With Surface Neo and Duo, Microsoft is shaking up the smartphone and tablet market

With Surface Neo and Duo, Microsoft is shaking up the smartphone and tablet market

Microsoft has renewed its Surface range with two innovative products with a dual screen: the Duo smartphone, Android, and Neo Hybrid Tablet running Windows 10X. Two almost revolutionary devices that will arrive at the end of 2020.

And if Microsoft was the Apple of the next decade? While the apple firm is struggling to renew itself after creating the iPhone, iPad or MacBook Air, its "sworn enemy" is starting to make its way into the hardware market, and 2020 could even be the Microsoft year. Why ? Simply because the Windows editor will launch two innovative devices, as only Apple seemed to be able to.

It was during the presentation of its new Surface (Pro 7, Pro X and Laptop 3) that Microsoft first unveiled the Surface Duo smartphone. It will take a year to see it on the shelves, but the promise is enticing. This is simply the realization of Courier or Centaurus projects, many times announced and visible only in patent applications. This time, it is real, and it is a smartphone equipped with two 5.6-inch screens interconnected by two hinges 360 ° that can multiply configurations.

An Android smartphone

It can thus be laid flat with an 8-inch display surface, greater than that of an iPad mini for example, and the lower part can then turn into a virtual keyboard. The good news is that Microsoft has chosen to run it on Android, and that we can therefore access all the usual applications to download from the Play Store. Some should have features dedicated to this type of dual-screen displays. By the launch of the Duo, the Huawei and Samsung models will be on the market, and we will already have a taste of these adaptations.

The other big novelty is the Surface Neo, a kind of hybrid tablet, equipped with two 9-inch screens. Again, between the two are the hinges 360 °, and it is not so foldable screen, but two independent screens. And again, we find ideas borrowed Courier and Centaurus projects with a versatility that could appeal to many.

Thanks to the 360 ​​° hinges, the duo adopts several different configurations. © Microsoft

An innovative keyboard

As needed, the Neo turns into a tablet, book or laptop, and to use it, you have a Bluetooth keyboard or a stylus. The keyboard is also really innovative since it just "stick" on the lower screen. This allows you to leave a touch part above the keys to access functions dedicated to applications and open software. And if you put it on the top of the screen, it's a touchpad that is available, avoiding to use a mouse ...

Basically, it's the Duo but XXL version. The difference lies in the software since we discover Windows 10X, a new operating system, suitable for this type of device. During its presentation, Microsoft explained that the goal was to impose this new type of format, and other manufacturers could offer it to their catalog and customize it. Exactly as if it were a classic laptop. For now, the Neo and Duo have no tariffs, and they are expected for the end of the year 2020

The keyboard that comes to land on the second screen is the very good idea of ​​this device on the border between the tablet and the laptop. © Microsoft