(gears whirring)
- Coming up, we go on a detailed tour of the new Surface Duo
as well as many of the things that set it apart.
So today I'm joined by Vineet Thuvara,
joining us from the Surface labs today,
a member of the Surface team.
Congratulations on Surface Duo's launch
and welcome back to Mechanics. - Thank you, Jeremy.
It's fantastic to be back again.
- So Vineet, you've played a pivotal role
in terms of engineering the integrated hardware
and software experiences.
And it really represents a lot of firsts.
It's the first dual screen foldable device for Microsoft
that combines the best
of Surface's signature hardware design
and Microsoft productivity experiences.
And it runs on top of an Android operating system,
making it Microsoft's first Android device.
And it just 4.8 millimeters unfolded,
it's the thinnest device in its category.
And I'm sure there are lots of other engineering firsts
that really went into making this device even possible.
- In fact, so many Jeremy.
We have an amazing team,
literally across Microsoft around the world
that came together to make Surface Duo happen.
I'm incredibly humbled and blessed
to have been part of this journey.
There isn't a single part on Duo
that we have not labored over,
from the displays and the hinge to the software experiences
all the way to finding the right center of gravity
for the device as you use Duo in multiple modes.
- And the hardware and device experience, I think,
really brings the Surface Duo to life.
- It does.
As an engineering team,
we set out to build Duo as the ultimate intersection
of hardware and software experience.
And a big part of that effort
also represents a lot of development and collaboration
with Google and Qualcomm.
In fact, as an Android 10 device,
it'll still feel familiar with the full Google Play services
that run alongside your favorite Microsoft apps,
pre-installed on this device.
So it's the best of Microsoft and Android.
- Right, so I think, in some ways,
that level of partnership is groundbreaking in itself.
Now, every Surface device, though,
has something iconic about it.
In this case, it's the dual screens.
So what was the significance there of that decision?
- The genesis is this idea that we had.
With Duo, we wanted to build a device
that would offer the perfect balance
of productivity and mobility,
roughly within the footprint of your phone.
Most of us multitask to get what we need to get done,
but the phone form factor with a single screen,
it's not optimized for doing multiple things at once.
So we ended up designing a dual screen device
that was foldable and compact enough to fit in your pocket,
that can do everything a phone
and a portable smart device can do, and much, much more.
When we focused on building
the most delightful Microsoft experience possible,
the Android operating system also allows us
to reach as many people as possible with this device.
In our user research and ergonomic studies on dual screens,
we saw a significant decrease in the mental effort required
to multitask when you are actually using a dual screen.
- And I can really see why,
because I've been using the device now for a few weeks,
and it's really versatile
with all the different device postures
that you can use it in. - The different postures
are part of our signature productivity experience.
For example, in book mode, you can drag and drop content
between certain apps
and also span an app from one display to the next.
You can join online meetings on one screen
while taking notes on the other.
Its built-in camera with stream at 1080p video conferencing
in Microsoft Teams or Skype
and the Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard spans across the screen
to allow for comfortable two-hand typing in compose mode.
A lot of work has gone into the ergonomics of this device.
When it's in book mode,
you can comfortably type using one thumb
with the keyboard indented towards one side.
You can also do full canvas note-taking
with natural inking experience using Surface Pen on OneNote.
And using our SDK,
developers can optimize app experiences for dual screen.
In Outlook, for example,
you can quickly drag emails across both the screens.
- And those enhanced apps,
they bring out the most of Surface Duo's foldable design,
but, now you showed us pen and inking,
and that's really a signature experience
when you think about Surface running on Windows,
but how did you bring that over to an Android OS?
- Jeremy, you know, I love that question
because designing pen and inking experience
is close to my heart,
having worked in that area for many years
in the Surface team.
We basically added a digitizer layer
that hooked into Microsoft end protocols.
We use Microsoft's proprietary G5 controller
to enable seamless touch experience and inking experience
along with two screens and various device postures.
And we also developed
a new machine learning pen-tip based algorithm
to ensure the pen can interact with Duo
while in hover mode.
Outlook Email is a great example.
- And that's great, but what other experiences, then,
light up in terms of the various postures
that you can use it in? - In fact, many.
It's all part of how we think about making Surface Duo
a productivity device.
For example, in tent mode, you can watch a video.
And with our combined hardware and software design,
you see a deeply integrated Microsoft launcher.
And of course, you can sync the Duo with your Duo phone app
to use it with your Windows 10 device.
- So really a lot of versatility,
but what were some of the engineering challenges, then,
in building this?
- By far, one of the top engineering challenges
that we had to face was to achieve
the unfolded thickness of this device,
which at 4.8 millimeters left us with very little space.
If you subtract the display and the cover glass,
only about 3.7 millimeters is left
for the internal componentry,
from the actual motherboard to the batteries,
appropriate cabling for transfer of power and data
and the hinge itself.
Of course, as we addressed the space challenge,
we also needed to make sure that Duo was robust
and reflected the premium feel
that you would expect from a Surface device.
- Right, so what design decisions, then,
did the team end up making here?
- We literally had to re-engineer our manufacturing process
at a micro level with positioned robotics
so that we could carefully optimize space and durability.
You will notice that, with the dynamic 360-degree hinge,
the screen is on both sides of the device
and it totally redefines the concept
of front or back of the device.
