Microsoft Surface Duo developer year in review

Hakon Strande

Hello dual-screen developers,

It was over a year ago – 2nd October 2019 – that Panos introduced the Surface Duo to the world. In the months since, we have shared a number of milestones with you leading up to the product launch (and beyond):

January 31st, 2020

First preview of the Surface Duo SDK

February 13th, 2020

Microsoft 365 Developer Day

March 26th, 2020

New dual-screen controls added to the SDK

May 2020

Microsoft Build

August 12th, 2020

Surface Duo officially announced and pre-orders began

September 10th, 2020

Surface Duo ships!

September 22nd, 2020

Information session and workshops at droidcon 2020

We’re incredibly excited to see the Surface Duo released, and thankful for the support we’ve seen from app developers.

Surface Duo

2020 blog post breakdown

Throughout the year, we’ve shared information to help enhance your apps for dual-screen support, no matter what developer tools and languages you prefer. Here are some of the highlights:

Kotlin and Java

April 2nd – Orientation, Spanning, and Insets

April 20thHandling pen events

July 2ndWorking with the hinge angle

July 30thDual-screen controls update

August 27thTwoNote sample app

September 1stJetpack Compose

October 29thCamera sample

November 19thFluent UI controls enhanced for Surface Duo

December 10thDual-screen control library beta release

Web

11th June – Polyfills to experiment with dual-screen web experiences

3rd September – Dual-screen CSS and JavaScript

24th September – Origin trials

15th October – Dual-screen FoldShip web game

Xamarin

19th March – Build dual-screen apps with Xamarin

20th May – Bring apps to Surface Duo with Xamarin

20th August – Microsoft Learn Xamarin module

Flutter

14th May – Get started with Flutter and Surface Duo

18th June – Enhancing Flutter for dual-screens

1st October – Flutter Flokk port to Surface Duo

React Native

30th April – React Native

8th September – Dual-screen navigation with React Native

Unity

16th April – Dual-screen games with Unity

Uno Platform

29th September – Build a pixel-perfect Uno app

Hybrid

17th December – Cordova plugin demo

The Surface Duo Android emulator was updated throughout the year, including the addition of 3D posture simulation in the October release.

We also shared case studies from OneDrive and Microsoft News, as well as the launch of Sketch 360. Sketch 360 on a Surface Duo

Feedback

We’d love to hear what opportunities you see for dual-screen apps in the year ahead. Please reach to out to the team using our feedback forum or message us on Twitter @surfaceduodev.

We look forward to working with you to enhance your apps for dual-screen devices in 2021. Have a happy and safe new year 🎉

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