14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s very own Surface Duo is now available for pre-order, with shipping projected to begin on September 10.
And while the company has already shared most information about the device earlier this week, more tidbits are revealed as we get closer to the moment when the Surface Duo would finally end up in the hands of the first customer.
One very important detail about the Surface Duo is that it will be offered with an unlocked bootloader, which can only be a good thing from so many perspectives.
First and foremost, as XDA notes, an unlocked bootloader makes it possible for third-party Android developers to create custom ROMs that could then be installed on the Surface Duo. In other words, the default Android experience that Microsoft offers, and which relies on the Microsoft Launcher itself, can be customized by users themselves.
The second-generation Surface Duo
And then, an unlocked bootloader allows for so many custom upgrades that would be created by the community. One such idea is a digital stereo sound solution, as the Surface Duo only comes with mono sound.
Needless to say, Microsoft itself can win a lot from this decision. If the Android developer community indeed starts investing time and resources in building custom ROMs and mods for the Surface Duo, the software giant can use all these ideas to improve the device on the next-generation models and thus create a product that better matches users’ expectations.
Microsoft has more or less suggested that the Surface Duo is only at its first generation, so a second model is all but confirmed now. Of course, guessing when it’s supposed to come is still something that’s impossible right now, but the Surface Duo is here in the long term with more massive improvements to be added as the device evolves.