We used Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides, featuring 2.5D glass,
which is ultra thin at 0.4 millimeters.
We combined this with a polymer stainless steel
and aluminum composite frame construction
to provide strength while keeping the overall weight
at just 250 grams.
But core to everything
is our dual architecture and mechanical design.
Each screen has a PixelSense AMOLED 1800x1350 resolution
that can go into illuminance of up to 600 nits
for improved outdoor visibility.
And with a combined 8.1-inch display unfolded,
it is larger than the iPad mini.
- So how does the dual screen architecture, then,
impact the internals?
- So there's a great engineering story here.
Dual topology
is an important part of the innovation for Surface Duo
and how we have synchronized two visually perfect displays
to work as one.
This dual topology was also critical
to helping us pack everything that we needed
inside the device
while delivering an overall device experience.
In fact, to customize the dual topology architecture,
we developed a single motherboard architecture
that distributed across both sides of device,
increasing the density of the electronics
while improving overall thermal performance.
Surface Duo drove us to split the battery
into asymmetric scales,
requiring us to independently charge
and charge balance two cells.
The architecture on the Duo allows left and right cells
to also independently power systems on either half,
and also come together to act as one battery
to meet the demands of the process
as it runs multiple apps simultaneously.
- I can really see how these decisions, then,
would help optimize for space,
but what should you do to coordinate, then,
both sides of the Duo?
- So making Duo posture aware
was a unique area of innovation for us, too.
The dual accelerometers, dual hall sensors,
work in unison to precisely identify the device posture.
Of course, the microphone itself is a sound sensor
and the dual microphones provide for optimal audio pickup
and noise cancellation,
whether you are video conferencing in book mode,
or you're making a phone call
when the device is folded over.
- Okay, so performance and mobility are packed in,
really by design.
But given that we've looked at the internal componentry,
now might be the time to actually start talking
about the specs of the device.
- Sure.
As we brought Duo to market,
we went with the time-tested
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor,
optimized for dual screen productivity.
It has six gigs of RAM,
designed to meet the needs
of demanding productivity-based experiences.
We also give you a choice
between 128-gig and 256-gig storage, both running UFS 3.0.
Duo has integrated Bluetooth 5.0
to easily connect your favorite accessories.
It also uses WiFi 5, along with 4G LTE advanced.
Carrier connectivity is via nano SIM,
and it uses USBC port for charging
and to connect to accessories.
- So how does it do then, on power?
- Great question.
Duo actually gives you an all-day battery life.
For example, you can play 15.5 hours
of local video playback.
It also supports fast charging
via the included 18-watt power supply.
- Okay, so let's move on to the hinge
because I know the Surface team
is known for its hinge design,
and most famously, with things like Surface Book.
But the Duo's thin profile
must take hinge design to a whole new level.
So what I like
is that it's a full friction 360-degree hinge,
unlike the 180-degree devices that we see in market today.
- The hinge is pivotal to Duo's experience.
And we spent a lot of time
solving for UX flexibility and robustness.
We optimized the torque profile
to make sure the opening of the device was easy.
And once it opened,
it had constant friction all the way 360 degrees
to make sure it's seamless to fold and unfold.
Also, when you hold the device straight,
it holds up straight and does not flip flop.
We developed four custom profile micro gears
with offset idlers in the hinge that helps with timing.
56 micro co-ax cable bundles
interconnect the system through the hinges.
And each of these cables
comprise strands thinner than human hair.
- So this is pretty advanced stuff,
but if we step back a little,
it's fair to say that there's a baseline of engineering
that really goes into making Surface Duo a Surface device,
especially when it comes to things
like manageability and security.
- There is.
With all this mobility and productivity with Surface Duo,
defense in depth is built in by design.
On the edge of the Duo,
you will find an enterprise-grade
biometric fingerprint sensor for multifactor authentication.
What sets it apart even more is what's on the inside.
It's a layered approach to security
from the chip to the cloud.
From Microsoft UEFI firmware,
dm-crypt drive encryption for storage,
system updates from Microsoft,
built-in information rights management,
and SSL 3.0 for data transmission
at both the data and network layer.
- Right, and it's also easy to deploy and manage Surface Duo
using Microsoft Endpoint Manager
or your favorite MDM solution
with flexible management to suit your needs.
- That's right.
For example, if you want to prevent data sharing
between managed apps and unmanaged personal apps,
you can do that.
This means if a user tries to copy data
from a work app and paste into personal app,
it can be stopped.
Or if you've designated Duo as a company-owned device,
you can get complete control over the installed apps
with the option to full device wipe and more.
- And if you want to learn more
about how to manage Surface Duo,
you can check out aka.ms/SurfaceDuoManagement.
So thanks, Vineet, again for joining us today.
It's been a pleasure, but where can people go to learn more?
- First of all,
I'm happy to announce that Surface Duo is available today.
To learn more, go to surface.com.
Also, if you're a developer,
we invite you to start building enhanced app
for Surface Duo that takes advantage
of the dual screen experience, at aka.ms/SurfaceDuoDev.
Thank you for having me. - Thanks again, Vineet.
And of course, keep checking back to Microsoft Mechanics
for the latest updates.
Hit subscribe if you haven't already yet.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.
(gadget beeping)
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