Microsoft Surface Duo sneak peek shows you how you can take the Galaxy Fold2

Microsoft Surface Duo sneak peek shows you how you can take the Galaxy Fold2

The Microsoft Surface Duo is coming soon. Actually, sooner than you think, but a new video tour will give you a better idea of this foldable phone's capabilities.

This 24-minute video by Windows Central compiles clips of the latest Surface Duo emulator build and shows off the software running on this Android phone.

The appropriately titled software tour shows not only some of the cool gestures you can perform on the device, but also how the Surface delivers notifications, arranges apps, and, delightfully, even a minimalist lock screen. It also briefly shows what you can do with the customizable Surface Duo shelf area, which is certainly nice to have enough room to scroll through your Gmail inbox.

The video also shows some useful ways you can multitask on the Surface Duo by having two different apps open at the same time, one on each screen. This allows you to look through reference material on the left side of the 8.3-inch, fully open device and take notes on the right side. You can also watch your favorite TV shows and look up facts and trivia while keeping the browser open.

The Surface Duo is Microsoft's latest attempt at making a smartphone, but the company assures us that the Duo is not really a phone. That said, it certainly quacks like a duck, as the two screens connected via a hinge form a very large tablet-sized phone; the Surface Duo feels more like a small laptop with just a screen, as seen in this brief preview, looks quite promising for both entertainment and productivity purposes.

Microsoft's phone will likely run Android rather than Windows and will be powered by the Snapdragon 865 processor rather than the Snapdragon 855 introduced at the Surface launch event in October 2019. It also appears that the Duo will have one camera, which will be mounted on the right side of the display. This may change in the final design, though.

Microsoft has not yet set a price or official release date for the device, but rumors last month suggested that Microsoft was accelerating the launch to get ahead of Samsung's next foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold 2. Samsung is scheduled to hold a product event on August 5, so if the rumors of an impending launch are accurate, we may soon see the Surface Duo in person.

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