Windows 10: Surface Duo SDK Preview is getting an update – Feb 20,2020

Brink · Feb 21, 2020

Hello Dual Screen developers!

We are proud to be part of this growing community and excited to share with you the latest on the #SurfaceDuo SDK front in these devblogs.

Donât forget to read our previous editions for additional Dev goodies, and let us know (feedback links below) on what else you would like us to cover.

For todayâs blog on 02/20/2020, we are going to focus on the Surface Duo Emulator Image refresh (Yes, almost a palindrome, if youâre into numbers).

Summary of changes in the 02022020 update

We have spent the past few weeks with fixing some bugs with some great results. We have updated how we report the display size, modified the DisplayMask API to improve app compatibility, and fixed several bugs that our users have reported.

You can download the refresh image for Mac, Windows and Ubuntu using this link

In details:

Change #1: Changes to how size is reported to an App:

We have been busy setting up an App Compat lab where we test against the top apps from the Google Play Store.

We found some inconsistencies in how activity, window, and display metrics were returned to apps and games. We have made the changes to how size is reported so that the app gets sizes appropriate to the displays it is on. In the case of:

For apps on a single display, windows and display metrics will be related to a single display

For apps across both displays, window and display metrics will be in relation to both displays, including the display mask

Our Java and Kotlin samples have been updated to reflect this change.

Try it out on your app and let us know if youâve seen any issues.

Change #2: Updates to DisplayMask API

Display Metrics based on apps window and DisplayMask API change to return hinge mask relative to apps window:

Display Mask has been updated to return a bounding rectangle relative to the display metrics based on the app context. When running in single screen the DisplayMask will now return an empty list it will not intersect with the window. When running in dual screen the display mask bounding rectangle shall identify the area under the hardware hinge in relation to the app window.

As consumer of this API apps run in one of the following scenarios:

App running in single screen mode: DisplayMask will be an empty list

App running in spanned mode: DisplayMask = hinge mask rectangle

Note: a service that created a view at any point will fall into one of the categories above

Change #3: Surface Duo Image Build Flavor is now a USER build and not USERDEBUG

This image refresh contains a USER build flavor which will result in less logging and faster image access within the emulator.

Note that the ADB commands will continue to work as usual without the need to enable Developer Options in settings.

Figure 1: The Surface Duo emulator image with Drag and Drop Sample

Behind the scenes on these changes:

If youâre interested in the behind the scenes on these changes, this section is for you.

Apps query their active window and active display information using a common class â android.view.Display.

The common behaviors and APIâs within android.view.Display are:

Getting current App Windows metrics (getSize / getMetrics) which returns the display size available to the app adjusted for specific system dÃ©cor (cut-outs, nav bar, etc.) and compatibility.

When called within an activity with an app window this returns the size available to the app with specific system dÃ©cor subtracted.

When called within an activity without an app window this returns the full display size

Getting the current ârealâ display metrics (getRealSize / getRealMetrics) which returns the display size available to the active WindowManager adjusted by any rotation. âRealâ in this context is at times Windows Manager may run in a smaller display than the actual full available display.

The Surface Duo Emulator Image supports these standard APIâs that apps depend on, but the APIâs will further define ârealâ display based on current posture and app context.

If you would like to read more âbehind-the-scenesâ content, please let us know on the Surface Duo feedback forum.

Microsoft Surface Duo Emulator definitions

The Surface Duo emulator image has two displays. The gap between both displays is 84 pixels. The entire virtual display is represented as 2784Ã1800.
Android abstracts pixel size and resolution into a display-independent pixel metric so apps can use a single metric across devices. This is calculated as:
dp = (width in pixels * 160) / screen density
Native resolution Resolution in dp Single Display 1350 x 1800 540 x 720 Dual Display + Mask 2784 x 1800 1114 x 720
Per the Material Guidelines, this would be classified as:
dp Classification Single Portrait Width 540dp large handset Single & Dual Landscape Width 720dp large handset
Because the default behavior for any activity creating a window is to be launched on a single screen, the display metric return value to all non-windowed activities will also be updated to be the size of a single screen to reduce discrepancies in an app default launch behavior.

