How Dual-Screen Apps Will Run On Windows 10X, Android

Microsoft has published a blog post detailing exactly how it imagines dual-screen apps will run on devices like the Surface Duo and Surface Neo -- two foldable devices unveiled back on October that run Android and Windows 10X, respectively. The Verge reports: By default, an app will occupy a single screen according to Microsoft. Surface Duo or Surface Neo users can then span the app across both displays when they're in double-portrait or double-landscape layout. Microsoft envisions that app developers will experiment with different ways to utilize both screens. Some of these include simply using both screens as an extended canvas, having two pages of a document shown at once, using the second display as a companion or dual view of something, or having a master part of the app on one display and details on the second.

These are "initial app pattern ideas," according to Microsoft, and the company could well extend them based on developer feedback in the coming months. Microsoft is also releasing an Android emulator for the Surface Duo today to allow devs to test mobile apps. A Windows 10X emulator for the Surface Neo will arrive next month at around the same time that Microsoft plans to detail more of its dual-screen plans during a developer webcast. Microsoft's Android emulator will naturally support Android apps, and the Windows 10X version will include support for native Windows APIs to let developers detect hinge positions and optimize their win32 or Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps for these new devices. Microsoft is also proposing new web standards for dual-screen layouts, and is "actively incubating new capabilities that enable web content to provide a great experience on dual-screen devices."

Allahu Akbar!

[Anonymous Coward]

The left screen will have a picture of the Profit, and the right - of his Holy Goat.

10x?

[sycodon]

So is that Windows 1010 or Windows 20?

So..

[Anonymous Coward]

So.. dual-screen apps will work much the way they have since Windows98.

Re:

[mschaffer]

It sure does sound like:
    Maximize = double-portrait or double-landscape layout (like FormWindowState.Maximized)
    Normal = single-portrait or single-landscape layout (like FormWindowState.Normal)
    Minimized = no portrait or landscalep (like FormWindowState.Minimized)
and a few options to handle the gap
much ado about nothing.

Re:

[Ed Tice]

Hopefully they work better. Dual monitor displays are somewhat of a minority and nobody has really paid attention to them. I've seen apps with floating windows that can be moved off to a secondary display but don't snap into place or maximize onto that display properly. Apps that don't properly use two screens at all, et cetera. Some applications make brilliant use (see PowerPoint). If dual displays are going to be all the rage, that will likely benefit long-term users of multiple monitors. How do Vis

Nintendo DS much?

[tepples]

Dual monitor displays are somewhat of a minority and nobody has really paid attention to them.

Except every single video game studio that has been authorized to develop for Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, or Wii U.

Re:

[UnknowingFool]

I would be happy if Windows 10 would not take up the whole screen for settings

Re:

[Marxist Hacker 42]

That's what I was thinking. I am currently dealing with 4 screens when I dock my laptop, both at home and at work. I don't see an issue with it.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

But on a phone!

I wonder if this will be overtaken by technology relatively quickly though. Folding screens seem to be here to stay, with a few models coming out this year and prices falling fast. They will probably get good in the next couple of years and then only budget devices will come with split screens.

Re:

[Opportunist]

It's like 2020 is "on a cellphone" what 2000 was for "on a computer".

Re:

[LordHighExecutioner]

well...if I go back further (about 1985), the "dual screen" I had was made of two VT100 terminals and a swivel chair to rotate myself to see one terminal or another. If I was extra lucky, I also add access to a third VT100 close to me: one was for editing, another for compiling, and the third one for running my simulation code. But things could have been worst: just imagine working with two ASR-33...

Work with game developers

[xack]

And market it as Nintendo 3DS competitor.

Re:

[ElectronicSpider]

That's suicide, Nintendo is the king of gimmicks and handhelds. A gimmicky handheld isn't going to make a dent in the market.

Re: Work with game developers

[Cmdln Daco]

Game hardware is supposed to be fun and gimmicky. Thus Nintendo's resounding success.

Re:

[xack]

Nintendo is phasing out the 3DS in favor of the switch lite, which is only single screen. People who still prefer the dual screen gimmicks would see the surface as a successor, and we might get a 3DS emulator running on it.

Re:

[ElectronicSpider]

You don't need two screens for that, I emulate the DS fine on my single screen Android.

Re:

[tepples]

You don't need two screens for that, I emulate the DS fine on my single screen Android.

Not all Nintendo DS games are touch-driven, however. Many games mostly use the Control Pad and physical buttons, much like the Super NES and Game Boy Advance games that preceded the DS. How well do button-driven games handle on your Android phone? With no button edges to feel with your thumb, how do you avoid pushing the wrong button or pushing the unmapped space between buttons?

(And if you use an external USB or Bluetooth controller, how many other people buy and use those, in order to tell whether targeti

Re:

[ElectronicSpider]

I use a USB controller (actually a plugged in BT controller, input lag a shit, A SHIT!), the lack of pre-input feedback of touchscreens always bothered me, I don't know how many people use those, I barely seen any apart from mine, but there are some addons that have a physical button that goes over the touchscreen, those seem to be doing good, I've seen several people buy those cheap plastic frames to play PUBG.

On the other hand, I wish that developers would start implementing more KB+M functionality (on An

I think these kinds of these sound neat

[Gilgaron]

It isn't going to be a huge leap, but good to see someone trying to do something beyond "black rectangle with better camera, faster processor, fewer ports!"

Re:

[thegarbz]

They TORTURED mice, not to save human lives but to maybe make it possible to create yet more unnecessary cosmetics.

What sort of SICK society tolertates this disgusting behaviour, and why does Slashdot encourage it ?

Because even basement dwellers need to look *FABULOUS*.

Insert free adbert for MICROSOFT~1

[notdecnet]

Insert free adbert for MICROSOFT~1

ExpanscapeUK have a 64G RAM Dual Screen Pocket SVR

[mytime12]

Some company called Expanscape in the uk have a dual screen pocket server that has 64G ram and a i7 quad. It's called a "TeenySERV" LOL! They just tweeted about a Windows10X on this teenyserv thing! It's kinda crazy as they have a mad 7 screen laptop as well LOL! Yes 7 screens - built into a laptop ha ha haaaaa! The laptop is called Aurora 7 - for the 7 screens I guess LOL!

Two columns makes the most sense.

[BAReFO0t]

For file management,
text and code,
anything in list form, etc.

Two rows makes sense for audio and video editing. Upper row, video, lower row tracks. Or uppet row tracks, lower row mixer (or plugins).

Also, one colums the document (like the picture), one column the tool panels, settings, properties, layers, etc.

And of course using a browser in the side screen, for reference, whild doing something.

Oh... you mean pure consuming?
Nevermind then. Just glue two lighted spherical iMirrors to your eyes, and return to t

So developers need to go out of their way

[HalAtWork]

So developers need to go out of their way to support a niche device with a small user base? I don't think it'll happen, and users will be stuck with a subpar experience on the device, which will eventually fail the same way windows tablets have been. There's a reason surface devices want you to have a keyboard and trackpad as an accessory.

If they could figure out a way to adapt current applications to their form factor it would work way better than waiting for developers to specifically change their approac