Surface Duo will include time-saving multitask feature
The Duo could end up disappointing those hoping for a device with long battery life. While there was a time when the rumored 3460mAh battery capacity could get you past the day, you have to remember that this battery is supporting the power needs for two screens. But it doesn’t appear that the refresh rate will be faster than the standard 60Hz (which means that the display refreshes 60 times per second) and there is no 5G connectivity to power. We will have to see whether the battery holds up once the handset is released.
If past patent filings prove prescient, the hinge on the Duo will be able to determine the position of the screens to each other and will change the UI appropriately. For example, with the phone in “tent mode” (like an upside-down V), the hinge would know that the screens are in that position and change the UI to support an alarm clock for a night stand. In “Laptop mode” the device is held in landscape with the two screens at a 90-degree angle like a laptop. The bottom screen would display a virtual QWERTY keyboard.
Microsoft decided to use Android for its first phone in years instead of returning to Windows Phone. While the latter had its fans and was very smooth, the so-called “app gap” prevented the operating system from making any inroads on the market shares owned by Android and iOS. This was in some ways a vicious cycle; developers wouldn’t create Windows Phone versions of apps because no one was buying the phones. And no one was buying the phones because the apps they use weren’t available for the platform. Like BlackBerry before it, Microsoft realized that all of the headaches related to the app gap went away when they gave up their own operating systems and replaced them with Android.
