Microsoft starts to ship the Surface Duo foldable today

by Mark Tyson on 10 September 2020, 13:11

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Surface

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Last month Microsoft revealed that the Surface Duo smartphone was going to become available from 10th September - that's today. At the time of writing the device seems to be pre-orderable, but not orderable on the US site. However, I can't even find it listed on Microsoft's UK site.

At one time it was feared that the Surface Duo would be delayed as long as the Surface Neo, but thankfully that hasn't happened. As a reminder the Surface Neo is the larger dual screen device which is set to run Windows 10X on an Intel Lakefield based platform. Also as a reminder, it is worth recapping the Surface Duo's specs which are directly below:

  • Twin 5.6-inch OLED displays (1800 x 1350) with Gorilla Glass open up to form an 8.1-inch overall workspace (2700 x 1800) with a 3:2 aspect ratio.
  • 'Revolutionary 360-degree hinge'
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC
  • 6GB of RAM
  • Up to 256GB of storage
  • Single 11-megapixel f/2.0 camera with EIS and 4K video recording up to 60fps
  • Wi-Fi and LTE but no 5G support
  • Surface Pen support
  • Twin battery packs adding up to 3,577mAh capacity for 'all day battery life'
  • 4.8mm thick unfolded, 9.6mm folded

While some will decry the specs of yesteryear tethered to pricing starting from US$1,399.99, the Surface Duo is quite a unique dual-screen proposition and may effectively be marketed at businesses and enterprises with Microsoft's out of the box support/bundling of Office apps, 'Enterprise-grade security', and a variety of mobile device management (MDM) options.

To help get the Surface Duo off to a good start, Microsoft has readied a new promotional video, which you can view embedded directly above. The central proposition is that the Surface Duo offers "a new way to get things done," especially while you are on the move. To get this message across this latest video concentrates on how much more space users have to check and respond to emails, calendars, appointments and so on - important tasks for road warriors.

A promo video or two are also available on the Surface Twitter social media pages. Two recent videos show off; the comfortable media consumption in tent mode, and the some fancy flexing of the hinged device (oops, don't copy these guys and drop it).

In the US the Surface Duo price is from $1,399 device only, or on contract with the likes of AT&T from $47pcm. Windows Central recently reported that non-US customers will have to wait until 2021 until they can get their mitts on the Duo.



HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

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Windows Central recently reported that non-US customers will have to wait until 2021 until they can get their mitts on the Duo.

Oh no!
edmundhonda
Oh no!

When it will be even more out of date and even more out of touch with the competition :)

I was excited for this device when it was announced, but then almost every bit of information we received on it made it less and less exciting. No external screen, a hinged inner pair of screens rather than a true fordable, no 5G, mid-range SOC..

Considering that with a tiny bit of work and a broken phone, you can get order a Galaxy Z Fold 2 for £1500 or so…it doesn't quite make sense. That is assuming you are after a foldable in the first place of course :)
I quite like it, silly money though for what it is specs wise at least. Give it a few generations then maybe.
Half the price and release ‘now’ and I might have been semi interested (although I'd personally prefer a microsoftified single screen phone)…. both are doable imo seeing as LG can do a ‘dual screen’ phone for half the price, and you can even use that as a single screen phone if you want.