New Tech Shout

Microsoft Surface Neo

On Windows 10X, Microsoft built a "Wonder Bar," essentially a dynamic touchscreen above the keyboard. We continue to learn more and more information about Windows 10X, a platform that draws its juice from Windows10 but is tailor-made for dual-screen computers, foldables and more. You'll be able to view apps on a single screen while using a device such as the upcoming Microsoft Surface Neo, that goes across displays. Now there is a touch strip like the one on the MacBook Pro.

You probably know that the Surface Neo has a magnetic keyboard that can be attached, which leaves some space at the bottom for the touchscreen. Well that strip becomes the... Wonder Bar. It's a feature of Windows 10X and it came to light when Microsoft recently released Windows 10X developer tools and emulator. The Wonder Bar extends the size and usability of the laptop by "hosting device with input accelerators and a virtual trackpad for mouse input precision."

It also reminds me of ASUS ' ZenBook Pro Duo with its secondary functional screen above the keyboard. It appears the Wonder Bar can be activated by switching to a virtual keyboard with support from Wonder Bar, not just the physical one. It can view emojis, gifs, suggestions for text, and watch videos, menus and options. It can display media playback controls, smaller applications such as the Windows Calculator, and I'm sure Photoshop tools could also appear there.

Now it is up to the developers to integrate the Wonder Bar further into their apps. It practically imitates the MacBook Pro Touch Bar but with a twist. Fresh leak between this Wonder Bar and the Surface Duo, things start looking a little better than October's underwhelming prototypes.

Microsoft Surface Duo

Crazy to think it's been almost half a year since Microsoft unveiled the Surface Duo and Surface Neo dual-screen machines. Even now, a good part of their final design remains a mystery, but there is at least a glimpse of the novelty. Only the photo shown below can be found with your hands on.

During the holiday season of 2020, the product is coming, so we're waiting for a long time. The Surface Duo was spotted on the SkyTrain in Vancouver, so someone in Canada is taking it for a spin. Now there's a front flash that wasn't present at the October Surface event on the prototype. There is a single front camera on the 2019 unit, as opposed to zero cameras. A few millimeters have been removed, so now the unit is thinner than the prototype.

We don't have a clear back picture, so we don't know if there's a camera in the back or not. My guess is that there's at least one in there. Even at this point in the design, the top bezel is pretty big in my book, and the hinge looks clumsy. I feel that Microsoft has decided to abandon the idea of a true foldable, and that it wants to keep the two screens separate, rather than complicate things with folds and creases. Now it seems that Zac Bowden of Windows Central has good authority to make the Surface Duo appear earlier than December 2020, perhaps a few months earlier.