It’s hard to categorise Microsoft’s Surface Duo. Is it a phone? A phablet? A miniature Surface laptop with cellular connectivity? Microsoft itself simply calls it a ‘dual-screen device’, which isn’t particularly descriptive.
Perhaps Microsoft has invented a new product category (it certainly thinks it has). But with Samsung’s Galaxy Fold out and Motorola’s foldable V4 on the horizon, I’m not sure that would be true either.
How the device is defined – and how successful it is – will may come down to how it adapts Android to suit its hybrid ambitions. But it also needs some show-stealing features outside of the unusual design. Here’s what I’d like to see from Microsoft’s definitely-not-a-phone, smartphone.
One of the standout features of this year’s Pixel 4 is how Google has moved some of Assistant’s features away from needing the ‘hey Google’ wake word. In particular the baked in features like live transcription of videos when sound is toggled off. Or the searchable, automatically transcribed text from recorded voice notes. It’s here that Google has made Assistant genuinely useful instead of gimmicky. Microsoft should follow suit.
It’s not exactly clear what’s happening with Microsoft’s competitor to Assistant (if you can call it that), Cortana, but I’m not sure if it will be capable of handling the tasks above with the same aplomb that Assistant does.
There is a potential workaround, though. Considering Duo is going to run Android, then it’s possible the Windows-maker could work out a deal to port some of those Pixel specific features to the Duo. It’s not out of the realms of possibility considering that Google wants Assistant – and its best features – on as many devices as possible. Also something likeautomatic, searchable, voice transcription would be perfect for a productivity-focused phone.
Shoulder buttons
With Microsoft’s cloud gaming platform Project xCloud on the way (not to mention Google’s Stadia) I’d like to see Microsoft lean into this and make the best possible use of the Duo’s dual-screen display for gaming. The LG G8X uses the second screen as a game controller with buttons that can be custom mapped, which greatly improves the touch-screen gaming experience.
But one thing it lacks is shoulder buttons. Obviously it’d be silly and unnecessary to build these into a phone, but a connected phone case could have them. A thin, sleek, Surface branded smartphone with full gaming capabilities and a full controller (without actually having a full controller) playing the latest AAA titles via a streaming service? Yes please.
Serious battery life
If the Duo is going to be pushed as a powerful productivity phone then it needs to have serious lasting power, especially with two power-draining displays. I’m interested to see what Microsoft does here because it has to finely balance making a two-display device dainty enough to fit comfortably in your pocket, but also fit a big enough battery in there without making it heavy and cumbersome.
The design for the Duo is apparently locked, so it will come down to how it has crammed a battery – or two – under either or both of those displays. But, if Microsoft is indeed pitching the Duo to be the ultimate productivity phone, lasting power will be a must.
Can Microsoft price it reasonably?
If there’s one takeaway from first generation foldable phones, it’s that they’re prohibitively expensive. Huawei, Samsung and the upcoming Motorola V4 are all (or rumoured to be, at least) priced around the $2000 mark. This is partially understandable because they’re using a new type of technology that’s presumably awkward and expensive to manufacture.
That’s less the case for the Duo, which is essentially two phone screens connected by a hinge – so you’d assume Microsoft could launch the Duo at a more reasonable price than the true foldable devices.
LG’s similar concept, the dual-screen LG G8X, costs $699. It’s not exactly the same, because the two displays are held together by a case and one is removable. But, because it’s not truly foldable, the Duo may fall closer to a premium smartphone price rather than an astronomical Galaxy Fold Price. At least, you’d hope so.