Microsoft Duo and Neo

[rittchard]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/2/2089 ... lease-date

I happened to catch some of this reveal in the morning, introducing two new foldable products from Microsoft. These are not quite the same as the Samsung foldable, as there is a clear seam in the middle and they are touted as two screen devices. I think the key difference between previous attempts was that it was a slim attractive form factor. I thought the tech looked fairly impressive as they showed it.

But then the guy speaking, trying so hard to invoke Steve Jobs it was laughable, started talking about use cases and it just kind of lost me there. Every few minutes he'd say how beautiful it was, and in all fairness it looked pretty cool. Then my favorite part, a lady comes out to talk about all the productivity enhancements that would come with such a two screen device using a new Windows 10 X! She also tried the dramatic pause techniques and it was equally abysmal and embarrassing. Now it's possible I missed the point, but then she goes to show how incredible it is when she starts some app on the left screen, and then she needs more room so she drags it over and uses BOTH screens for more workspace! The way she described it was like the most innovative thing ever, but all I could think was how is this different from a little known product called WINDOWS. One a single screen, I can (OMG) have half the screen be one app and reshape another on the second half. If I need more room on the first app I can click on maximize and lo and behold it's using THE WHOLE SCREEN. This is basically what Windows has done from day one lol. But now I'm supposed to be excited because it's on two little screens? It's possible I missed something but that's essentially what I got out of it.

Then next he does a dramatic pause (ala Jobs) like he's saying goodbye but oh wait one more thing. THE PHONE. But...he tells us... it's not just a phone it's a SURFACE. At this point I'm more intrigued because I'm envisioning a Surface tablet that fits in my pocket and unfolds to full Windows Surface functionality. Until he tells us it's actually an Android phone. Again this is right after claiming it is 100% a Surface. Not to mention the form factor looks kind of chunky big even in phone mode but that's beside the point. How is this better than the Samsung Folding thing? Oh... and none of this is coming out for at least another YEAR.

So I was left wondering what the heck. What seemed cool on the surface (pun intended), upon reflection seems to be more of a sad mess without any real purpose. The laptop had some cleverness to it but having a tablet that folds in half really doesn't help that much, does it? The 2-in-1 products essentially do this already, perhaps they are just too heavy? The phone that converts to a usable tablet seems like a more interesting use case, but as I said to a friend of mine, it has to be small and light enough as a phone without compromising battery life, etc to be enticing. And when it unfolds to a tablet it should be a true full tablet.

I haven't written this off 100% yet as they have a full year to impress me, but right now I'm kind of left wondering who this is supposed to appeal to.