To keep within the bounds of a large handset, future Surface Duo devices would need to keep a single display within the bounds of:

Portrait Width of 400-599dp or 2.5â â 3.74â (Surface Duo Emulator is 3.375â&#157

Landscape width of 720-959dp or 4.5â â 5.99â (Surface Duo Emulator is 4.5â&#157

The minimum aspect ratio recommended for Android based phones is 4:3/3:4 (which is what Surface Duo is).

Weâd love your feedback

We would love to hear from you about your experiences using the SDK and emulator.

Please reach out using our feedback forum and let us know how we can help you be more productive, ask questions, make suggestions, or upvote other suggestions.
Our online Docs are at https://docs.microsoft.com/dual-screen/ and in case you missed it, the https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV_6HOhwxYLXAGd-JOqKPoQ are now available.

And as always, you can message me on Twitter or GitHub.

Thank you,
Guy Merin, Development Manager, Surface Duo Developer Experience Team
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Source: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/surfa...te-feb-202020/

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Brink · Feb 21, 2020

Announcing dual-screen preview SDK for Microsoft Surface Duo

In November, we shared our vision for dual-screen devices and how this new device category will help people get more done on smaller and more mobile form factors. Today, we are excited to give you an update on how you can get started and optimize for dual-screen devices by:

Exploring preview SDKs and standards proposals for apps and websites

Embracing dual-screen experiences

Learning more at Microsoft 365 Developer Day

1) Exploring preview SDKs and standards proposals for apps and websites

We are happy to announce the availability of the preview SDK for Microsoft Surface Duo, and availability in the coming weeks for the preview SDK for Windows 10. We are also excited to announce new web standards proposals to enable dual-screen experiences for websites and PWAs on both Android and Windows 10X. These new web standards proposals will provide you with the capabilities and tools you need for dual-screen devices.

Download the preview SDK for Microsoft Surface Duo

Today, developers can download the preview SDK for Surface Duo, access documentation and samples for best practices, see UX design patterns, and more. The preview SDK gives developers a first look at how you can take advantage of dual-screen experiences.

This includes:

Native Java APIs to support dual-screen development for the Surface Duo device, including the DisplayMask API, Hinge Angle Sensor, and new device capabilities.

An Android Emulator with a preview Surface Duo image that is integrated into Android Studio so you can test your app without a physical device. The emulator simulates postures, gestures, hinge angle, mimicking the seam between the two screens, and more. We’ll continue to add functionality over time.

Requirements: For the Android Studio and Android Emulator.

We will have more announcements and discussion in the coming months and look forward to hearing your feedback.

Figure 1: The Android Emulator with a preview Surface Duo image

An early look at developing for Windows 10X

In the coming weeks, developers will have access to a pre-release version of the Windows SDK through the standard Insider builds. Our intent is to provide you with the Microsoft® Emulator on February 11th as well as new APIs for dual-screen support, documentation, and code samples.

This includes:

Native Windows APIs for dual-screen development to enable your app to span the two screens, detect the hinge position, and take advantage of Windows 10X.

Microsoft Emulator is a dual-screen Hyper-V emulator so you can deploy your existing Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and Win32 apps and test in both single-and dual-screen scenarios. The emulator simulates the physical device so you can see how your apps interact with Windows 10X.

Requirements: A recent Windows Insiders preview build of 64-bit Windows 10 (Pro, Enterprise, or Education), 64bit CPU with 4 cores, 8GB minimum (16GB of RAM recommended), Hyper-V enabled and dedicated GPU that supports Direct X 11.0 or later.

Figure 2: Microsoft Emulator showing Windows 10X

Build dual-screen experiences on the web

The new Microsoft Edge released last week, provides a powerful and compatible foundation for website and web app experiences across devices, powered by Chromium. We are actively incubating new capabilities that enable web content to provide a great experience on dual-screen devices, whether it’s running in the browser or installed as an app.

New web standards for dual-screen layout: We are proposing CSS primitives for dual-screen layouts and a JavaScript Window Segments Enumeration API to provide web platform primitives for web developers to detect multiple displays and lay out content across them. We expect to provide an experimental implementation of these features in preview builds of the browser soon.

