Surface Neo and Duo offer a unique — and challenging — opportunity for developers

Panos Panay on stage with Surface Neo and Surface Duo Source: Daniel Rubino/Windows Primal

When Microsoft unveiled the dual-screen Surface Neo and Surface Duo terminal month, it took everyone off guard. Not only was the Andromeda concept, which had been rumored for years, live and well, but Microsoft went even farther by revealing a PC and a phone.

While phones like the Samsung Milky way Fold and Huawei Mate X have already shown united states some of what nosotros can await from devices with folding screens, the Neo and Duo are different beasts. Instead of utilizing folding screens and all of the problems that come up with them, Microsoft opted for two split screens while still embracing the folding class factor. And from its presentation, it'southward clear the company is focusing hard on productivity with both devices.

The consequence is a set of hardware that, at beginning glance, impresses with Microsoft's usual Surface bear upon. Simply some burning questions remain: How are developers going to all-time take reward of these 2 screens, and how tin can Microsoft entice them to embrace its dual-screen approach?

Is two really better than one?

Bated from the tech behind them, the differences betwixt foldable and dual-screen devices might not appear to be major, but they present different challenges in how apps tin best accept reward of the screen real estate. For 1 large folding display, for instance, it's easy to envision something like a YouTube video expanding beyond the unabridged screen when open. But when you slide a bezel between 2 screens, as in the Neo and Duo, that thought doesn't work most equally well.

Instead, Surface Neo and Duo are likely to invite app interactions that improve workflows, says Frank Gillett, a vice president and principal analyst for research house Forrester. "Think of workflows where you need to be able to see the large moving-picture show, work through a sequence, or switch amidst options," Gillett said. "Those will benefit from a left/correct notion of overall visibility or control on the left, with a drill-downward or focus on the right."

The dual-screen arroyo may prove more useful for workers in the field, rather than those working at a desk task, Gillett added. But whether that boost in productivity will really be measurable or subjective will be an interesting thing to examine in one case the devices are on the market place, he said.

Galaxy Fold standing on table Source: Android Central

Sasha Krsmanovic, chief marketing officer for Uno Platform, agrees that users may frequently view devices like the Surface Duo as a multi-tasking device, rather than one large device. "Dual screen tablets and phones lend themselves naturally to a mode that's mutual on desktops and traditional laptops merely rare on existing handheld devices," Krsmanovic says. "At a technical level, it'southward 'multi-tasking,' but from a user perspective, it's not really that – information technology'southward more like 'multi-app single-tasking,' like having a term paper open in one window and Wikipedia open in some other. "

Apps that benefit from powerful multitasking could really thrive on folding Surfaces.

Apps are ofttimes used in conjunction with each other on laptops and desktops. Jumping between tasks and apps is a natural part of workflows on PCs, just tin feel awkward on phones because yous're entirely switching between apps, rather than having things open side by side. Krsmanovic highlights how a mutual multitasking setup from PCs could translate well to the Surface Duo. "When watching [an] NBA basketball on a mobile device via NBA app, the user has an pick to slide out real-time stats via a slider, which usually comes from the lesser or from a side," Krsmanovic says. "We dearest stats. We crave stats. This is what announcers on TV do for us all throughout the game. Nonetheless, on the app itself, when those slides are slid out, they take away a good chunk of the screen real estate, getting in the way of following the bodily game. In this scenario, a split-screen real manor tin can accept a smashing and positive bear upon on user experience."

Media apps similar YouTube and Netflix would benefit more from a telephone similar the Galaxy Fold that tin unfold to take a larger screen, merely in that location are many apps that could benefit from a bezel between ii displays. Non-media apps that expand onto tablets often just add extra space between elements. While developers could optimize their apps better for larger screens, extra features and elements of the app could besides exist placed onto a 2nd screen. For example, Reddit wouldn't benefit that much from just having a larger screen, simply being able to spring in and out of connected threads on one display, while having the principal thread open on some other, would streamline browsing comments and posts.

Lauren Guenveur, a senior inquiry analyst at IDC, agrees, noting that any app that can be used across multiple screens, such as Outlook, is going to correspond a major bump to productivity. "I kind of run into foldables and dual-screen devices, equally opposed to using i app, [using] more than one app," Guenveur says. She also sees creative apps being a place where dual screens can "smooth," particularly "anything where you lot demand a large control panel, versus a full screen for what you're decision-making."

Is it worth information technology for developers?

Surface Duo unfolded on display Source: Windows Central

In 2022, ecosystems of apps are often more than important than the OS itself. The story of the failed Windows Phone is a familiar one for Windows Central readers, but the same principles apply to any company trying to make a phone today. When Huawei began discussing shipping a phone without the Google Play Store, analysts and potential buyers immediately started looking for ways that Android apps could run on the device.

