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Despite this video opening about the Surface Duo, this 'phone' is really just an experiment to me that seeks to help us all decide if dual screens on small devices are just as helpful as it is on larger ones. Forgetting the notion of Android smartphones for a minute and letting yourself consider something like this with Chrome OS on it instead instantly becomes a more-realistic path to a Chrome OS phone than any I've come across before.
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0:05
this is the surface duo
0:06
and while it's not the best android
0:07
phone you can buy or even probably the
0:10
best foldable phone you can buy
0:12
it's got me really excited about the
0:13
idea of something like this
0:16
running chrome os
0:31
if you recall a handful of years ago
0:33
when microsoft ventured back into the
0:35
phone game with windows phone
0:36
they kind of failed miserably and it
0:38
wasn't because windows phone was no good
0:40
it's because they just didn't have the
0:41
apps to fit in their ecosystem and
0:44
because of that they kind of just exited
0:45
the phone game altogether
0:47
but at the same time kind of parallel to
0:49
that development they've had a lot of
0:50
success with the surface line of devices
0:52
so think laptops detachables that kind
0:54
of thing
0:55
and they really redefined what it looks
0:58
like to make a great windows laptop
1:00
and if you think about it right now if
1:02
someone asks what are the best
1:03
laptops i can buy it's honestly just
1:06
easier to recommend people go buy a
1:07
surface at this point so the
1:09
intersection of those two things
1:10
phones mobile devices and surface
1:13
devices
1:14
comes this thing the surface duo and
1:17
it's important to talk about this as a
1:18
device i think instead of as a phone
1:20
because
1:21
this isn't the best phone that you can
1:23
buy it doesn't have the best
1:24
screen with the highest refresh rate it
1:27
doesn't have the fastest chipset or the
1:28
latest chipset or the most ram or the
1:31
most storage
1:31
or the best cameras like all these
1:33
things that we expect to get out of our
1:34
smartphones at this point
1:36
the surface duo is actually not the best
1:38
at doing what it does do
1:40
however is give us a device that fits in
1:43
our pocket that does some stuff
1:44
quite a bit differently than what we
1:46
expect from most smartphones so why you
1:48
have the samsung galaxy fold and
1:50
the flip and all these different
1:52
foldable designs that basically give you
1:54
a tablet in your pocket
1:55
the surface duo instead is basically
1:57
trying to give you two screens at the
1:59
same time that work
2:00
really well together and for that part
2:03
and for being just a quality made
2:05
surface device this thing is actually
2:08
really fun to use
2:09
and is kind of exceptional at doing a
2:11
handful of things like multitasking and
2:13
just getting work done on the go so
2:15
perhaps it makes more sense
2:17
instead of referring to this as a phone
2:19
and watching reviewers review it as a
2:21
phone
2:22
if we all just start thinking about this
2:24
as a pocketable
2:25
computer that happens to make phone
2:27
calls and happens to get text messages
2:29
and i think the minute we do that the
2:30
minute we start thinking about this
2:32
device as that
2:33
instead of you know the latest greatest
2:35
flagship android phone
2:37
the implications become pretty clear on
2:39
what this type of form factor could do
2:42
with maybe a different operating system
2:44
on board so after using this android
2:46
powered device for about a week or so
2:48
we're not going to do a review on this
2:49
we don't really review phones but it has
2:52
caused me to really think
2:53
and rethink what it could mean to see
2:55
chrome os come to a pocketable device
2:57
and again i keep saying pocketable
2:58
device and device
3:00
instead of phone because we've had these
3:02
dreams and we've talked on podcasts and
3:04
all that kind of stuff about
3:05
the idea of a chrome os phone i just
3:08
don't think that that's in the cards i
3:09
really don't see a future where
3:11
a standard slab smartphone comes with
3:14
chrome os
3:15
on board i just it doesn't seem like
3:16
it's a likely thing to happen
3:18
but when we start couching the
3:20
conversation with a device like the
3:22
surface duo
3:23
all of a sudden things get a lot more
3:24
interesting because we can talk about a
3:27
device like this
3:28
and say hey this is a computing device
3:30
first that has multitasking capabilities
3:32
a couple screens on it
3:34
runs an os and oh by the way it can kind
3:36
of take phone calls and text messages
3:38
we'll substitute android in there for
3:40
that and substitute google in for
3:42
microsoft and all of a sudden you have
3:44
this
3:44
idea of a dual screen chromebook that
3:46
has touch
3:47
capability it can use multiple monitors
3:50
it already has a launcher it has a
3:52
notification pane it can do all the
3:54
things that you would want a chromebook
3:55
to do if a chromebook was this size
3:57
and yet if they just add the ability to
3:59
take phone calls
4:00
instead of couching this as a chrome os
4:02
phone it just becomes a chromebook
4:05
that happens to have lte or 5g in it
4:07
which we know some processors that are
4:08
coming have that
4:10
and can take the phone calls when you
4:11
need them and ultimately once we start
4:14
talking about it in that light this
4:16
obviously becomes a much more realistic
4:18
proposition now realistically i would
4:20
say we'd probably see something like a
4:22
seven or eight inch folding tablet first
4:25
or something that's closer to the size
4:27
of a normal laptop that just happens to
4:28
have two screens on it
4:30
and figures out creative ways to add a
4:32
keyboard so the surface neo that still
4:34
has not come out yet that microsoft
4:35
announced when they announced this one
4:37
a whole year ago i could see something
4:39
like that running chrome os and for that
4:41
to be kind of the test bed for this
4:43
dual screen touch only device or touch
4:45
first device per se
4:47
and then down the road saying okay what
4:48
if we just shrunk those screens down
4:50
what if we just brought it down to a
4:51
smaller form factor
4:52
and then again threw in the antennas
4:54
needed for it to make phone calls and
4:56
get text messages
4:57
at that point i think you get something
4:59
that resembles a chrome os
5:01
phone but isn't really a phone and isn't
5:03
trying to compete with phones much like
5:04
the duo
5:05
isn't it's not trying to be the best
5:07
phone out there it is not the best phone
5:09
out there it's not the best phone for
5:10
your money
5:11
but it is a very interesting play on
5:14
what it means to have a computing device
5:16
in your pocket so does that mean we're
5:17
going to see a duo running chrome os
5:20
anytime soon
5:21
i don't think so and honestly we're not
5:23
seeing anything that would allude to the
5:24
fact that this is happening like in the
5:26
near-term future
5:27
but i think as people get on board with
5:29
devices like the duo and as we're
5:31
starting to see all these crazy folding
5:33
and flipping phones
5:34
it's caused manufacturers to start
5:36
thinking in creative ways about making
5:38
pocketable computing a more productive
5:40
experience and i think
5:41
in that slot in that vein that's where
5:44
chrome os can kind of slide in and
5:45
become something that's far more
5:47
productive because again
5:48
imagine being able to do dual screens
5:50
with desktop type
5:52
web applications right in your pocket
5:53
and then be able to dock this thing into
5:56
a monitor and have a full-blown desktop
5:58
setup as well
6:00
all that's carriable in your pocket on a
6:02
pocket size computer
6:03
that can make phone calls i don't know
6:05
it sounds like a cool future to me and
6:07
it's something that i know i would be
6:08
super interested in
6:10
and from ural's comments out there i
6:11
think a lot of people
6:13
would have high interest in a chrome os
6:15
device that fits in your pocket
6:17
that happens to make phone calls but
6:18
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6:20
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6:21
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6:22
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6:24
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6:25
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6:27
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6:28
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