Microsoft unveils two new folding devices, with dual touch screens to create a new category in mobile computing
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Microsoft has unveiled two folding devices, with dual touch screens, which it says will create a new category in mobile computing.
But, unlike attempts from its rivals, the firm has not adopted a bendable screen – nor has it decided to include a high-end camera system on the products.
As part of the launch, Microsoft also announced several updates to the Surface laptop range due to be released later this year, and open to pre-orders.
The Surface Neo consists of two screens which open up to a 13in display with a split in the middle, and runs Windows 10X, a variation of the operating system designed to run on dual-screen devices.
The Surface Duo – a smartphone – opens to 8.3in, also with a split, and runs Android, Google’s mobile operating system.
The Surface Family
The Surface Neo can be positioned like a typical laptop, with an additional keyboard placed over the lower screen. In this configuration, the remainder of the screen acts as an extension to the keyboard, similar to – but larger than – Apple’s Touch Bar.
The Surface Neo
The smaller device, Surface Duo, will be seen as a competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.
The firm has also followed Amazon and Apple in releasing wireless in-ear headphones, called Surface Earbuds.
Kait Schoeck, senior industrial designer at Microsoft, said her team 3D-printed “more than a thousand” different shapes and sizes of the ear bud in an attempt to prevent the device falling out – a common complaint with other brands of wireless headphones.
“We scanned thousands of ears,” Ms Schoeck said.
“But we also took the approach of just trying it on. It really comes down to making the prototype and putting it in people’s ears. So hundreds and hundreds of people would come through this lab, try it on, give us feedback, and then we go through another iteration.”
While being worn, Surface Earbuds can be used as a control device, such as tapping your ear to move on a Powerpoint slide, Microsoft said.
New Office enhancements include transcription in Word for the web, inking capabilities in Excel that leverage the new Surface Slim Pen and ultra-portability of the Surface Pro X, gesture support in PowerPoint for the new Surface Earbuds, and ink and voice comments in Word that take advantage of all of it.
