Alright, let’s dive into this tale—a messy, fascinating tech saga about a gadget dream that never saw the light of day. Grab some popcorn.
So, get this, the Surface Duo was supposed to be a Windows Phone. I mean, yeah, you’d never know it now with its Android vibes and all. But back in 2017, Microsoft had this whole plan, right? There were these nifty images that surfaced—no pun intended—and they spill the beans like nobody’s business on what this thing was supposed to be.
They called it Andromeda. Sounds epic, right? Like some cosmic thing or a far-off galaxy. But this was more down-to-earth—a dual-screen gizmo that was supposed to flip the smartphone world upside down. Custom OS, jazzy features, the whole shebang. Except, well, plot twist! It got canned in 2018. I guess stuff happens (or doesn’t).
Flash forward to now. Microsoft took that original idea and gave it a facelift, boom—Surface Duo, the Android version. But back when this was all starting, the Andromeda vision was like a completely different animal.
Picture a digital notebook in your pocket that also just so happened to be your phone. It was all about the pen, making it stand out from the rest—like “hey, I’m not just another rectangle in your pocket.” Quit imagining though, because, seriously, we only got to hear whispers of it until recently.
Some detective work on this GooFish platform (I know, right? GooFish?) dug up images of these Andromeda prototypes. They’re a bit banged up, but some are still ticking with that secret Windows version that never went public. It’s like discovering buried treasure no one knew about.
Check this out: Andromeda had beefed-up features like a back camera, wireless charging for the Slim Pen, and this sleek metal frame. Fancy, huh? But reality bites, as Surface Duo ditched most of this for lighter materials. Something about weight concerns, they say. Who would’ve thought the road to making things lighter ends up with plastic fiascos like cracking USB-C ports. Oh, Microsoft, you tricky so-and-sos.
And there were twists in the tale—like the 3D object scanner Microsoft was all excited about—thank you, HoloLens fervor—but the chapters on this gadget remain under lock and key. Early concepts even had a narrower, taller shape with, get this, fabric on the outside. A journal you could actually write on. Does that scream “hipster tech dream” or what?
The Windows these devices were being crafted around was something fresh back then. Imagine a universal shell that made dual screens make sense. Sketch right on your lock screen—with the Surface Pen, naturally. I guess it was kind of like having an endless supply of sticky notes and digital doodle pads at your fingertips. Apps could hover over your digital bullet journal like some futuristic take on the good ol’ Moleskine (but way cooler, in theory).
Closure on this? Nah. The drama ended abruptly, leaving Andromeda a phantom limb in Microsoft’s history. I got wind of it back in 2017—it was an electrifying chapter to follow. Now it’s just another tech folktale—a “what if” moment in the chronicles of Windows Phone, the kind of story you’d only believe because it’s so offbeat. So, would Andromeda, in its original mind-blowing idea, have changed the game? Who can say? Guess we gotta live in curiosity.
Got thoughts on this? Go rant in the comments.