Dual-screen polyfills: As the above features progress through the web standards process, we’ve published polyfills that you can write against as you begin to explore dual-screen development. You can find the polyfills and associated documentation at:

The JavaScript Window Segments enumeration polyfill enumerates segments (regions on separate displays) where logically separate pieces of content can be placed.

The CSS ‘spanning’ media feature polyfill allows you to lay out content in a window that spans multiple displays.

Progressive Web Apps are supported out of the box in the new Microsoft Edge, which can be installed directly from the browser on Windows 10X and Android. PWAs will support the same dual-screen layout features and tools as the browser.

We’ll have more to share about building for dual-screen devices with web technologies over the coming months – watch the Microsoft Edge blog for more details.

2) Embracing dual-screen experiences

Dual-screen devices creates an opportunity for your apps to delight people in a new and innovative way. To help you get started, we are providing you with basic support checklists for touch and pen and drag and drop and initial app pattern ideas to ensure your apps work great on dual-screen devices.

Figure 3: Dual-screen app patterns

Your app by default will occupy a single screen, but users can span the app to cover both screens when the device is in a double-portrait or double-landscape layout. You can programmatically enable full-screen mode for your app at any time, but spanning is limited to user activity for now.

Figure 4: Dual-screen orientation and layout.

For those who are interested in native cross-platform development using React Native or Xamarin.Forms, we are working on improvements to those frameworks and code samples. You can find the all dual-screen checklists, app patterns, and new code samples as they become available on our dual-screen documentation site. Please reach out to us at L: [email protected] so we can work with you to idealize and innovate great dual-screen experiences together.

3) Learning more at Microsoft 365 Developer Day – Dual-Screen Experiences

Please join us online for the Microsoft 365 Developer Day, focused on dual-screen experiences on Tuesday, February 11th at 8:30 AM PDT. The keynote and sessions will show how to:

Get the most out of these SDKs and emulators

Use cross platform tools and languages

Design apps for dual-screen devices

Build dual-screen experiences on the web

Connect your apps with Microsoft 365

We hope that you will join us, and we are excited to see what dual-screen experiences you build.
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Source: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdev...developer-day/

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Brink · Feb 21, 2020

Microsoft introduces a Surface phone called Surface Duo

Surface Duo is the first Surface to fit in your pocket. Surface Duo brings together the best of Microsoft productivity experiences, Android apps and Surface hardware design into a single device you can take anywhere. And, yes, it makes phone calls. It has two paper-thin 5.6-inch screens that unfold to 8.3 inches, and just like Surface Neo, it can be used in a variety of modes to let you work the way youd like.

To support Surface Neo, we are introducing Windows 10X, an expression of Windows 10 designed for a new category of dual-screen PCs. With Surface Duo we are building upon Android to marry cutting edge hardware with familiar software and services. Were excited to work with developers and the industry to create the next wave of dual-screen computing and unlock a new era of mobile creativity.

The Surface Duo and Surface Neo will be coming in Holiday 2020.

Source:

Watch Microsoft Surface Hardware Event on October 2, 2019

Surface reveals new holiday lineup and introduces a new category of dual-screen devices built for mobile productivity | Microsoft Devices Blog

Introducing Windows 10X: enabling dual-screen PCs in 2020 | Windows Experience Blog

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Gorakh Nath Sharma · Feb 21, 2020

Surface Duo Emulator Not Starting or Crashes Instantly

I have a PC with Windows 10 Home installed in it. I recently installed Surface Duo Emulator (with all the Prerequisites i.e. VS 2019, Android SDK, etc.). But the moment I click on Desktop Icon of Surface Duo Emulator a Command Prompt windows flashes and
nothing happens. I also tried editing run.bat file in artifacts folder by giving proper location of Android SDK but issue persists. Please help!!

Windows 10: Surface Duo SDK Preview is getting an update – Feb 20,2020

Surface Duo SDK Preview is getting an update – Feb 20,2020

Surface Duo SDK Preview is getting an update – Feb 20,2020

Surface Duo SDK Preview is getting an update – Feb 20,2020

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