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Microsoft-Andromeda-Feature

Rumors that Microsoft is working on a dual-screen device, codenamed Andromeda, accept popped up online for years, along with various leaked reports, Bone references, and patent grants. Now, co-ordinate to withal another leak, we know it'southward also supposed to be a small device, presumably of a size comparable to a smart phone or small tablet.

That's the give-and-take from the Verge, which claims to have seen a Microsoft internal document that describes the new Surface Pocket (our descriptor, not Microsoft's). The email claims "It's a new pocketable Surface device form factor that brings together innovative new hardware and software experiences to create a truly personal and versatile computing feel," and it'due south said to look like the 3D concept art created by David Breyer.

The trouble with these renders is they don't actually bear witness what kind of problem this device is intended to solve. Ars Technica has a related writeup with a discussion of a swivel API that tin can detect the position the device'due south screen(southward) are in (airtight, concave, convex, apartment, or total) and presumably alter the function of the device to match it. Well and good. Simply what'southward the actual device supposed to practise, be, or represent? In the by, the SurfaceSEEAMAZON_ET_82 See Amazon ET commerce family essentially combined an OEM ass-kicking with aspirational product designs. "Build it like THIS," Microsoft essentially said, when it unveiled its Surface and Surface Pro. And between Surface and Intel's ultrabook initiative, PC laptop manufacturers unquestionably responded. Devices have go markedly thinner and lighter, with higher resolution displays and longer bombardment life, even if yous'll pay through the olfactory organ for all of these disparate capabilities.

Retaining command of the OS gives Microsoft some flexibility to arroyo and congenital-in UI responses that a company similar ZTE didn't have when it congenital the Axon M, just all of our criticisms of dual-screen handheld devices all the same use here. Specifically, there's precious little benefit to doubling upwards on the nigh delicate, expensive, and power-consuming component in the device. And more than that, there's the pocket-size problem that Microsoft isn't in the handheld business anymore. Presumably these are going to be standard Windows 10 devices, only with LTE connectivity presumably baked in. So it's a telephone-sized device you can't make calls on. At present granted, with usage shifts in devices, non very many people make phone calls these days — but information technology still seems a little baroque to think that trend has shifted so dramatically, people now buy telephone-sized devices they tin can't make phone calls on without viewing this as a loss.

So there's that last uncomfortable question: Why would I desire one of these when I've got a jail cell phone already? Does Microsoft recall the earth is so drastic for pocket-size Windows devices, anybody would rather accept a chunky brick with a fold-out bifurcated screen?

Your guess is as expert as mine. And it'southward anyone'southward judge why a product like this would exist in the first place given that Microsoft has firmly, unambiguously, and completely removed itself from smartphone manufacturing. Half dozen years ago, Microsoft helped testify the globe what PCs could look like. Now it wants to practice the same for product categories it no longer participates in. We won't exist surprised if this product never sees the calorie-free of day.

Feature image past David Breyer via Twitter