By Stephen Nellis
(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday that Surface Duo, its dual-screen smartphone running Alphabet Inc’s Android operating system, would start at $1399 and reach outlets starting September 10.
Surface Duo folds like a book. Unlike devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, which use a special glass to create a bachelor screen, the Duo has two classic screens separated by a hinge but synchronized with paints together.
At a pre-announcement press convention for Surface Duo, Microsoft executives placed the phone as a painting tool with their productivity apps, just as many commercial users use dual-monitor configurations with PCs.
In the company’s chat groups app, for example, a video chat occupies one screen while the other screen presents cats. In the Microsoft Outlook messaging app, click a link in the context of an email to open the link on the opposite screen, so that the user can continue to read or reply to the email.
“I’m not looking to reinvent the phone,” Panos Panay, Microsoft’s product manager, told reporters. “But I think it’s a better way to get things done.”
Dual screen settings also allow users to pair non-Microsoft apps, such as running social media Twitter and Instagram appearance. Panay said one of the favorite combinations of Top Microsoft Executive Satya Nadella used the Kindle app from Amazon.com to read books while taking notes with a pencil in the Microsoft OneNote app on the other screen.
Panay said Microsoft chose Google’s operational formula because it would give users the great android mobile app eco formula. “Having Play Store is essential,” he said.
Microsoft said pre-orders for the device would start Wednesday on its own site, AT-T Inc and BestBuy Co Inc.
The devices will work on at-T wireless networks, Verizon Communications Inc and T-Mobile US Inc.
The device has no 5G connectivity and will only be available in the U.S. At launch. Microsoft has not given any timetables for other markets.
(Reporting through Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing via Leslie Adler)