Project Andromeda: The secret history of Windows on Surface Duo

Source: Windows Cardinal

Here at Windows Central, we've been following Microsoft's Surface Duo projection for quite some time. We first wrote about Microsoft'southward dual-screen pocket PC efforts under the codename Andromeda in 2022, and I had started hearing nigh the projection a considerable time before so. It was initially going to be a Windows device, and kickstart Microsoft's mobile efforts with a brand new, modern version of Windows explicitly built for this new form factor.

Of course, this never happened. The Surface Duo we have today is an Android device, and Microsoft says that it went with Android considering it'due south the right choice for the form factor. While true, information technology'south certainly not what Microsoft had intended to do in the outset. It came to this conclusion only afterwards trying and failing to bring to life a new, ambitious version of Windows designed for a dual-screen pocket PC.

I'm frequently asked about what this era of Surface Duo'south development was like. Then, here's what I know, based on conversations with people who worked on the projection and photos and video I've seen of the software and hardware over the final four years.

Pre-Andromeda

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft has been boot around the thought of a dual-screen device since as early on as 2009, with the now infamous Microsoft Courier. Of course, the Courier never saw the calorie-free of day every bit it didn't align with Microsoft's Windows strategy at the time, but as we now know, the Courier was just the commencement. Microsoft would keep to research and prototype dual-screen devices for years to come.

Although non direct related, those working on what ultimately became the Surface Duo took plenty of inspiration from the enquiry and development that was put into the Courier. Microsoft began working on what I'd consider to exist what eventually became the Surface Duo in the late 2022 or early 2022 timeframe, a few years after the Courier project was put to rest.

Intel and ARM were considered.

Around this time, Microsoft had started conceptualizing the idea of a (possibly Intel powered) dual-screen pocketable Surface running what would eventually become Windows 10. In these early internal concepts, Microsoft showcased an adjustable UI that would switch between mobile and desktop experiences when moving betwixt unmarried-screen, dual-screen, and a large external display.

The dummy prototype hardware featured a more traditional smartphone shape housed in a thin metal chassis with pen back up, and I'g told they called this early prototype thought the "Surface Pocket." It appears the powers that be at Microsoft liked the idea, and work began on what would eventually become the Surface Duo soon after.

A lot would alter between those early on concept ideas and the final production. Everything from the shape, size, processor, market positioning, and the operating arrangement would be dissimilar past the time the product was publicly appear in Oct 2022. Today, I want to detail that journey and talk about what this device would be like had it shipped with Windows back in 2022.

Project Andromeda

Piece of work on Microsoft'due south dual-screen telephone started picking up steam in early 2022, under the codename Andromeda. Microsoft started development on the Andromeda project with the mindset that it was going to be a Windows device. It was decided early on that Andromeda was not going to exist powered by an Intel processor, opting for an ARM chip instead.

Information technology became apparent rather quickly that Microsoft needed to build a new, modernistic version of Windows to fully realize its vision for this device. The existing version of Windows x was and is not optimized for pocketable devices, and Windows 10 Mobile wasn't adaptable enough or where Microsoft needed information technology to exist for a dual-screen form gene.

Microsoft wanted the best of both worlds, a lightweight and legacy-free Os experience found on Windows 10 Mobile, paired with the versatility and characteristic-rich nature of Windows 10 desktop, something especially important for Microsoft'due south Continuum plans on Andromeda. A version of Windows similar this didn't exist at the time, so Microsoft needed to build it.

WCOS + CShell

Microsoft began work on what would eventually become Windows Cadre Os (WCOS,) a modern and legacy-free Windows foundation that is modular and easily adaptable to new and existing device form factors. WCOS originally started as something specific to Andromeda but quickly grew into something much more extensive and is now what also powers HoloLens 2 and Windows 10X today. Andromeda's version of WCOS was fittingly codenamed "AndromedaOS."

