Microsoft Surface Duo 2 launched with major upgrades over its predecessor

Earlier this week, Microsoft organized a hardware-focussed event. In this event, the Redmond based tech giant unveiled a wide range of devices. One of the devices to launch at this event was the Surface Duo 2, the foldable smartphone. The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is a dual-screen smartphone. It will succeed the first-generation foldable phone, Microsoft Surface Duo.

Beside this, the tech giant also launched a variety of new accessories. These includes the Surface Slim Pen 2, Surface Adaptive Kit, Ocean Plastic Mouse and Microsoft Modern USB Type-C Headset. Additionally, the company will be also offering updates on the existing Surface Pro 7+ and Surface Pro X.

Microsoft Surface Duo 2: Price and Availability

As mentioned above, the all-new Microsoft Duo 2 launches as the successor to the first-gen Microsoft Surface Duo. At the launch event, the Redmond based tech giant has confirmed that the Microsoft Duo 2 will be made available on October 8. Furthermore, the company will be offering the Surface Duo 2 at a starting price of USD 1499 which is approximately Rs 110600. To recall, this is USD 100 which is roughly Rs 7400 more than the first-generation Duo screen smartphone. The initial version of Microsoft Duo was launched at a starting price of USD 1399 which is approximately Rs 103200.

In detail, the base variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is price at USD 1499 which is approximately Rs 110600. The 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage variant is available with a price tag of USD 1599 which is approximately Rs 118040. The top-end variant of Microsoft Surface Duo 2 comes with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. It comes with a price tag of USD 1799 which is approximately Rs 132805.

Microsoft is offering this Surface Duo 2, the foldable smartphone in two colour options. These colours include the Obsidian and Glacier colours. Meanwhile, the tech giant has not revealed whether this foldable mobile phone will be made available in India or not.

Microsoft Surface Duo 2: Specifications and Features

The all-new dual screen phone comes with a list of improvements over the original Surface Duo. To recall, the first-generation Microsoft Duo was more like a concept phone in the market. Although, there aren’t any major design changes in the latest foldable phone.

• Display:

Microsoft Surface Duo 2 comes running with Google’s Android 11 Operating system out of the box. The device supports a dual 5.8-inch Pixel Sense displays. Combining, these displays make a larger 8.3-inch viewing experience, when the device is unfolded. Additionally, it also gets a glance bar which lets users to check all the notifications whenever the smartphone is folded. Using this Glance Bar, users can also check the battery charging levels while charging, without unfolding the phone.

• Hardware:

As for the hardware, the Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 chipset powers this Microsoft Surface Duo 2 smartphone. This is a significant upgrade over the Snapdragon 855 SoC. To recall, this Snapdragon 855 chipset powers the first-generation Microsoft Surface Duo, foldable smartphone.

• Camera:

Regarding camera optics, the all-new Microsoft Surface Duo 2 comes with a triple rear camera setup. The 16-megapixel primary camera comes with an f/2.2 ultra-wide lens. The secondary camera is a 12-megapixel shooter with an f/1.7 wide-angle lens. Additionally, the secondary camera also gets optical image stabilization (OIS). The third camera is a 12-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 telephoto lens. Similar to the secondary camera, the tertiary camera also comes with support for optical image stabilization (OIS).

In this camera department, this is a major upgrade over the single rear camera is the original model. The rear camera also accompanies a time-of-flight (ToF) Sensor and an LED flash. For selfies, the Duo 2 comes with a 12-megapixel selfie camera at the front. Also Read – Asus ZenBook Duo series launches with 11th Gen Intel Chipset

• Connectivity:

For connectivity options, the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 includes 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/ A-GPS. It also gets NFC, and a USB Type-C port. Additionally, the smartphone also comes with a dedicated cover. This can attach to the Surface Slim Pen to enhance the user experience. Furthermore, for security, the Microsoft Duo 2 comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.

The dual-screen Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is designed in such a way that two apps can run simultaneously. Additionally, Microsoft also claims that the company is working with various developers and gaming channels. This will allow to bring more than 150 games which will be optimised for the dual screen. Some of the games include Asphalt Legends 9, Modern Combat 5, and Dungeon Hunter 5. The company has also promised to come up with more optimizations. With these optimizations, the smartphone will allow sharing information between two screens. It will also allow spreading a single app across them.