Dell is said to be working on a dual screen phone powered by Snapdragon 850 and running full Windows 10

[GoodBytes]

Microsoft is known that they have been toying with the idea of a convertible device that contains 2 screen and a hinge in the middle. Its first hints of this was revealed with leaks of the never release tablet/book device called the Courier which never saw the light of day, due to not being in line with the companies direction of the time (software focused, not hardware, beside XBox). This was days before the iPad was released.

 

(Concept of Microsoft Andromeda device - aka: "Surface Phone")

 

In recent years, Microsoft is known to be re-engaged with the idea, and with the number of patents, leaks in Windows 10 Insider SDKs and sources, a dual screen convertible phone/tablet, is appearing, with the code name: Andromeda, commonly referred as simply "Surface Phone" with the principal idea that "Surface" branding is used to signify convertible device by Microsoft (tablet that is a laptop: Surface Pro, laptop that is a tablet: Surface Book, and Desktop computer that is a professional drawing surface: Surface Studio), with the exception of the Surface Laptop, which the company said to be doing due to the high demand they felt was there, but anyway. Microsoft has always branded the Surface product as not just a product by itself, but a device form factor that they are open for other manufacture can utilize. That is why, for example, you have other manufacture making Surface Pro form factor devices with their own take on it.

 

Windows 10 SDK leaks, suggests that the next version of Windows 10 coming up later in the year, codename RedStone 5, will have the ability to send and receive SMS and phone calls.

 

Leaks suggest that Dell is working on "Januss" a code name for a dual screen device that is believe to be revealed after or around Microsoft own "Surface Phone" device. What we know based on the info gathered, is that:

• It runs full Windows 10
• It is powered by and unreleased Qualcomm  Snapdragon 850.

 

Quote

Microsoft has long been rumored to be working on a foldable dual-screen device, much like the Courier concept. While we’ve only seen patents and third-party design concepts, there are now signs that Microsoft’s close OEM partners are working on similar devices. WinFuture reports that Dell is working on a similar dual-screen device that runs Windows 10 and an unreleased Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 ARM processor.

 

Dell’s device is reportedly codenamed “Januss,” and has been under development since last summer, but it’s not clear whether the device will ever come to market. Dell was working on mobile Windows devices before, and those devices were canceled. Microsoft also canceled its own Surface Mini device, just weeks before it was due to be revealed.

 

Microsoft’s own rumored device, codenamed Andromeda, continues to be the source of much speculation, but it also may never be released. Still, Microsoft is experimenting with something called “Andromeda OS” as the company keeps including references to this mystery product inside future versions of Windows 10

 

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/31/17412550/dell-januss-dual-screen-windows-10-arm-device-rumors

 

We do know that since several years Microsoft and Qalcomm have been working very closely to make Windows 10 on ARM SoC a reality. Microsoft has been working on making Windows run better on ARM powered devices, added Win32 x86 (32-bit) emulation to allow traditional desktop programs to run on it, so that you can run programs that have not yet been recompiled for ARM64 CPUs, updated Visual Studio to have a "1-click" solution to build current/most x86 programs to ARM64 to run natively on ARM powered device (so expect open source project to have native support rather quickly, so expect forks for programs like Chromium (that is Chrome web browser), Firefox, VLC, foobar2000, and more). At the same time, Qalcomm have been implemented generation after generation CPU technologies to run Windows 10 better and run the Win32 x86 emulation.

 

We had a small peek already with the very soft launch, and limited production (so high priced devices) of Snapdragon 835 powered laptop running Windows 10 a while back. The end results look promising, but not there yet based on the few reviewers that got their hands on the system. It was said, that the experience feels like the system runs on a Core-i3 for everything, and but Atom performance when running x86 programs. Benchmarks can't be done, as they were none compiled for native ARM64, so figures shows bad results as it goes through emulation layer. That said, it is said that its not necessarily a bad thing, if your Win32 programs are simple ones. Like running Spotify, or whatever music player you want, it can handle Office just fine, Photoshop too, as long as the image you work on is not this massive image with a big collection of filters and layers, and use demanding brush designs.