Andromeda was going to exist Microsoft's first device to transport with a version of Windows congenital on WCOS and showcase to the world the hereafter of Windows for both developers and customers. WCOS was and nonetheless is meaning to Microsoft, every bit information technology's substantially a better version of Windows 10. It'south more modern, secure, and lightweight, with better battery life and faster Os updates.

In improver to the modern cadre, Microsoft likewise needed an adjustable UI that would work in conjunction with Andromeda'due south many postures. It couldn't use the existing Windows Crush from Windows 10 desktop or Windows x Mobile, because those shells are not adjustable and are dependent on legacy components that are no longer part of WCOS.

So, Microsoft began work on a Composable Shell (CShell) that would allow WCOS to feature modern Windows Shell experiences that could adapt and exist shared beyond unlike WCOS variants. This would exist vital for a device similar Andromeda, which could swiftly go from a single-screen phone to a dual-screen tablet and dock to a larger brandish for a desktop experience too.

Andromeda was pioneering two massive software efforts with WCOS and CShell

Andromeda was pioneering 2 massive software efforts at Microsoft with WCOS and CShell, with the hope that piece of work put into this project could later be reused on different products thank you to the modular and adaptive nature of both. This was a huge effort internally, and people at Microsoft were excited about Andromeda, and the future of Windows it was pioneering.

Withal, it became clear rather quickly that this project would accept a while, and not exist without issue. Information technology turns out that modernizing and modularizing the Windows core and shell experiences isn't an easy job, and the project would soon fall behind schedule. WCOS itself wouldn't be set for self hosters and engineers to actively test on until sometime in 2022.

It was around this aforementioned time that Microsoft decided to pull the plug on Windows ten Mobile. The visitor didn't want to build stereotypical smartphones anymore, and Satya Nadella was quoted maxim that its futurity phones would not look like normal phones, referring to Project Andromeda.

Interestingly, because WCOS wasn't entirely prepare for selfhosters until mid-2017, early CShell work was carried out on top of Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft had originally planned to send CShell on Windows 10 Mobile nether the codename Pheonix, but that programme very apace went away once the company decided to current of air down its existing phone efforts in early 2022.

The Journal Experience

Andromeda's ink-focused dwelling screen feel. Source: Windows Central

Total disclosure, screenshots in this article are recreations of existent lawmaking that I've seen in photos and videos. I'm unable to mail service the actual fabric to protect sources, and then I've faithfully recreated them pixel for pixel.

Throughout 2022, the user experience and feature ready that Microsoft was building for Andromeda came into focus. When I first saw photos of Andromeda running its version of WCOS, I was shocked and excited to meet that information technology was not like any version of Windows before it. Information technology was a sort of hybrid betwixt Windows Phone, Windows Desktop, and the Courier.

AndromedaOS featured a user experience built around a journal app, codenamed Jamdani. This app mimicked a real journal, with virtual pages that could exist turned and was designed primarily for pen input. You could attach virtual sticky notes, images, and files, and comment on them. What'south interesting is that this journal experience was the home screen.

Instead of being taken to a traditional app launcher with a custom wallpaper and app list, the home screen was this interactive journal. This is what I mean when I say the projection took inspiration from the Courier. Microsoft was really focused on the pen experiences with Andromeda, and that's reaffirmed by the journal experience it was building for the device.

The periodical experience would afterwards be replaced with what became the Microsoft Whiteboard app. Many of the experiences between the journal app on Andromeda and Whiteboard app on Windows 10 are much the same, so if you're interested in checking out what this experience was going to exist like, download the Whiteboard app.

The Andromeda UX

Source: Windows Key

As far as I'one thousand aware, very few outside of Microsoft have always seen AndromedaOS. While I'1000 unable to share existent screenshots, I have recreated images that I've seen of sometime Andromeda prototypes running Windows so that you tin have a better idea equally to what things looked like. I'll explain the UI as we become.

