Microsoft has finally released a new version for the Surface Duo emulator, which has not received a lot of attention in the past couple of weeks. The latest build allows you to use a keyboard with the emulator and packs better support for notifications, quick settings, and the Camera app.
Here is the full changelog for the Surface Duo Emulator build 2020.429.2:
- Support for using a keyboard in all posture and flip modes
- App Drawer and App searches support
- Improved Notifications support
- Improved Settings and quick settings experience to support dual screens
- Enhanced Camera experience (you can access that via the Emulator too!)
- Several platform improvements to better support App Compat around rotation, resizing, fullscreen, and spanning scenarios
Earlier this year, Microsoft released the Surface Duo emulator for Android, which allows developers to optimize their apps for the dual-screen device ahead of the Duo’s release. We still don’t know when Microsoft will release the Surface Duo, but recent rumors suggest that the dual-screen device could ship this summer with a touch-friendly interface powered by Microsoft Launcher.
For those interested in making contributions, Microsoft’s Guy Merin announced that the code for Helper Functions, Layouts, and Controls code is now publically available on the GitHub repository. Meanwhile, Merin promised to bring more improvements and invites developers to attend its upcoming Build developer conference which is scheduled to be held online May 19-21. It is noteworthy that the virtual event would feature a dedicated dual-screen session where the company would be discussing their “Surface Duo SDK as part of the React Native and WebPlat talks”.
