Need to Know8 16 - 29 October 2019What happened?
Microsoft unveiled a pair of fo ldable
devices, which it says will create a new
form of mobile computing.
First upis the Surface Duo, which is
either a foldingtable t or a dual-screen
smartphone, depending on your
preference. Thanks to the fully flexible
hing e, the Duo can be used as a phone,
with one of th e two displays used as you
would a more typical handset. But
unfold the device and the two 5.6in
displays combine into a single 8.4in
screen. Alongwith its revolutionary
design, the Surface Duo is significant
because it runs Google’s Andr oid
operating system rather than Microsoft’s
own OS for Windows phones, which
struggled to get a foothold in the
mobile market.
Little else was revealed about the
Surface Duo, but it’s safe to assume it’ll
be a premium device witha price to
match when it does arrive next year.
Microsoft also unveiled a folding
device running the Windows OS. The
Surface Neo has the same design as the
smalle r Duo but applies it to a table t-
cum-laptop. Two 9in screens are linked
in the centre by a 360-degree hing e.
You can fold it back for a table t-sized
gadget, unfold it fo r a book-style device,
use it as one giant table t or set it up asa
laptop with a keyboar d that folds out of
the case.
The device runs a new version of
Microsoft’s operating system, dubbed
Windows 10X, that’s essentially the
sameas Windows 10 but custom ised towork with dual-screen devices – not just
the Surface Neo but similar devices that
are already in the works from other
computer manufacturers including
Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo.
Microsoft said Windows 10X also
feat ures battery-life enhancements,
because those dual displays burn
through more power.How will it affectyou?
If you like the sound of th e Surface Duo
or Neo, you’ll have towait: neither will
go on sale un til late next year. Microsoft
says that the delay is so developers
have time to create apps for this new
type of device.
If a foldingphone appe als, there’s also
the SamsungGalaxy Fold, which has a
slightly differen t design but also offers
dual displays that fold out to a larger
table t size. If this is the future of
smartphones and table ts, Microsoft
has given its rivals plenty of time
to complete any experimental designs
hiddenaway in their labs. 2020could
well be the year that smartphones
finally start to look a little di fferent.
And laptops look set to follow.
Windows 10X is primed to be taken up
by a range of PC manufacturers,
Microsoft has said, so we can expect the
existing 2-in-1 laptops to not only
improve their softwarebut to also adopt
more intriguing designs in the nearfuture. But as with Microsoft’s folding
devices, Windows 10X hardwarefrom
other manufa cturers won’t be available
until next year, with Microsoft predicting
new arrivals for autumn 2020.What dowethink?
All recent smartphones and table ts look
almostidentical, which may just mean
that a slim, glass rectangle is the
optimum design. That said, it’s easy to
see the appe al of a single device th at
can be a traditional smartphone, a
larger table t and also so mething else- perhaps, as some have suggested for
the Surface Duo, a gamingdevice with
the controls on the back and the display
on the front.
The Surface Neo fits in with other
hybrid two-in-one laptops that use
hingesto fold in to differen t positions,
such as the Dell XPS 2-in-1 line, Lenovo
Yoga oreven some models of the
Microsoft Surface. But it takes the idea
much further, and is more of a table t
than a laptop, even with that built-in
keyboar d, because the screen you’ll be
typing on is only 9in — smalle r than the
average laptop.
It’s a shame the Surface Duo and
Surface Neo are so far off, and we hope
that long year be tween now and the
releas e date doesn’ t meanthese two
exciting new devices never actually
materialise.
Microsoft unveils foldabledevices and new Windows OSMicrosoft’s dual-screen foldable devices
won’t be available for a whole year