This start image is of a build of AndromedaOS from around mid-2018. At this bespeak, Microsoft had switched out the journal app for the Whiteboard app, but it functioned very similarly. In the bottom left corner is the Start push button, where yous'd usually notice it on Windows. In the far right is the Cortana button, which also housed the Action Middle.

Source: Windows Central

The OS was heavily gesture-based, with a swipe in from the left opening the Start carte, and swipe in from the correct opening the Action Eye. A swipe down from the top revealed a Command Center for things like Aeroplane Fashion and Bluetooth settings, and a swipe up would reveal Job View or allow the user to drag an app to span information technology beyond both screens.

Whatever app the user would open up would sit down on height of the journal, pregnant the journal was always available to the user by swiping an app away to go dwelling. I'thou told Microsoft was working on the way to disable the periodical if you prefer a more traditional habitation experience, but I never saw the option in action.

Source: Windows Key

The Activeness Heart is rather interesting on AndromedaOS. Microsoft had combined both Cortana and the Activity Center into one expanse, with Cortana now being the "managing director" of your notifications. Notifications would be sorted into the Action Center, and the Cortana icon would pulsate in the bottom right to alarm you when yous've missed a notification.

Andromeda Continuum

Source: Windows Central

1 of the reasons Microsoft wanted to build a Composable Shell was so that information technology could bundle multiple shells into one version of Windows for device course factors that could have reward of it. In improver to AndromedaOS, Microsoft as well began work on a version of WCOS for desktop, codenamed Polaris. This was essentially going to supercede Windows ten S.

Polaris featured a more traditional desktop environment, except rebuilt from the ground up using modern code. Microsoft were edifice a version of WCOS that looked like Windows x, but with an entirely mod core and no legacy components. It was an exciting prospect, and from memory, I retrieve the builds featuring fluid animations for things similar the Get-go menu.

Source: Windows Key

Because of the nature of WCOS, Microsoft could recycle the piece of work it was doing with Polaris and employ it on AndromedaOS for Continuum. When a user docked Andromeda to a larger display, it would display the Polaris Composer, and the idea was that with Andromeda, you could bring an entire PC with you in your pocket.

Continuum on Andromeda was called Productivity Mode, I believe, and was going to be a fully-featured desktop environment, non similar Continuum on Windows 10 Mobile was. Polaris, like AndromedaOS, were both postponed indefinitely effectually the same fourth dimension.

The Andromeda Hardware

Andromeda prototype with photographic camera "divot." Source: Marques Brownlee

The Andromeda hardware prototypes are notable because they are somewhat different from the aircraft product we know as Surface Duo. Everything from the outer material to the number of cameras inverse between 2022 and 2022. There were four applied science variants of the Andromeda hardware, which get back a handful of years.

Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to share photos of the prototypes I've seen for obvious reasons. I tin describe the hardware, even so, and luckily Microsoft has already given us a cursory wait at an Andromeda epitome as Panos Panay was spotted using one when briefing Marques Brownlee on YouTube. So I'll be using screengrabs from his video.

It'southward worth mentioning that not all Andromeda prototypes were equal. Some of the features I mention here are non nowadays on the device showcased in the images in this commodity. With that in heed, let's outset with the outer vanquish, which was not glass. Unlike Surface Duo, Andromeda used a metal chassis for its outer shell, providing a very dissimilar feel in the hand.

Metallic frame with antenna bands on Andromeda prototype. Source: Marques Brownlee

The devices themselves were also not white, featuring a darker greyness/black advent. The shapes and sizes between Andromeda and Surface Duo are somewhat similar, which I notice to be fascinating. Microsoft has been hell-aptitude on making this product as sparse as possible, and its shape and size pattern has been deliberate since the early on days.

Because Andromeda was metal, the sides of the device needed antenna bands, a pattern tendency found on nigh smartphones. When Microsoft moved to glass on Surface Duo, information technology also switched out metal for polycarbonate around the edges, allowing them to rework the antenna system and hide those antenna bands.

