By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 26th, 2024
Microsoft announced a new Android-based foldable smartphone, a foldable laptop running Windows 10X, earbuds and other offerings – all within its Surface line of devices.
Microsoft Surface event started on a big note with the tech giant unveiling some impressive line of hardware. The most eye-grabbing announcements were the company’s new foldable smartphone Surface Duo running on Android and the Surface Earbuds running on Android.
Company CEO Satya Nadella kickstarted the event while Surface chief Panos Panay took the wraps off from the new Surface offerings. Well, let’s take a look at some of the most-important devices unveiled at the Surface event. So without holding our anxiety any further, let’s take a look at all the devices.
Surface Neo
Microsoft’s Surface Neo is the company’s new dual-screen laptop offering which sets a new benchmark in the PC/Laptop game. At just 5.6 mm thickness, the device packs two 9-inch screens connected via a 360-degree hinge giving it smooth foldability. The Surface Noe comes along with the Surface Slim Pen attached magnetically at the back of the screen. Besides, the laptop also has a detachable keyboard attached to the back of the screen.
The laptop looks best at multi-tasking things allowing users to perform two different tasks at one time. Thus, if you are working on your presentation, you can still browse through your emails without shutting/minimizing anything. To power this multi-tasking, Surface Neo comes with the Intel Lakefield processor and custom graphics engine.
The Surface Neo will run Windows 10x, a special version of Windows 10 built specifically for foldable devices. The Surface Neo will launch next year in 2020.
Surface Duo
The Surface Duo is a smaller pocketable version of the Surface Neo and fall in the smartphone segment. The Surface Duo has two 5.6-inch displays offering 360-degree rotation. The Surface Duo also emphasizes multi-tasking allowing two different screens to run different apps at a given time.
On the other hand, one screen of the Surface Duo can also work as a keyboard or gaming controller. The handset is powered with a Snapdragon 855 processor. More interesting is it runs on the Android operating system skinned heavily to look alike the Windows 10x offering.
Surface Laptop 3
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 comes in two different offerings: 13-inch and 15-inch. It has some good changes over its predecessor. The Surface Laptop 3 comes with 20% larger trackpad, fast-charging batteries, studio microphones, AMD graphics card, and the latest Intel processor. Panny bets that this laptop is three times faster than a Macbook Air.
Besides, the Surface Laptop 3 comes with SSD storage, a USB-C port, a USB-A port. The device will be available in the market by October 22 for a price of $999 and $1199 in three different color options of “Sandstone Yellow,” “Poppy Red,” and “Glacier Blue.”
Surface Earbuds
Earbuds are the hottest trend currently in the headphones/music industry and Microsoft too joins the bandwagon by unveiling its Surface Earbuds. Getting rid of those dangling chords, the Surface Earbuds are not any ordinary earbuds. They host a range of smart features.
The Surface Earbuds come with a deep integration of Microsoft Office’s 365 software. Thus, you can dictate to the Word application to write a document or dictate a PowerPoint slide deck to change the slides just by tapping the buds.
With other swiping and tapping gestures, one can also open apps like Spotify and control them. The Surface Earbuds come with 8 hours of battery life per complete charge priced at $249.
Besides, other major announcements from Microsoft include the Surface Slim Pen, the Surface Pro X, and the Windows 10X.