Articles by Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Just don’t try to sink your Duo.

What you need to know

Developer Alexis Menard has created a web-based version of Battleship that takes advantage of Surface Duo’s dual screens.
Your ships appear on one screen while the enemy’s fleet is on the other.
You can try out out Menard’s Battleship creation on the web now.

We’re bound to see no shortage of fun apps, games, and concepts that make use of Surface Duo’s dual displays in unique ways now that it’s out in the wild. One such idea is a web-based version of Battleship built to make the Duo’s displays work like the Battleship grids from your childhood.

The Battleship experience was created by Alexis Menard, who works on the Blink/Chromium web engine at Intel and also focuses on “supporting dual screen/foldable devices on the web,” according to his Twitter bio. The setup places your ships on the bottom screen, while the computer-controled enemy’s grid sits on the top screen when folded in laptop mode. Once loaded up, you take turns …

That hinge is no longer a problem for Google Maps.

What you need to know

Google Maps now works with Surface Duo’s dual screens.
The latest update now lets Maps work around the hinge, adjusting maps and information across both displays.
The update is rolling out now with Google Maps version 10.50.3.

Update: And for some reason, the optimization is now gone, making it sound like either some A/B testing or server-side tricks happening.

The Surface Duo’s hinge is no longer a pain with Google Maps. Google is rolling out an update to Maps today with support for dual screens, allowing it to organize maps and information around the hinge between the displays. The update is available as Maps version 10.50.3.

Rather than spanning a map across both displays without regard for the hinge, cutting off vital information, Google Maps is now aware of the hinge’s presence. This allows it to organize the map and any other information around the hinge without treating the displays as one large sc…

Add a little more Microsoft flavor to your Android phone.

What you need to know

Fluent Icon Pack is a set of Android icons that take after Microsoft’s Fluent Design System.
The pack has more than 1,600 icons, and it pairs perfectly with Microsoft Launcher.
Fluent Icon Pack is available at Google Play for $1.50.

So, you have Microsoft Launcher set as your default launcher on your Android phone, but you still want to add a little more Microsoft flavor. With Fluent Design becoming all the rage with Microsoft’s own apps and services, particularly when it comes to icons, that might be a good place to start. Luckily, there’s a third-party icon pack that does just that.

Fluent Icon Pack is a set of icons for Android that bring exactly what the name implies. The developer behind the project has built up icons based on Microsoft’s Fluent Design guidelines, and they’re quite the eye candy. Even better, there are more than 1,600 icons currently in the pack, which means most, if not all, o…

Microsoft’s custom security work could mean faster or slower security updates, depending on how they’re handled.

What you need to know

Microsoft developed a custom UEFI for Surface Duo’s firmware.
The company says this will allow it to review every line of firmware code.
This should allow Microsoft to “respond directly and agilely, to potential firmware threats,” the company says.

After launching the Surface Duo last week, Microsoft published documentation on its approach to security in hte new device. A lot of the security features Microsoft outlines are standard for any Android phone. However, there are a couple of custom bits that stand out.

The most notable addition is Microsoft’s “custom engineered” Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). This gives Microsoft “full control” over firmware components, and it’s somethign the company already uses in its other Surface devices.

“Microsoft delivers Enterprise-grade security to Surface Duo by writing or reviewing every line…

If you’ve been waiting for Best Buy to open preorders, wait no more.

What you need to know

Surface Duo is now available for preorder at Best Buy.
Microsoft, Best Buy, and AT&T are all three offering Duo preorders.
You can preorder both Duo models at Best Buy for $1,400 for the 128GB model and $1,500 for 256GB.

The Surface Duo finally got a September 10 release date today, and preorders are starting to go live. We’ve already seen preorders arrive on the Microsoft Store, while AT&T is set to launch them tonight. Now, you can also add Best Buy to the list, too.

Best Buy has both Surface Duo models available to preorder. You can pick up the model with 128GB of storage for $1,400, while the 256GB model costs $1,500. Both are expected to ship on the September 10 launch date.

Surface Duo is Microsoft’s approach to a mobile productivity device, giving users two screens to boost multitasking. It’s also incredibly thin, giving it distinctly light look despite its width. Here’s a…