Some of the most significant changes betwixt Surface Duo and Andromeda are with the cameras. Earlier Andromeda prototypes had three cameras, two external and i selfie camera on the inside above the left brandish. This stands in stark contrast to Surface Duo, which has just one camera on the inside to a higher place the correct display.

I'chiliad told the external cameras on Andromeda were a 12MP main shooter, and a monochrome lens, which, when paired together, enabled unique Mixed Reality experiences that the company was planning to push button with this device. A user could scan a 3D object with Andromeda and view information technology in the existent world on a HoloLens 2, for case.

Andromeda's camera bump. Source: Marques Brownlee

The chief shooter featured a prominent camera bump, which caused issues for the grade factor. Equally Andromeda (and Surface Duo) are designed to fold 360-degrees, the existence of a camera bump meant the device couldn't fold all the way. This was a problem when using the device in single-screen fashion when taking telephone calls, for example, as the production wouldn't sit affluent with itself.

To gainsay this, Microsoft built in a photographic camera "divot" on the opposite side of the external chassis, then that when in single-screen mode, the camera bump didn't affect the grade factor. This looked unsightly in the photos I've seen, and I think the Surface design squad agreed, which is why we don't have an external camera on the Surface Duo.

Closer look at the photographic camera "divot." Source: Marques Brownlee

It also took up a lot of extra space on the inside of the product, equally you at present had an expanse of dead space but and then the photographic camera crash-land wouldn't touch the usability of the device when folded 360-degrees. I guess between the last Andromeda prototypes and the start Surface Duo prototypes, Microsoft decided not to compromise on its external blueprint. A determination I agree with.

The afterwards prototypes featured 6GB RAM and a Snapdragon 845, which was current at the fourth dimension. Had Andromeda not been delayed, the production would have launched with the latest specs for 2022. Earlier prototypes featured a Snapdragon 835, meaning the Andromeda grade factor went through three whole processor generations earlier finally beingness released as Surface Duo.

Because of how pen focused Andromeda was, the hardware had defended magnets that allowed the Slim Pen to attach to the front. Finally, some prototypes featured what people have called a "Peek Mode" push, located on one side of the device. The button, when pressed, would snap the device open to a certain angle to reveal the lock screen appointment, time, and missed notifications.

The idea for Peek Fashion makes much more sense with this push. Still, it's completely missing on the shipping version of Surface Duo. Hopefully, that idea makes a return in the futurity, equally information technology sounds super cool.

Behind Schedule

And so, why did the Andromeda project ultimately become canceled? There'due south no one specific reason, I'k told. It was a combination of many things; the lack of mobile apps being a principal concern. Merely, a handful of sources have also mentioned that quality concern was another big player in its cancelation. Builds were buggy, it wasn't meeting deadlines, and people on the project were becoming increasingly frustrated.

The beginning big milestone that the project missed was crucially related to fighting the app gap trouble. Microsoft had originally forecasted plans to unveil Andromeda and WCOS to the world in March 2022, and begin aircraft an "Insider Edition" device to developers so they could kickoff building apps for this new form gene.

Had Microsoft stuck to this timeline, the product would take "officially" launched in the fall of 2022, giving developers time to port their apps to UWP and prefer dual-screen scenarios. But when Microsoft failed to deliver this initial developer preview, the time to come of Andromeda was put in doubtfulness.

Project Andromeda, similar about projects internally at Microsoft, went through a weekly review process with the senior leadership squad (SLT.) Information technology'due south in these weekly reviews where those in accuse were updated with the progress of features, bug fixes, timelines, and more.

I empathize that information technology was in these SLT meetings that the decision was fabricated to postpone Andromeda indefinitely. Again, sources have pointed to a number of different reasons every bit to why this conclusion was made. Several sources have mentioned that the SLT grew tired of the constant problems and delays, and a decision to postpone was somewhat driven by this.

