![]() Neither is there any point to trying to force it. I’m a “let’s fullscreen these apps, use all the real estate, and not get distracted by other windows”, which is great on your regular smartphone but you can’t force that onto the Duo format. Now, part of this is down to how I use my computing devices - the laptops and desktops as well as the tablets and smartphones. Microsoft Surface Duo UI and Apple's iOS UI. That’s perhaps the biggest hurdle of the Duo family. It didn’t happen straight away, but after two weeks of pushing my use onto the device. There was a point where things clicked into place, and suddenly the appeal of multi-tasking on a mobile device opened up. If I had reviewed the original Duo after a few days, then I would have been critical of the changes made by Microsoft to the norm. That mental barrier took time to vault over. Having two screens is not the same as having two phones side by side, or a tablet with one big screen. In essence I had to rethink how I used a mobile device. My first time using in this case the original Surface Duo could be summed up as a case of “how in the Sam Hill am I meant to use this?” It took time to push through the expectation of the device. This is something so unlike your run of the mill smartphone that it sticks in your head. Your first sight of either Duo makes you pay attention. All of which is a roundabout way of saying that Microsoft is forcing you to use both screens independently of each other. Tye to force a standard smartphone or tablet methodology on them and your experience will come up short. There is, clearly, a right way and a wrong way to use any of the Duo devices. Yet, if your inclination is to pick up a Duo, open it up as a tablet, and run apps over both screens, it’s simply not going to work out well once you step away from the included first-party apps. Try to scroll through a website and the cognitive load, at least for me, to deal with the strip is just too high. When you try to span YouTube over the two screens, it’s like attending a drive-in movie in a classic VW camper van with a split windshield. When Google’s Gmail fails to show things working as ordered you know you have issues to deal with. When you have apps that don’t recognise the central bar (and frankly that’s pretty much all of them) you have some usability disasters. ![]() Naturally Microsoft’s apps for Android work in this dual screen format incredibly well (as well as the single screen view that you’ll find on every other regular smartphone). Some apps take advantage of this split by filling one screen with “the list” of things and the other screen with the “content” of each time a list of your email inbox on one side, and the contents of one email on the other, is the easiest example. Let’s just hope the next Surface phone is ready sooner rather than later.Microsoft Surface Duo (Ewan Spence) Ewan Spence Overall, these changes and plans for Microsoft’s Android efforts are significant, and my sources tell me Microsoft is remaining “all-in” on delivering its own Android hardware and software, at least for now. ![]() While nothing is set in stone, I’m told the company has already prototyped several traditional slab smartphone designs, which could ship as a “mainstream” Surface phone offering, allowing the foldable device to exist as an enthusiast product. I also hear that Microsoft is eager to expand its line of Android smartphone offerings, and has been exploring different form factors to ship in addition to a foldable device. This effort is dubbed “Perfect Together” and aims to deliver an ecosystem experience between Microsoft’s Android hardware and Windows PCs similar to that between an iPhone and Mac. My sources also tell me there’s a larger software effort ongoing internally that’s designed to better differentiate its future Android hardware offerings from the rest of the competition. Regardless, sources tell me this device is still considered a third-generation Duo internally. ![]() It’s still too early to tell, but given this device isn’t a traditional Duo in form factor, perhaps the company will take this opportunity to rebrand the line, similar to what it did with the Surface Book and Surface Laptop Studio. Of course, with the change in form factor may also come a change in name. ![]()
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