The first Android phone ever to be released by Microsoft is almost upon us and it is a bold design. Let’s take a look at what it gives you in terms of the unique hardware Microsoft has brought to market with the Microsoft Surface Duo.

Surface Duo Hardware
Of course, the first thing that stands out about the Duo is the dual screens. Each one of them is 5.6 inches and the total diagonal is 8.1 inches! That’s an incredible amount of real estate to be carrying around in your pocket.
The 360° hinge makes the magic happen to allow for many different postures of the phone.

It can be folded over like a regular phone for phone calls “open”, or the opposite direction to “close”. Reports from early release phones say it feels just like other max size phones and fits into most pockets, but watch out skinny jeans people.

Tent mode for watching movies is easy for Surface Duo. This form factor is a top request for travelers on planes, but these days not as important since everyone has gone virtual.

Held vertically to have the effect of a web browser on a PC. This is a great experience when sitting or again when traveling on a plane or train. Much easier to consume information without constant flicks of the fingers.

Used in your lap or on a table as a mini-laptop. This form factor is known as the “Barbie laptop”, and is quite useful for consuming information and typing at the same time.

Design Specifications
Each screen is 5.6 inches each and when folded flat the total size is 8.1. Each side is then only 4.8 mm thin when opened making for a really thin phone. The entire phone is made of glass which gives it a high-end feel to the touch. There is a fingerprint reader, volume, and power button (all on the same side of the phone), along with the fast charging USB-C connection.

Finger print reader to unlock the phone or authenticate to applications.

The Surface Duo supports Fast Charging with the included 18-watt USB-C power supply, or video output.

11MP, f2.0, image quality tuning with various modes depending on posture; 4K video recording with gyro-based digital video stabilization.

What’s in the Box?
- Surface Duo
- Surface Duo Bumper (Color: Glacier)
- Surface Duo USB-C® Power Supply (18w)
- Quick Start Guide
- Warranty and Compliance
- GuideSIM Ejector tool

Surface Duo Tech Specs
Dimensions | Open:145.2 mm (H) x 186.9 mm (W) x 4.8 mm (T) Closed:145.2 mm (H) x 93.3 mm (W) x 9.9 mm (T at hinge) |
---|---|
Weight | 250 grams |
Display | Dual PixelSense™ Fusion Displays open: 8.1” AMOLED, 2700×1800 (3:2), 401 PPISingle PixelSense™ Display: 5.6” AMOLED, 1800×1350 (4:3), 401 PPIDisplay Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass |
Battery Life | Up to 15.5 hours of Local Video Playback2Up to 10 days of Standby Time2Up to 27 hours of Talk Time2 |
Battery Capacity | 3577mAh (typical) dual battery3 |
Battery charging | Battery charging using 18W in box power supply |
Camera and video recording | Adaptive camera 11MP, f/2.0, 1.0 µm, PDAF and 84.0° diagonal FOV optimized with AI for front and rear Photos:Auto mode with low-light & HDR multi-frame photo capture and dynamic range scene detectionSuper resolution zoom, and super zoom up to 7x Portrait mode with adjustable depth controlPanorama modeBurst mode Video recording:4K video recording at 30 fps and 60 fps1080p video recording at 30 fps and 60 fpsHEVC and H.264 video recording formatsGyro-based digital video stabilization |
Video conferencing | Microsoft Teams and Skype video conferencing up to 1080p at 30fpsHigh CRI LED Flash for both front and world facing photo and video scenarios |
Countries, carriers, and compatibility | Countries: U.S. Unlocked device***: AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless Locked device: AT&T |
Network and connectivity | WiFi: WiFi-5 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz) Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.0 LTE: 4×4 MIMO, Cat.18 DL / Cat 5 UL, 5CA, LAA. Up to 1.2Gbps Download / Up to 150Mbps Upload Bands Supported:FDD-LTE: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,13,14,19,20,25,26,28,29,30,66TD-LTE: 38,39,40,41,46WCDMA: 1,2,5,8GSM/GPRS: GSM-850, E-GSM-900, DCS-1800, PCS-1900Location: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS |
SIM | One eSIM5 and one Nano SIM Note: AT&T locked device will not support eSIM |
Processor | Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 855 Mobile Platform optimized for the dual-screen experience |
Connections | USB-C® 3.1 |
Storage and memory | 128GB or 256GB UFS 3.0 of internal storage6 6GB DRAM |
Audio | Mono speaker, Dual Mic noise suppression and echo cancellation optimized for productive use in all postures Best-in-class Full Duplex communication for voice calls in hands-free mode Audio formats supported: 3GP, MP3, MP4, MKV, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC, TS, AMR, FLAC, MID, MIDI, RTTL, RTX, OTA, IMY Qualcomm® aptX™ |
Software | Microsoft built-in applications:Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office Lens, PDF Reader, and moreMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft TeamsMicrosoft OneDriveMicrosoft EdgeMicrosoft OneNoteMicrosoft To DoMicrosoft NewsMicrosoft AuthenticatorMicrosoft Bing SearchIntune Company PortalLinkedInMicrosoft Solitaire CollectionSurface Audio Microsoft Surface Duo UI core features:Dual screen windowingAdaptive modesApp GroupsMicrosoft 365 FeedDynamic dockUniversal SearchAdaptive CameraMicrosoft SwiftKey Adaptive KeyboardYour Phone Companion – Link to Windows Other preinstalled apps:Google SearchGoogle AssistantGoogle CalendarGoogle DriveGoogle DuoGoogle PhotosGoogle Play Movies & TVGoogle Play StoreGoogle MapsChromeGmailYouTubeYouTube MusicContactsMessagesPhoneFilesClockCalculatorSound recorderSpotify (Unlocked)HBO MAX (AT&T)AT&T TV (AT&T)My AT&T (AT&T)Call Protect (AT&T)Amazon Shopping (AT&T)NBA (AT&T) Operating System: Android™ 10 |
Sensors | Dual AccelerometerDual GyroscopeDual MagnetometerDual Ambient Light SensorProximity SensorHall SensorFingerprint Sensor |
Video playback | Video Playback Formats8: MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265(HEVC), AVI, WMV, TS, 3GP, FLV, WEBM Wireless: Chromecast support Wired: DisplayPort over USB-C®. Supports video out when connecting via HDMI Adapter* |
Exterior | Exterior Material: Corning® Gorilla® Glass Color: Glacier |
Security and authentication | Biometric lock type: Fingerprint reader (1:100K FAR <3% FRR)Lock type: Swipe, PIN, password Security applications pre-loaded on device: Microsoft Authenticator |
Language support | All supported languages (Android™ 10) |
Pen and inking | Supports all in market generations of Surface Slim Pen, Surface Pen and Surface Hub 2 Pen*Simultaneous Pen and touch are supported |
What’s in the box | Surface Duo Surface Duo Bumper (Color: Glacier) Surface Duo USB-C® Power Supply (18w) Quick Start Guide Warranty and Compliance Guide SIM Ejector tool |
Warranty | 1-year limited hardware warranty |
The Microsoft Store Promise for Surface | 60-day return policy90 days of free technical phone support Free virtual workshops and training |
I can’t wait until September 10! I pre-ordered mine yesterday!