Microsoft Surface Duos finally hits stores

In August 2019, Microsoft officially announced the company's ambitious foldable phone Surface Duos, and now after a year, it is finally available for consumers buy them.

Unlike Samsung's Galaxy Fold or Motorola's new Razr, which come with a flexible screen inside, Microsoft, in a bid to make the Surface Duos stand out, has used two screens held together by a sturdy hinge.

Also, it has no functional screen on the cover, the Surface Duo just comes with a shiny engraving of the company's iconic Windowpane logo. Whereas the other panel's shell is clean and looks smooth with snow-white paint. Overall, it has a minimalistic design and yet easily identifiable as a Microsoft premium device with a single glance.

When unfurled, despite the gaping space between the two screens, the interface makes it look like a digital notebook. Together, the screens measure 8.1-inch (diagonally), and the individual panel measures 5.6-inch. The right panel has a power button, which is placed between a fingerprint sensor at the bottom and volume rockers on the top.

This flexibility allows the owner to use the phone single-screen mode and operate it more like a phone and in the dual-screen mode, you can have a keyboard panel at the bottom and compose message/email on the top.

Also, the phone when close measures just 10mm, and the individual panel measures just around 5mm that's really slim compared to other conventional phones in the market with an average thickness of 7mm. So, it will be easy for the Surface Duos to slip into the pockets without much fuss.

Microsoft Surface Duos. Credit: Microsoft

Another notable aspect of Microsoft's new mobile handset Duos is it runs Google's Android 10 mobile OS, unlike the other Surface gadgets, which come with Windows OS.

Inside, it features Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor, 6GB RAM, 128GB/256GB storage, an adaptive 11MP sensor (with f/2.0, 1.0 µm, PDAF and 84-degree diagonal FOV optimized with AI) and a 3,577mAh with 18W charger in-box.

Microsoft Surface Duos is being offered in two storage variants-- 128GB and 256GB-- $1,399.99/approx. Rs 1,02,945 (or for $46.67/around Rs 3,432/month) and $1,499.99/roughly Rs 1,10,298 (or $50/ around Rs 3,677/month) in select markets.

As of now, there is no official word on when the new Microsoft Surface Duos come to India.

Key specifications of Microsoft Surface Duo:

Specifications	Microsoft Surface Duos
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	250g
Display	Dual PixelSense Fusion Displays open: 8.1-inch AMOLED, 2700x1800 (3:2), 401 PPI Single PixelSense Display: 5.6-inch AMOLED, 1800x1350 (4:3), 401 PPI Display Material: Corning® Gorilla Glas
Battery	3,577mAh with 18W charger in-box Battery life Up to 15.5 hours of Local Video Playback2 Up to 10 days of Standby Time2 Up to 27 hours of Talk Time2
Camera	Adaptive camera 11MP, f/2.0, 1.0 µm, PDAF and 84.0° diagonal FOV optimized with AI for front and rear Photos: Auto mode with low-light & HDR multi-frame photo capture and dynamic range scene detection Super resolution zoom, and super zoom up to 7x Portrait mode with adjustable depth control Panorama mode Burst mode Video recording: 4K video recording at 30 fps and 60 fps 1080p video recording at 30 fps and 60 fps HEVC and H.264 video recording formats Gyro-based digital video stabilization
Video conferencing	Microsoft Teams and Skype video conferencing up to 1080p at 30fps High CRI LED Flash for both front and world facing photo and video scenarios
Network & Connectivity	WiFi: WiFi-5 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz) Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.0 LTE: 4x4 MIMO, Cat.18 DL / Cat 5 UL, 5CA, LAA. Up to 1.2Gbps Download / Up to 150Mbps Upload Bands Supported: FDD-LTE: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,13,14,19,20,25,26,28,29,30,66 TD-LTE: 38,39,40,41,46 WCDMA: 1,2,5,8 GSM/GPRS: GSM-850, E-GSM-900, DCS-1800, PCS-1900 Location: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS Port: USB-C 3.1
RAM + Storage	6GB DRAM + 128GB or 256GB UFS 3.0 of internal storage
Processor	Qualcomm® Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform optimized for the dual-screen experience
Audio	Mono speaker, Dual Mic noise suppression and echo cancellation optimized for productive use in all postures Best-in-class Full Duplex communication for voice calls in hands-free mode Audio formats supported: 3GP, MP3, MP4, MKV, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC, TS, AMR, FLAC, MID, MIDI, RTTL, RTX, OTA, IMY Qualcomm aptX
OS	Android 10 with built-in Microsoft apps- Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office Lens, PDF Reader, and more Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft To Do, Microsoft News, Microsoft Authenticator, Microsoft Bing Search, Intune Company Portal, LinkedIn, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Surface Audio Microsoft Surface Duo UI core features: Dual screen windowing, Adaptive modes, App Groups, Microsoft 365 Feed, Dynamic dock, Universal Search, Adaptive Camera, Microsoft SwiftKey Adaptive Keyboard, Your Phone Companion - Link to Windows Other preinstalled apps: Google Search, Google Assistant, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Duo, Google Photos, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Store, Google Maps, Chrome, Gmail, YouTube, YouTube Music, Contacts, Messages, Phone, Files, Clock, Calculator, Sound recorder, Spotify (Unlocked), in select markets-- HBO MAX (AT&T), AT&T TV (AT&T), My AT&T (AT&T), Call Protect (AT&T), Amazon Shopping (AT&T), NBA (AT&T)
Exterior	Exterior Material: Corning Gorilla Glass Color: Glacier
Security and authentication	Biometric lock type: Fingerprint reader (1:100K FAR <3% FRR) Lock type: Swipe, PIN, password Security applications pre-loaded on device: Microsoft Authenticator
Sensors	Dual Accelerometer, Dual Gyroscope, Dual Magnetometer, Dual Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor
Pen and inking	Supports all in market generations of Surface Slim Pen, Surface Pen and Surface Hub 2 Pen Simultaneous Pen and touch are supported

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