Surface Duo - What do you think and are you getting one? Pre-Order is Live

[Dave 426]

That's a lot of questions to start the morning off but Microsoft thought it would be sly to let the news fly at 3 AM or so on the morning of August 12th.  Just in case you need a refresher, Surface Duo is the dual screen Android phone that Panos showed us last October.  Don't confuse it with Neo, the laptoppy looking gadget that he also unveiled. (see below)

 

See it here - Pre-Order it here.

 

 

You will have to get a look at it in your nearest Best Buy or AT&T store although it will work with Verizon and T-Mobile as well. Prior to a pandemic we could have played with it at the Microsoft Store but those are now history.  I have all the specs pasted below but let's get the bandaid off real quick.  Starting Price - $1399 for 128Gb and $1499 for 256Gb.

 

Sound off in comments on your pain threshold with that price. I'm not surprised at it but it does make me think twice about such an expensive 1st gen device. A 1st Gen "Microsoft" device.  How many times have I been burned? I don't have enough time, seriously.

 

See it here - Pre-Order it here.

 

Let me know what you think and if you are going to order it or share it, use the link, https://reset.fm/duo and I'll get a few cents to pay the bills. Heck, at that price I may make some money if you buy it! Woohoo!!!  Share that link!

Tech specs

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)
Weight1	250 grams
Display	Dual PixelSense™ Fusion Displays open: 8.1” AMOLED, 2700x1800 (3:2), 401 PPI Single PixelSense™ Display: 5.6” AMOLED, 1800x1350 (4:3), 401 PPI Display Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass
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
Battery Capacity	3577mAh (typical) dual battery3
Battery charging	Battery charging using 18W in box power supply
Camera and video recording	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
Countries, carriers, and compatibility4	Countries: U.S.   Unlocked device: AT&T, T-Mobile***   Locked device: AT&T
Network and 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
SIM	One eSIM5 and one Nano SIM   Note: AT&T locked device will not support eSIM
Processor	Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 Mobile Platform optimized for the dual-screen experience
Connections	USB-C® 3.1
Storage and memory6	128GB or 256GB UFS 3.0 of internal storage6   6GB DRAM
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™ Adaptive
Software7	Microsoft preloaded applications: 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) 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)   Operating System: Android™ 10
Sensors	Dual Accelerometer Dual Gyroscope Dual Magnetometer Dual Ambient Light Sensor Proximity Sensor Hall Sensor Fingerprint Sensor
Video playback	Video Playback Formats8: MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265(HEVC), AVI, WMV, TS, 3GP, FLV, WEBM   Wireless: Chromecast support   Wired: DisplayPort over USB-C®. Supports video out when connecting via HDMI Adapter*
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
Language support	All supported languages (Android™ 10)
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
What’s in the box	Surface Duo Surface Duo Bumper (Color: Glacier) Surface Duo USB-C® Power Supply (18w) Quick Start Guide Warranty and Compliance Guide SIM Ejector tool
Warranty9	1-year limited hardware warranty
The Microsoft Store Promise for Surface	60-day return policy 90 days of free technical phone support Free virtual workshops and training

[Trig0r 207]

Its a no from me until its a few iterations in, I had a Surface RT, I fell into the Lumia handset trap with Windows Phone on it, then the watch that they did, got the first one, it was ok, the second sucked a bit but the third was looking good, then they walked away from wearables..

 

This, just looks like an overly pricey 2 screen Android device to me, and given MS track record with feeling out new users/tech I dont trust them not to screw me over...

[schoondoggy 869]

Interesting design and I assume it will be a quality build. 

If I were travelling for work it may be a fit for me, currently it is not.

I cant justify the cost to get one to play with.

[JROrtiz 36]

I feel like I can't not get it. I understand the hesitation on a first gen device but 1) early adopter and 2) they've proven themselves with hardware at this point. If the release date was set even just one month later I might hold off for the Pixel 5 but I'm willing to plunk down the cash for this. 

[Dave 426]

4 hours ago, schoondoggy said:

Interesting design and I assume it will be a quality build. 

If I were travelling for work it may be a fit for me, currently it is not.

I cant justify the cost to get one to play with.

 

I completely understand. I can't either at this time.  @JROrtiz Well of course you are! I wouldn't expect anything different! Let's talk when you get it.

 

@Trig0r  Again, understand.  How many times have I been the first in line for Microsoft gear?  It would take me a while to figure out how much stuff I've bought from them.  I still have my $600 Surface RT though!

[JROrtiz 36]

Update....

 

[schoondoggy 869]

$1399 and it does not come with the pen?

[Trig0r 207]

@Dave my RT is actually the only Surface I still have, the FD now has her new Surface Laptop 3, the offspring has a Surface 3 and there's a Surface Pro 4 in a drawer that was the FD's only unit.

 

I miss the portability but this ThinkPad I have from work now does everything.

 

 

I have just been put in charge of procurement for IT so that might all change...

 

@schoondoggy I know, you would have thought by now that the cost of the device, but then missing bits, would put a lot of people off, look at the Pro, no pen, no keyboard, yet its meant to be a laptop replacement, even cheap AF laptops come with a keyboard...

[Al_Borges 86]

I honestly cant understand why anybody would spend 1300 bucks on this. You could buy 3 Ipads or samsung tab's. Fully decked out for the price of this

I use a surface go tablet - the form factor is only a bit bigger than the duo. For travel, when my phone isnt going to cut it, i would much rather pullout the surface than this.
We microsoft fanboys have been burned too many times

From the windows phone (remember when the hot thing was window centenial, (allowing you to use your phone as a laptop replacement), zune media players, or the endless talk of augmented reality systems

This from a company that launched a browser in 2016 without the ability to run extensions!