting into competition with yourself is rarely a
winning strategy.

~~~
soganess
Yes! So yes. But also no.

When Microsoft released Windows Phone 7, it really got people excited. It was
a shot across Skeuomorph UI's bow. Big fonts, dark mode by default, flat and
chromeless to an almost fault. It was a serious departure from the Windows
Mobile days. People were (more) comfortable with it not being backward
compatible. Plus WM had turned into a mess of scaling problems, 3rd party
skins, over the top launchers, and apps that weren't necessary cross device
compatible.

But then they did it again, Windows Phone 8 was not coming to any Windows
Phone 7 devices. Even though MS originally said it would. Instead, all the WP7
phones got some 7.x feature update. Everyone showing off their shining new
Nokias were burned during the honeymoon and that cooled interest. Especially
when compared to Apple's sterling record.

And then, they did it again, sorta. Many of the Windows phone 8 devices were
not going to get updates to Windows 10 Mobile. Worse yet, Microsoft walked the
striking UI way back. Except for the launcher, things starter looking rather
conventional.

There was no coming back from that. 41MP and real OIS, Zeiss optics and xenon
flash. Things that were basically unheard of until 2019 (rip xenon) were not
going recollect all that lost good will.

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pcurve
My knee jerk reaction was to pan it for having huge gap in the middle. But
then I'm looking at my own monitor desktop. On left side, I have work
application. On right side I have web browser. exactly 50:50 split. They may
be onto something.

~~~
throwaway55554
Right. I think people who are used to a dual screen desktop env will feel at
home with this setup.

~~~
tfandango
And, for as much as they are charging for foldables, this setup seems like it
will be much more resilient than the flexible plastic screens used elsewhere.

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protomyth
Will Microsoft have their own app store for the Duo?

~~~
dstaley
No, it comes with Google Play.

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siod
Conceptually and form factor wise this looks good, but those bezels just make
the whole device look outdated.

~~~
dstaley
The rumor is that the Duo has been hardware-final since 2018. They were
waiting for Windows 10X to be ready, but eventually decided to just launch it
with Android instead of attempting to make a phone version of Windows 10X.

Source: [https://www.windowscentral.com/surface-duo-spring-summer-
ear...](https://www.windowscentral.com/surface-duo-spring-summer-early-
launch-2020)

~~~
siod
That explanation makes sense, if it's been in work for so long it's probably
difficult internally to get the resources to bring it into line with current
expectations.

Unfortunately v1 will probably bomb in its current state and we won't see the
proper potential of the device.

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grenoire
I definitely dig the PDA form factor on this, classic!

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trqx
Excuse my ignorance but I’ve never considered buying a surface up until now
(they looked like "powerpoint toys" to me, hopefully I am wrong).

My two most important criteria are not listed on their product page:

\- do they usually sell matte screen?

\- how is the hardware support for linux at launch?

~~~
ta999999171
Matte touchscreen..?

~~~
trqx
Believe it or not, matte touchscreens do exists.

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gchokov
I will never buy this. Even looking at the screen with the borders between the
two screens, I find it super misleading. The screen pretends to be one, but
you open an app by touching an icon and it opens on the left one only. The
icons remain hidden, and half of the desktop is on the right. Can I scroll the
right scree? I mean.. scrolling left and right on one screen, and up and down
on the other?

Nope. Thank you.

~~~
nicoburns
Funnily enough, I had the opposite reaction. This is the first tablet-like
device that I would consider buying. I use two screens with my computer which
works really well, and this seem just like that.

~~~
protomyth
It really has the Courier vibe and I was very ready to buy one of those if
they ever actually made it.