 

Enthusiasts where able to run the latest version of the Windows 10 Pro (April Update) pretty decently considering the lack of any drivers, official support, on a Snapdragon 810 and 808 chip, and even on a Raspberry Pi 3 which are much slower chips, especially the Raspberry Pi 3.

 

Since then, we had the Snapdragon 845 that was released, and a custom 850 is that is rumored to be coming for Windows 10.

We don't know much about the 850 chip, beside that it runs a hint faster at 2.9GHz instead of 2.8GHz and requires a larger cooling solution. Assuming it is true, I personally I doubt that 100MHz increase does anything to require a larger cooling solution as a requirement. I think there is more under the hood, or 2.9GHz is the chip base clock and can go up higher under load.

 

[Doobeedoo]

Hm not sure about dual screen, but neat device it seems. Effort for W10 and ARM is great to see. But, is it really running full W10 if it's not x86 though

[2FA]

Until they make running x86 apps perform better, I can't see this being much more than a niche product. Will probably be incredibly expensive too which would only exacerbate the nicheness.

[bcredeur97]

I can already see dual screens becoming the next trendy thing.

 

there isn't much left to actually do in the smartphone space beyond minor improvements

[mynameisjuan]

6 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

there isn't much left to actually do in the smartphone space beyond minor improvements

Wow, someone else that realizes this other than me. 

[bcredeur97]

2 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

Wow, someone else that realizes this other than me. 

it honestly kind of worries me though in terms of the economy.

if no one wants to buy new phones... yikes.

[Drak3]

12 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

there isn't much left to actually do in the smartphone space beyond minor improvements

There is plenty to do. Just nothing practical or worth while.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

7 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

it honestly kind of worries me though in terms of the economy.

if no one wants to buy new phones... yikes.

Then Apple goes out of business and we all celebrate

[mynameisjuan]

3 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

it honestly kind of worries me though in terms of the economy.

if no one wants to buy new phones... yikes.

I rather have fine tuning then radical design changes. Innovations  are meant to solve problems and the only problem everyone has is battery.

 

There has to be a time when people realize the limits of devices. The market has already began to stagnate in design and people are already in an uproar that the new devices are not different enough.

 

7 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

There is plenty to do. Just nothing practical or worth while.

Plenty to do as in what? 

[GoldenLag]

6 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

Then Apple goes out of business and we all celebrate

Dont worry. They can allways sell accesories to their phones. Like the Macbook Pro

[Razor Blade]

19 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

I can already see dual screens becoming the next trendy thing.

 

there isn't much left to actually do in the smartphone space beyond minor improvements

Maybe...

 

If you upgrade your phone on a regular basis then I can see why you would think this. But as someone who keeps a few models behind on phones I can say that app bloat and OS compatibility become a real problem.

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

Microsoft is known that they have been toying with the idea of a convertible device that contains 2 screen and a hinge in the middle.

They do. It's called the "Courier tablet" that never seen the light of day because Microsoft killed it when it diverted its focus on Windows 8's tablet features as well as the Surface RT.

also, by full Windows 10 do they mean like Windows 10 on a PC or just Windows 10S? 

[Syntaxvgm]

A phone? Full 10

 

I'll love my place in hold being killed by a windows update.

 

[TacoSenpai]

Just gonna throw this out there.  Nintendo DS Picto Chat.  Boom!

[GoodBytes]

48 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

But, is it really running full W10 if it's not x86 though

Everything in Windows was recompiled for ARM64, even Notepad. So it is full. All features and abilities.

[GoodBytes]

7 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

also, by full Windows 10 do they mean like Windows 10 on a PC or just Windows 10S? 

