Surface Duo Blog

Build great Android experiences, from AI to foldable and large-screens.

Latest posts

Noteworthy new Surface Duo app sample
Aug 27, 2020
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Noteworthy new Surface Duo app sample

Kristen Halper
Kristen Halper

Hello Microsoft Surface Duo developers, Parker and I are just about to finish up our internship on the Surface Duo Developer Experience team and we’ve had a great time! Throughout the past 12 weeks, we’ve worked on building sample apps, contributing to documentation, supporting internal and external customers, and just learning a lot about working with Android and the Surface Duo! Before we leave, we wanted to give you one last sample that highlights how to enhance your apps for dual-screen devices. Since the Surface Duo is productivity-focused, we decided to integrate various dual-screen features (includin...

Microsoft Surface Duo developer training now on Microsoft Learn
Aug 20, 2020
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Microsoft Surface Duo developer training now on Microsoft Learn

Craig Dunn
Craig Dunn

Hello Xamarin developers, This week we have added a new module to the Customize and add advanced features to Xamarin.Forms apps learning path on Microsoft Learn to help developers build apps for Surface Duo. Learn how to build apps for Surface Duo The new module is called Build dual-screen Xamarin.Forms apps by using TwoPaneView. Reading through the material, following the exercises, and answering the quiz questions can take about an hour to complete. The module covers: The module includes source code as a starting point (and also to help if you get stuck). ...

Microsoft Surface Duo is here
Aug 12, 2020
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Microsoft Surface Duo is here

Guy Merin
Guy Merin

Hello Android developers, It’s here – the official product launch announcement If you’ve been waiting to get started with dual-screen app development, now is the time! Pre-order your Surface Duo today, download the emulator, and start developing with your favorite Android developer tools. All developers welcome! Your existing Android apps will work just as expected and out of the box, however, you can now utilize this new form factor to enhance your app. Surface Duo-enhanced apps can be built with any tools that target Android development. If you’re familiar with any of the following languages an...

Dual-screen devices love widgets
Aug 6, 2020
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Dual-screen devices love widgets

Craig Dunn
Craig Dunn

Hello Android developers! In an earlier post, we talked about the steps to bring your app to Microsoft Surface Duo. One great approach to get ready for dual-screen devices like the Surface Duo is to implement Android features that work well on two screens, like app widgets. Widgets are particularly great for dual-screens because they can remain visible on one screen even as you use an app on the other. You can also be creative with the size options for your widget due to the increased screen area. In today’s post, we’ll walk through a widget example for the Surface Duo, which can run on any Andr...

New dual-screen controls preview
Jul 30, 2020
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New dual-screen controls preview

Cristian Verdes
Cristian Verdes

Hello Microsoft Surface Duo Android developers! This week we’ve updated and refactored our controls to help you build dual-screen applications with less work and more functionality. The classes in the previous release of our library are still available: However, we have re-packaged the controls into separate libraries so they’re easier to add only what you need: Each of the new controls are described below and you can refer to the updated documentation for more information. You can add them to your project by updating your gradle dependencies a...

The Dual-Screen Developer Experience: Interview with Tobias Scholze
Jul 23, 2020
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The Dual-Screen Developer Experience: Interview with Tobias Scholze

Hakon Strande
Hakon Strande

Hi Android Developers! In today’s post, we are sharing our recent interview with Tobias Scholze, a senior software engineer for iOS B2B applications in a Munich-based platform solution agency, to learn more about his experience exploring the value of a dual-screen mobile devices like the Microsoft Surface Duo. Here are some resources to learn more about Tobias: GitHub: https://github.com/tscholze Twitter: https://twitter.com/tobonaut LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias-scholze-4301b5187/ Tobias created an app called #rTsd (Road To Surface Duo) to learn more about what it means to have ...

Microsoft Surface Duo Emulator updated with Jetpack Window Manager preview
Jul 16, 2020
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Microsoft Surface Duo Emulator updated with Jetpack Window Manager preview

Guy Merin
Guy Merin

Hello Android dual-screen developers! Today we're excited to share the latest Surface Duo emulator preview. Since our last update, we’ve been busy incorporating feedback and adding new features. What’s new in updated build 2020.710.3: You can download the latest build for Windows, macOS, or Linux at the Microsoft Download Center. Additional setup instructions are included in the SDK documentation. We recommend that you uninstall the previous version before installing the updated build. Microsoft support for WindowManager in Surface Duo The Android Jetpack WindowManager addition has recently ...

New Microsoft Surface Duo app samples
Jul 9, 2020
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New Microsoft Surface Duo app samples

Parker Schroeder
Parker Schroeder

Hello Microsoft Surface Duo developers! Kristen and I are interns on the Surface Duo Developer Experience team, and we’re excited to announce two new Microsoft Surface Duo dual-screen samples available that embody some of our dual-screen UX patterns. You can find them on GitHub at github.com/microsoft/surface-duo-app-samples. Photo Editor As the name suggests, this sample is a simple photo editing app. It demonstrates the companion pane UX pattern and how to take advantage of drag and drop on dual screens. The Photo Editor app lets users perform three main actions: Select Although the application provid...

Hinge Angle on Microsoft Surface Duo
Jul 2, 2020
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Hinge Angle on Microsoft Surface Duo

Joy Liu
Joy Liu

Hello Surface Duo developers! In our previous blog post, we mentioned how to adjust the hinge angle in the Surface Duo emulator. Today we are going to present some ideas about how to take advantage of this unique behavior of the Surface Duo device. As we discussed in How to Bring Your Android Apps to Surface Duo, your Android apps will work on Surface Duo just as it does on any Android device. But how can your app benefit from the dual-screen and the special hinge posture? To give you a visible picture, we created a Hinge Angle Sample in Kotlin, which contains a draw board supporting Microsoft S...