Andromeda was postponed, with no sign of ever returning.

The constant delays were frustrating to the Surface team above all else, who really wanted to send a Surface phone in this form factor. But at some signal in the middle of 2022, the decision was made to postpone the project indefinitely, sealing the fate for AndromedaOS and Windows on phones.

The project was behind schedule and showed no sign of communicable up. This, added to the fact that the product had a major app gap problem made the determination to abolish the project the right one. Microsoft did consider emulating Android apps on top of Windows before this, but at that place was no feasible end-user experience that could be congenital around sideloading Android APKs.

As far every bit I'k enlightened, many of the people working Andromeda moved over to Windows 10X, which, thanks to the nature of WCOS, were able to reuse much of the work that was originally put into AndromedaOS. Windows 10X, in many ways, is a spiritual successor to both AndromedaOS and Polaris.

Project Epsilon

Source: Microsoft

While AndromedaOS was no longer happening, the Surface team still had the hardware ready to get, and they still wanted to send it. At some signal in late 2022 or early 2022, the decision was made to turn Andromeda into an Android device. This was kept very placidity, as most people who worked on the Windows version had no idea this decision had been made.

When Microsoft decided to repurpose Andromeda with Android, it as well decided to change its codename. This was likely for two reasons. I, to cease people similar me from finding new information about its progress, and two, because the "Andromeda" codename was very much tied to Windows. After all, it's what started the whole WCOS thing.

When Microsoft did movement to Android, it didn't immediately have a team on manus that could jump in and begin working on the Android Os enhancements and customizations information technology needed to bring this grade factor to life, so it contracted third-party vendors such as Movial to do that initial groundwork. Many of those 3rd-party vendor employees are now full fourth dimension at Microsoft.

Microsoft ported several Windows drivers to Android for Surface Duo.

I am told that because Epsilon was based on Andromeda, a Windows production, Microsoft had to port over some Windows drivers to Android, including the touch and pen driver, as well as Microsoft's ain UEFI. I think hearing stories about early Epsilon prototypes having the affect driver crash very ofttimes, which might exist why Panos Panay didn't touch the device on stage in October 2022.

Equally the Surface team waited for the software to be done, it got to work on readjusting the hardware throughout 2022. It removed the external cameras, swapped out the exterior material from metal to glass, reworked the antenna system, moved the internal camera, and polished things up for the hardware's unveiling in October 2022.

I believe Epsilon went through three engineering verification testing (EVT) stages earlier entering production. The early on units didn't have a front-facing flash, at least non to the naked eye. Either mode, the Surface Duo, while missing some of the features and ideas Microsoft were experimenting with on Andromeda, is a clean, concise, and deliberate hardware design.

A long journeying

Early foldable patent. Source: Microsoft

Surface Duo, in my opinion, has the most interesting and dramatic development journeying of any Surface product to appointment. It's a device Panos himself has wanted to build for a long fourth dimension, but it was constantly held back because of unfinished software. Microsoft tried difficult to deliver a version of Windows for Surface Duo, just it failed.

For now, Windows for pocket-sized devices is expressionless, and I'grand not aware of any plans internally to revive that idea in the futurity. There's no plan to bring Windows 10X to Surface Duo, and the company is now all-in on bringing Android to life on Surface Duo and future versions of the hardware.

To the dismay of Windows fans everywhere, the decision to motion to Android on Surface Duo was the right one. Had Microsoft shipped it with Windows, the app gap would accept killed information technology anyway. At to the lowest degree with Android, in that location'due south no firsthand software business organisation that kills the product outright. Surface Duo two is in the works, and Microsoft has some big plans for Android.

And so, that'south Andromeda. It's been a long ride, for Microsoft and for fans. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Updated September eighteen, 2022: Clarified that initial CShell work on Windows x Mobile may take been intended to send at some indicate, but never did once Microsoft decided to kill off Windows Phone in early 2022.

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