Credit: Microsoft
Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will begin asking developers to start building apps for the dual-screen future, including the Surface Duo Android phone and the Surface Neo PC that will run Windows 10X, the company's next-generation operating system.
Microsoft said Wednesday that it will begin providing access to a pre-release version of the Windows SDK through its normal Windows Insider builds.
Specifically, on February 11, Microsoft will drop the Microsoft Emulator, a HyperV development platform that will allow app developers to begin porting their UWP and Win32 apps to Windows 10X.
Credit: Microsoft If you’re a developer, the new Emulator and related Windows APIs will allow you to begin accommodating the hinge that will separate the two displays, as well as start thinking about the two screens: as two pages of a book, say, or as a primary page with additional notes on the second screen.
Microsoft is also asking developers to start thinking about dual-screen layouts for Microsoft Edge, with CSS primitives and a JavaScript API.
Credit: Microsoft Consumers, meanwhile, can get a better idea of how Microsoft sees these devices being used: either as two screens, or as a large screen that spans both displays.
“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,” Microsoft said in a blog post. “You can programmatically enable full-screen mode for your app at any time, but spanning is limited to user activity for now.”
Credit: Microsoft With devices like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold already available or nearing release, the market’s preparing for at least some dual-screen devices to enter the computing landscape.
Microsoft's probably in a hurry, too, as its Android-based Surface Duo, and Windows 10X-based Surface Neo are both due by holiday 2020.