In 2022, people want apps and services, and if developers aren't on lath, a device may exist doomed from the start. Fortunately for Microsoft, the Surface Duo will run Android apps. The merely question is if developers volition optimize their apps for Android and if that'due south important to consumers.

Arlo Godfrey, a developer and one of the heads of the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) Community Discord, points to a potential pitfall for Duo's power to concenter developer attention. "Since the Surface Duo is currently ane of a kind when information technology comes to the split in the screen, it'due south entirely viable that devs could just ignore the device and bank on something like the Milky way Fold, which doesn't crave extra work to take advantage of the actress real estate."

Developers might not consider it worth the investment to make apps that take advantage of ane device.

While the Surface Duo comes with the power of the Surface brand, it is still a unique device. Developers might not consider it worth the investment to make apps that take advantage of ane device. Godfrey believes that more than devices within the same category might exist key to swaying developers. "With Microsoft and Google partnering on this device, and Android 10 and 11 getting native back up for these type of devices, I think nosotros might see more like the Duo in the coming years (since it's easier to manufacture than the Fold)," Godfrey says. "If devs oasis't made accommodations for the dual-screen format by and then, they'll be much more inclined to."

The head programmer of myTube at Ryken Studio, Christopher Blackman, points out that different categories of apps benefit from dual screens in different means. "For consumption apps, I think giving the user one screen to browse and the other to consume would be the best way forward," Blackman says. "For creation apps, having controls on one side and the sail on the other could piece of work, or stretching the canvas across both screens to requite the user a larger area to manipulate. Personally, though, I retrieve lxxx pct of apps would benefit more past having a dissimilar app run on the other screen."

Convincing developers and companies to optimize their apps for different form factors and shapes can exist tricky. Apple tree excels at this. From little things like supporting a notch to larger things like support for macOS Sidecar, Apple can swing the hammer and go developers to leap on lath. Microsoft has had less success in this sphere, and it will have to encounter if the Surface brand and other manufacturers making dual-screen devices can sway developers.

Withal, because foldables are such a new category, Microsoft may fare meliorate in this regard than information technology did with Windows Phone, which was entering a space in which smartphones, and what they do, were already a known quantity.

"It was kind of brilliant on Microsoft's role to not just introduce these 2 new products on a smaller scale just to developers, only to excite the entire tech community and otherwise anyone who would watch or pay attention to Microsoft," Guenveur said. Being early to foldables and getting the broader tech community excited for them well in advance of their launch could have the net effect of driving developer attending to the new platform.

Taking advantage of the screen real estate

Some apps seem like a natural fit for a dual-screen device. Microsoft's xCloud could have game controls on one brandish while having gameplay on the other. The LG G8X ThinQ already has a setup similar this. Apps like Adobe Photoshop or Analogousness Photograph could accept a panel of tools or features on one display with the prototype being edited isolated on the other. Other apps will need more than thought to have reward of the extra screen existent estate provided past a second display.

Blackman gives some creative examples, such as games like Battleship. A two-player board game like Battleship might non be what the makers of dual-screen devices had in heed, but information technology'southward a clever idea that could make such devices stand out. He also points towards ereaders as an optimal app for two screens, offer either a standard book-reading feel or using the second screen as space for notes or related web content.

Ultimately, it volition depend on whether developers take advantage of the extra space, and how well. Every fourth dimension a new form factor comes out, there's a learning curve for app and content creators to accept advantage of the new space. The do good of devices like Surface Neo and Surface Duo is that while developers figure things out, many current apps volition scale and be useable.

A unique opportunity

Surface Duo gamepad Source: Microsoft

The Surface line has e'er been about driving innovation. The Surface Pro pushed the two-in-1 course factor that has since been copied and built upon, in one form or some other, by many Windows device manufacturers and fifty-fifty Apple tree. Surface Neo and Surface Duo present an opportunity for Microsoft to innovate in the mobile and Android spaces and push a new Bone, in the course of Windows 10X.

It could exist years before Microsoft sees existent success with Surface Neo or Duo.

Dual-screen devices provide additional screen real manor for developers, providing room for expanded interaction and more information. While developing for these devices makes perfect sense for some apps like xCloud and Outlook, the makers of other apps may have to think outside the box to utilize the extra space.

According to Guenveur, it's likely nosotros'll see the professional and prosumer spaces take advantage of these new device types commencement before they expand to the consumer space. "To starting time out with, the leading border is going to be your enterprises, your more artistic professionals — your prosumers that are looking for new course factors to become productive, versus your consumer masses," she says.

Like the Surface Pro line, success for devices like Surface Neo and Surface Duo probable will not be immediate. Instead, it might take years for Microsoft to run across real success, and if it does, other manufacturers will probable have made like devices based on the form factor.

As for Microsoft, it's staying tight-lipped on the whole matter for now. "On Oct 2, we shared just a gustatory modality of the innovative app experiences that will be available on Surface Neo and Surface Duo," a Microsoft spokesperson told united states. "We wait forwards to seeing what developers create."

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