Last year at the October Surface event, Microsoft announced its plans to create some dual-screen devices. There was the dual-screen PC called the Surface Neo, which is now delayed indefinitely, and the dual-screen smartphone called the Surface Duo. Promised for this holiday season, the Duo is actually arriving a bit early, and it's no surprise. Unlike the Surface Neo where Microsoft had to built a new OS, the Duo runs Android, so there really wasn't much work to do beyond customizing the OS and adding a second screen.
Pretty much all of the leaks that we got are true, and the leaks really didn't leave anything to the imagination. As we expected, the specs are pretty mid-range. It includes last year's flagship processor, the Snapdragon 855, and it has 6GB RAM. Storage tiers are 128GB and 256GB.
The camera, which is closer to entry-level than mid-range is a single 11MP f/2.0 sensor, although it can capture 4K 60fps video. Microsoft says that it packs features like portrait mode, super resolution zoom, and more.
The part that's premium is the screen, of which there are two of. Each screen is 5.6 inches with a 4:3 aspect ratio, and they're AMOLED with 1800x1350 resolution. Side-by-side, that's 8.1 inches of screen real estate with a 3:2 aspect ratio and 2700x1800 resolution.
Microsoft says that the Surface Duo is its thinnest Surface yet, coming in at 4.8mm while it's opened. For a smartphone though, it's not very small. This device weighs in at 250g, and it's 93.3mm wide, 7.9mm wider than a Nokia Lumia 1520. The battery is 3,577mAh, and that's backed up by 18W fast charging.
As you can guess, it comes with a whole bunch of Microsoft apps, such as Office, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, Edge, OneNote, To Do, News, and more. It even comes with Microsoft Solitaire Collection. Of course, you'll still be getting all of the Google apps that come with Android, such as Google Drive, Duo, Photos, Chrome, and so on.
The color that it comes in is called Glacier, and it also comes with the bumper case that's been seen in photos of the device. Now for the kicker: all of those mid-range specs come in at $1,399 for the 128GB model of this 4G phone. You can pre-order today from AT&T, Best Buy, or the Microsoft Store, and it will arrive on September 10.
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