Unless Microsoft does another special edition of Windows 10 for these kind of devices, or disable features like Win32 emulation mode on such device, it should be full Windows 10. complete with you being able to download and install stuff from the outside. So far, that is the case for Windows 10 on ARM powered ARMed laptop during the soft lunch from MS and select OEMs to have systems with it. Click on the "Raspberry Pi 3" link in the article for a video of Windows 10 on ARM running on the RPi3. The person runs an SNES emulator not available in the Store on it. You can find other videos on YouTube (although I didn't find something nicer) showing Office desktop version (version 2010, just in the case you think it is from the Store or some ARM64 version), and Notepad++ (although that one is now available in the Store, but still a desktop app)

[Razor Blade]

14 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

A phone? Full 10

 

I'll love my place in hold being killed by a windows update.

 

[captain_to_fire]

Just now, Razor Blade said:

That would suck if a user still needs to adjust active hours

 

10 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Unless Microsoft does another special edition of Windows 10 for these kind of devices, or disable features like Win32 emulation mode on such device, it should be full Windows 10.

I wonder how would that trimmed down Windows 10 for phone would fit inside typical phone spaces like 32 or 64 GB. I mean without an SD card, how much space is left for the user.

[GoodBytes]

1 minute ago, captain_to_fire said:

I wonder how would that trimmed down Windows 10 for phone would fit inside typical phone spaces like 32 or 64 GB. I mean without an SD card, how much space is left for the user.

It will definitely be an expensive device. I mean not only you have high specs, but you also have 2x dual screens, and most likely a larger battery to compensate the fact that you are running a full OS with actual multi-tasking eating through your battery. I expect that the device be powered by 32GB of storage.

 

That said, there is an edition of Windows that Microsoft is testing that is called "Lean", which is full Windows 10, but everything cut down. Not even a wallpaper image. It doesn't even have the registry editor (You can still grab the exe from another system, and run it in this edition of Windows 10 and it opens file, and you can edit the registry just fine). This edition looks like it was designed to run on 16GB system, with a bit of space free for Office, and maybe a web browser and a few documents. Normally, Windows 10 consumes ~20GB, so 32GB is the next step above 16GB for storage. So, it is possible that this might be a consideration.

 

But considering the price of the device which I assume passes 1k price range considering that the Galaxy S9+ cost around that, and same for the iPhone X. I doubt the manufacture would cheap out there. They'll 32GB minimum, if not 64GB.

[TacoSenpai]

Meanwhile i'm still in 2004.

 

 

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, GoodBytes said:

-snip-

If I have $1000 to blow for a phone I'd take the S9+ or the iPhone X and I think most people will do the same. Way less compromise over a Windows 10 phone that doesn't have the apps most people use.

[GoodBytes]

13 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

If I have $1000 to blow for a phone I'd take the S9+ or the iPhone X and I think most people will do the same. Way less compromise over a Windows 10 phone that doesn't have the apps most people use.

Yup! And I don't think Microsoft will target consumers. They'll target businesses. The same strategy that worked for Microsoft with the Surface Pro 1 and 2 when it was first released, and even today, it targets power user, professionals, with a bit the education sector, but doesn't ignore the fact that their system is too pricey for that target, and so aims university students on select fields that would benefit the most out of the pen. It  doesn't try to target the average consumer.

 

I expect the same, and Microsoft is betting a lot for PWA apps, which is perfect timing because Google is also pushing PWA very strongly. This means that if an app developer makes a PWA on Android, beside adding live tile support if they want, they have nothing to do for Windows 10 version, beside compiling for it.

[TOMPPIX]

1 hour ago, bcredeur97 said:

there isn't much left to actually do in the smartphone space beyond minor improvements

there is a fuck ton of things to add, we just don't have the technology to make them... yet.

[Mooshi]

Windows phones are a bigger waste of time than trying to keep Blackberry alive. Microsoft's resources would be better used on getting Windows 10 to a state where I'm not constantly reeeeeeee about inconvenient updates.

[Bananasplit_00]

58 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

That would suck if a user still needs to adjust active hours

active hours is horrible enough as it is on desktop... imagine phone, thats just hell... 

2 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I can already see dual screens becoming the next trendy thing.

bezel less, or near enough screens, make this not such a bad thing im thinking but id really just like bigger battery instead of another screen...