Microsoft Surface Duo: Yeah, I think I need one

Back in 2009, I wrote a post called, “Stop everything and have a look at Microsoft’s Courier Tablet.”

It was a brief post linking to a Gizmodo article showing the Courier concept tablet device that Microsoft had been playing with. Here is the photo I used for the post:

I was so disappointed that nothing happened. I always kept it in the back of my mind though, especially when Apple was nailing it with the iPad.

11 years later, though and here’s what’s coming from Microsoft next month:

It’s called the Duo – for obvious reasons I imagine.

I am really, really interested in this one. The Telegraph reports the Duo will be available from the 10th of September this year and, keeping in mind the rather obsessive post I wrote about the Huawei Mate XS earlier in the week, it’s due to cost about GBP 1,059. That’s the approximate conversion from USD 1,399 for the 128GB model as specified on the Microsoft website… (Side note: I won’t be surprised if the currency conversion is upped for the Brits as usual. It’s somewhat annoying when these devices are then priced at GBP 1,399.)

So. It’s got two screens. It fits in your pocket. It’s exceptionally light and each screen is only 4.8mm thin. It folds back on itself with a 360 degree hinge. It’s running on Android – so you have the whole app ecosystem to play with too. It offers seamless integration with all the Microsoft tools. It feels like Microsoft really thought about the Duo, in-depth.

I sat and watched the awesome video featuring Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer, Panos Panay, introduce the Duo in a 30 minute private press briefing. It’s surprisingly intimate and highly informative – Panos is just brilliant: He gives a great introduction to the device and the concepts behind it. Have a look:

If you’ve got a coffee, I strongly recommend you sit and watch to get more of an inkling about what they’re cooking at Microsoft.

I think the Duo could be massive. Absolutely hugely popular. I love the ingenuity and the deep thinking they’ve clearly done to put together such a device. Just watching Panos and his colleague Shilpa handle the device effortlessly, putting it in and out of pockets, folding it, making it stand, swiping around, showing off the apps… I want one.

“The Microsoft you love and the Android you know”

Panos routinely used this phrase: “The Microsoft you love and the Android you know.” Don’t underestimate the power of this.

We are, all or most of us, even the die-hard Apple fans, having to live and work in the Microsoft ecosystem at some point during the business day. Kudos to the Microsoft team for embracing Android and the Apple ecosystem – especially the iPad. I routinely use my Apple devices with Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint throughout the day.

Watching how Panos and Shilpa are using their Duos really brought home the potential of this new category. It’s not a phone. It’s not a tablet. It’s… a … it’s something new.

And when it comes to Android, the familiarity – the ability to be able to pick-up immediately with your standard go-to Android apps – is tremendously powerful.

Are you buying one then?

Well, yes. I think I might be. I am living in Oman here in the Middle East so I’ll need to figure out the best way of getting one. Probably via the US, I imagine. It appears to be selling first only in the US… Although I think my preference will be to order one locally when that’s possible – I’m hopeful that either the local mobile networks or the big electrical retailers will soon start to carry the Duo.

Or maybe Microsoft will test the waters in the US first before releasing internationally. We shall see.

You know how I was basically sold on the Huawei Mate XS? Well… I just re-watched their video. I do really like the XS. I love what they’ve done. That’s a mobile phone, though.

It’s interesting how my mind works. The XS is a hot rocking cool looking mobile phone. The Duo? Something else. I’m not quite sure what it will do or how I will use it. Watching Panos describe his daily usage I felt myself nodding away thinking, ‘yeah… that could… yeah that could be me.’

I have a reservation about the Duo camera. I simply love having the best possible camera I can buy in my pocket with – for example – the iPhone XS Pro Max Ghia Sport XL. Simply because I like to make sure if I’m taking a photo of the children, the quality is good enough. So that’s one minor reservation. It doesn’t appear to be waterproof. Yeah. That’s not a deal-breaker. Not yet, anyway.

I was right there at the front of the line for the other category defining updates across the mobile industry years gone by. I bought the first N95 I could find. The first BlackBerry Bold. The first… the first… I had the very first iPhone in my hands – shipped from the US – before the executives of major mobile networks in the UK. Same again for the iPad. I wanted to explore and discover what might be possible with them.

And I think that’s the primary reason why I will get a Duo as soon as I can.

More than anything, though, I’m excited to see what comes next. I am really, really enjoying the Microsoft ecosystem of late. I like what they’re doing in gaming, I like what they’re doing on the desktop, I really do enjoy the 365 suite. I use Teams daily. And if you can give me a device that unifies this… hmmmm. I have to say, it is seriously compelling.

And you know what? I’d like to see some serious competition for Apple.

What say you?