Microsoft states that the Surface Duo is a bona fide Surface – even if it hesitates to call it a phone. But there’s one thing Microsoft has seen fit to be part of every Surface – including the delayed Surface Neo – that the Surface Duo does not have, but that would fit it perfectly: a keyboard. Much like the Type Cover helped define the Surface tablet, a keyboard case that ran around the outside of Microsoft’s dual-screened Android device could become a defining element of its design. For years, Microsoft has been offering a fine-tuned Bluetooth keyboard that works with Android and other OSes; it is close to what such a case might seem like.
Offering such keyboard accessories would fit well with the Surface Duo’s productivity proposition and the specific Surface brand. When Microsoft unveiled the now-delayed Surface Neo, the two screens may have grabbed the headers, but the keyboard was also an important part of the story.
There would clearly be some challenges. A keyboard case would consume more pocket space. One of the defining features of the Duo is the 360-degree hinge that leaves no room for even a very thin wraparound case that can satisfy its full rotation, much less one that can travel acceptable key. Many years before the zero-key Touch Cover made its debut with the first Surface, Logitech tried to create a soft, highly dissatisfied keyboard case made of fabric that wrapped around the Palm V. with sleeve-like designs allowing the Duo to glide in whether its screens are inward or outward.
But while the flip-phone-like protection that the closed Surface Duo offers for its screens is hardly mentioned among its design advantages, it could allow a sleeve-like hole on which the Duo could slide, perhaps even with the screens to outside as the surfaces of the keys were somehow softened. An even slimmer keyboard could be possible if Microsoft enabled a pogo connection on one side of the Duo, perhaps if it’s in tent mode, because it would eliminate the need for a battery. However, the already expensive Duo is missing one.
A removable keyboard would also bolster Microsoft’s hedge against the fear that the Duo will be perceived as a mere two-screen version of what we all already carry in our pockets. Indeed, Samsung’s decision to place a full display on the front of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 validates that the signature of that product has not been used much of the time. This dynamic also helped LG’s decision to make the second display for their latest phones like the Velvet an accessory. The single screen scenario will probably also apply to the Duo.
Of course, nothing would prevent Microsoft from releasing such a keyboard box in the coming months. The company could wait until it has a few months of sales under the Duo belt to release such an accessory. Alternatively, since it would be based on Bluetooth, a Zagg or Logitech could try to develop one of the Duo brands. On the other hand, the tail must appear in time to weigh the dog. Imagine that Microsoft had been waiting until the third-generation Surface Pro (when the device started rolling) to release the keyboard cover. We would think very differently about the other surface today – that is, if we thought about it at all.
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