What Microsoft Needs for 'Surface Phone' Success

There seems to exist some sort of underground consensus that Microsoft volition reboot its smartphone business concern with a "Surface phone."

HTML MODULE 4010

Microsoft sees what works and and then copies it, adding a few plain needed features. If it's truly trying mobile again, at that place are a few things this Surface device will need.

Big Screen: I find huge phones to be a joke, but people love them for their versatility and generous size. So, permit's assume a Surface telephone would have a big "surface."

Stylus: Big screens are easier to navigate with a stylus, maybe that newly patented stylus that kind of folds lengthwise to be half flat when stored.

Camera: At this point, smartphones need incredible image processing. When y'all look at photographs from the iPhone or any of the tiptop camera phones, they are pretty amazing. What I would beloved to see are four sensors, creating the ability to indistinguishable the in one case-famous Nimslo 3D camera. This was a very unique product that produced 3D Lenticular prints using a plastic overlay that gave yous that 3D postcard outcome. There is no reason this cannot exist done using digital engineering science.

Android Compatibility: This would be hot. Give the phone the proprietary Windows Bone simply code it to take reward of Android apps; iOS app compatibility would exist even more heady, but Apple would never allow it.

Deject Services: A Surface telephone must involve the deject since Microsoft is banking its future on deject services of all sorts. Microsoft is also in the unique position to make information technology a seamless, built-in Skype experience, like Apple has with FaceTime.

Total PC Compatibility: This is where Microsoft's cloud-centric nature would come in handy. If you could dock this "pocket PC" and attach a screen, keyboard, and mouse, you'd have a desktop replacement. Using the cloud as the hd in the sky (with optional attached storage if desired), it would be the most mobile desktop PC ever, which only happens to be your phone and camera.

This thought is non new; I wrote near information technology 20 years ago. But information technology's never been fully implemented considering it takes a ascendant desktop Os maker to plough it into somthing fully uniform. Apple could accept done something like this just instead optimized iOS for phones and separated it entirely from macOS.

When will it happen? I'd guess in 2022, if at all. Microsoft never seems to exist in much of a rush.

Nearly John C. Dvorak

John C. Dvorak

John C. Dvorak is a columnist for PCMag.com and the co-host of the twice weekly podcast, the No Calendar Show. His work is licensed effectually the earth. Previously a columnist for Forbes, PC/Calculating, Calculator Shopper, MacUser, Barrons, the December Professional as well as other newspapers and magazines. Former editor and consulting editor for InfoWorld, he besides appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, SF Examiner, and the Vancouver Sun. He was on the start-up team for C/Cyberspace besides equally ZDTV. At ZDTV (and TechTV) he hosted Silicon Spin for four years doing thou live and alive-to-tape TV shows. His Internet show Cranky Geeks was considered a …