Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 gets better specs, an even bigger $1, 499 price tag

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  The Surface Duo 2. From this angle it looks identical to the Duo 1. [credit: Microsoft ]

The Surface Duo, t ake two. Microsoft’s quirky two-screen device is back, and you can still run two apps side by side, fold the thing over for single-screen mode, or draw on it with a pen. The original device landed at the end of a messy, years-long journey that included a switch from Windows to Android and an official announcement that was a full year before the ship date. The Surface Duo 1 was a big flop and eventually hit the bargain bin for nearly $1, 000 off the $1, 399 MSRP (the device is still readily available for $412 , by the way! ). Microsoft seems undeterred by the original unit’s performance, though, and this has produced this sequel. So , what’s been improved?

First off, the specs look a lot better this year. Microsoft is turning in a modern device along with a Snapdragon 888, 8GB associated with RAM, 128GB of storage, and a much bigger 4449mAh battery. The original device had a Snapdragon 855 SoC, which has been 18 months old when the Duet shipped, and so this will be a big improvement. There’s also NFC this year, which was another odd quirk of the initial device’s spec sheet. The OG Duo was the thinnest Android device ever, at 4. 8 mm thick, but Microsoft found room to increase the 3577mAh electric battery by making the phone thicker, plus now each half is 5. 5 mm. It’s still one of the thinnest Android devices ever, and Microsoft even managed to cram mmWave support into the US version.

The phone still has two rigid, glass-covered screens that fold up like a moleskin notebook. This year the two OLED screens are a bit bigger, at five. 8-inches each, and Microsoft is usually again modernizing them with 90 Hz refresh rates. The resolution is definitely close to the 4: 3 aspect ratio of last year but not quite, with a weird measurement of 1892×1344. The reason for this seems to be the particular addition of a few extra pixels for a new spine display. The hinge-side of each screen has a curve to that, just like the annoyingly curved sides of a flagship Android phone, allowing you to see the tiny sliver of the screen while the Duo 2 is closed. Microsoft is using this to display little notification chips for things like your number of missed calls or messages.