14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s Surface Duo is now available for pre-order, and the device is projected to begin shipping on September 10, with pricing starting at $1,399.
Needless to say, the Surface Duo is a key product for Microsoft, and it’s all for several reasons. First of all, it marks Microsoft’s return to the mobile hardware market after the company previously killed off the Lumia device lineup and Windows 10 Mobile.
Then, it also represents the software giant’s debut in the Android ecosystem, as this is the very first Microsoft device that runs Google’s operating system. But at the end of the day, the Surface Duo is supposed to allow Microsoft to compete in a new category of devices with a form factor that most people are yet to discover.
While quite a lot has been said about the Surface Duo in the last few weeks, here are three little details that many people actually seem to miss.
Mono speaker
While most high-end phones running either Android or iOS come with stereo speakers, this isn’t the case of the Surface Duo.
Despite coming with a $1,399 starting price tag for the base model, Surface Duo actually uses a single bottom-firing speaker, so depending on how you hold it in hand, this might be quite an issue.
For traditional phones, mono speakers mounted at the bottom are quite a setback mostly when playing games or watching videos in landscape, as fingers typically cover them and thus reduce the volume and affect the sound quality.
This is something that needs to be tested on the Surface Duo, but at first glance, the lack of stereo speakers isn’t necessarily something that you expect on such an expensive device.
No wireless charging
Surface Duo comes with a 3,577 mAh dual battery, which means that it should technically get you through the day quite easily, obviously depending on how you use the device.
A USB Type-C connector is responsible for recharging the batteries, and Microsoft says a battery charger with 18W is available in the box. The company doesn’t specifically mention this, but the 18W charging means the Surface Duo comes with fast charging too.
On the other hand, one feature that the Surface Duo is missing is wireless charging, something which again is quite awkward given the price of the device. As a side note, Samsung devices come with wireless charging, iPhones do too, so the Surface Duo is one expensive product that lacks such functionality
Three years of software updates
Surface Duo ships with Android 10 pre-installed, but Microsoft promises that the update to Android 11 will be offered rather soon, shortly after the operating system is finalized.
At the same time, the software giant says that Surface Duo will be provided with updates and security patches for three full years, which means that technically, the device should even be updated to Android 14.
This is certainly good news for those who want to stick with the Surface Duo in the long term, and Microsoft joins a group of companies that offer three years of security updates for their devices, including Google, OnePlus, and more recently Samsung – previously, the South Korean-based phone maker only offered two major Android updates to its devices before sticking with security patches exclusively.
The good news is that the Surface Duo is almost certainly at its first generation, which means than an upgraded model is very likely to get the go-ahead in the coming years. In other words, we should expect Microsoft to do better on the second Duo, especially as the company will already be an established name in the Android hardware market.
