Surface Duo Discussion Thread

They just keep announcing things! At the 2019 MS October Event, Panos Panay previewed a folding tablet that can make phone calls. Like a .. Surface Phone?? Except it runs Android!! The Surface Duo demo starts at 1:20:40 in the event video. Specs at the bottom of this post.

Main features: two 5.6" (4:3) displays, 3:2 aspect when opened
Android 10 at launch
Super thin at under 4.8mm per panel
Inking support (stylus not included)

Available Holiday Season 2020, like the larger Surface Neo (Windows 10X)

Update: well it's not the Holidays just yet, but the Surface Duo can be pre-ordered, and will be available in stores September 10, 2020. Full details on the official Store page.

Jump to page 78 to start reading comments since the preorder page was made available, months after the announcement.

Jump to page 163 to start reading early reviews and impressions.










it's the one on the left..

Specifications from the store page:

Dimensions:
Open: 145.2 mm (H) x 186.9 mm (W) x 4.8 mm (T)
Closed: 145.2 mm (H) x 93.3 mm (W) x 9.9 mm (T at hinge)

Weight: 250 grams

Display
Combined: 8.1” AMOLED, 2700x1800 (3:2), 401 PPI
Single: 5.6” AMOLED, 1800x1350 (4:3), 401 PPI

Battery Life
Up to 15.5 hours of Local Video Playback
Up to 10 days of Standby Time
Up to 27 hours of Talk Time
Battery Capacity: 3577mAh (typical) dual battery

Camera: Adaptive camera 11MP, f/2.0, 1.0 µm, PDAF

Network and connectivity
WiFi: WiFi-5 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz)
Bluetooth 5.0
LTE: 4x4 MIMO, Cat.18 DL / Cat 5 UL, 5CA, LAA
One eSIM5 and one Nano SIM

Ports: USB-C 3.1, supports DisplayPort over USB-C

Processor: Snapdragon 855

Storage and memory:
128GB or 256GB UFS 3.0
6GB DRAM

Audio: Mono speaker, Dual Mic noise suppression

Biometrics: Fingerprint reader

 

Looks... Interesting. Not sure about the keyboard.

Edit: Crappo thought this was the other thing/device.


OMG! If I didn't have a Mate 20 x then this would be MINE! (Might still be)

 

Daddy wants one

 

Doesn't look to have any camera on the back, and just a tiny little front-facing one. Presumably if it had pen support they'd have shown that too, so I'd guess not. Not having an actual good camera on a phone is honestly a deal-breaker for me and many others these days so I'd hope I'm wrong.

Both these folding devices looked more fully baked than I expected (and the phone was a surprise)... but I'm still most likely not interested in either.

 

Wonder if they'll continue to give iOS preferential treatment after releasing this.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

Hmm... good point, since it's a Surface device I assumed it would have pen support. I'm still hopeful it does, but I agree, odd that they wouldn't mention it.

Edit: it does support inking, see a few posts down

 

"Each display can also run two different apps at the same time, or the Duo can be turned into landscape mode, allowing the second display to be used as a keyboard or game controller."

I would imagine that a lot of phone oems are now bricking themselves over this news. Such a simple idea, to run two apps side by side, or a second display being used as a keyboard/controller.

If they can slap in a good camera... job done. Nearly an instant buy (When it hits £600 after a few months).

 

The Surface Duo demo starts at 1:20:40 in the event video.

 

Shows pen usage at 1:37 circa.

 

The product announcement video shows a pen being used at the end.

Frankly it wouldn't make much sense without one.

(Galaxy Fold needs an S-Pen STAT)