The case for the Surface Duo

At Microsoft's Fall 2019 Event, they released a bunch  of  new products. Some, like the Pro 7 and Laptop 3 were evolutionary upgrades. The Pro X was an interesting take on Windows for ARM and demonstrated the Surface Division's design prowess, but none of these products were category defining. At the risk of sounding arrogant, none of them did anything to reinforce the brands narrative of being a hardware leader. 

That was until Panos Panay walked up to the stage and spoke about the Neo and Duo, two devices that reminded me why I fell in love with the Surface brand in the first place. In today's article, I will try to build the case for the Surface Duo before any of the advertising has had the chance to sway my opinion

In case you missed it, the Duo is Microsoft's re-entry to the already hyper competitive mobile market, although Microsoft insists it's more than just a phone - and for the the first time, I believe them. It's their first device capable of making phone calls since the spectacular failures that were the Lumia 950 and 950 XL in 2015. In addition, it runs Android - that's right - Microsoft's phone in 2020 runs an open source Linux folk with Google's services - these truly are strange times. "For a device that is experimenting with so many firsts, you seem to be oddly optimistic Ved", you might say- and to tell you the truth, it's entirely possible that my excitement is completely misplaced but I couldn't help but think of all the possibilities this device opens. Allow me to explain.

The Duo features two independent 5.6 inch glass covered displays which fold on top of each other, not unlike a laptop. These displays are connected with a 360 degree hinge which lets you fold one of the displays over to the back and as a result, use the duo as a regular single display phone. 

This hinge design means your'e not really compromising the one handed usability of the phone but can still benefit from the dual screens. In my opinion, Microsoft has nailed this aspect of its form factor.

    Source: The Verge

Now that you have an idea of the Duo works, I'd like to explain why this device intrigues me. In one word: SOFTWARE. 

If you have ever connected an external monitor to your laptop, you're probably familiar with the liberating feeling of having another work space. Almost anyone can make use of the extra space - 

Writing something in Word? Use the second screen to research the topic.  

Illustrating some cool paintings in Photoshop? Use the second screen to pull up some reference material.

Writing some web code? Use VS Code plugins to have a live version of your website on the Second screen. 

Adding screen real estate is the single most effective way of  boosting productivity with hardware for most people and with the Duo, Microsoft is attempting to do the same with mobile. Adding another screen might seem like a gimmick, but with the right set of software tools, it has the potential of re-writing what it means to productive on your phone. 

Here are a few examples to illustrate this point.

Outlook App: Left screen will display your list of email while the right screen will display the contents of the selected email

Clicking on a location on a website can open Maps on the second screen

Clicking on an attachment in an email can open it on the second screen rather than hijacking your entire work space.

These are just some of the examples that Microsoft demonstrated to emphasize how productive you could be on the Duo. Besides these, it's not difficult to imagine all the situations in which having an extra screen would be beneficial. You could continue to control your music in Spotify while keeping maps open or span a desktop website across both screens or even use one screen as a controller and convert the Duo to a modern Nintendo DS. The thing also supports inking so Note lovers might finally have a worthy alternative.

It is these possibilities that make me feel like the Duo is more than just a gimmick. I can already see all the ways in which I can do more with such a device and in talking to others, I found this to be a trend rather than an exception.

Reservations

As with any new, unproven piece of technology, I have some reservations about the Duo. In truth, it impossible to talk about the Duo without addressing the elephant in the room - folding phones. You see, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Fold or Z flip, the Duo does not use a foldable display. This has some real implication. For one, it lets you avoid the durability issues that plague these phones. On the other hand, the bezel that interrupts the two screen makes content consumption significantly less enjoyable since you'll have to decide between having a big bar in the middle of the video/game or resort to using a single screen. Microsoft insists that their testing shows that the Duo increases productivity over a single, larger folding screen however these claims warrant some real world usage. 

In addition, apps and websites need to be optimized to make proper use of the additional screen, While Microsoft has already released some app design tools and web CSS to help developers, how well these are adopted remains to be seen.

Lastly, there are a lot of unanswered questions of the Duo's hardware and internal specifications. Recent rumors suggest that the Duo will forego 2020 smartphone trends like the Snapdragon 865, 5G and slim bezels. There are also no indications about Microsoft's implementation including a higher refresh rate display or of it being OLED, and a base model with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB of storage might raise some eyebrows. Microsoft also promised a great camera but such claims cannot be confirmed without further testing. All this combined with a history of premium pricing means that although the Duo represents some great ideas, it might not manifest as a particularly  successful endeavor. 

Despite all these question marks, I remain optimistic about the device and can't wait to try it  out when it comes out (presumably) this summer. Let me know what you think about the Duo in particular and foldables/dual screens in general in the comments below. 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for similar content coming soon.