Microsoft yesterday announced its new Microsoft Surface Duo and is now inviting developers to start building or enhancing apps for dual-screen devices.
The best way to start is by using Jetpack Window Manager, according to Guy Merin, the senior director of engineering at Microsoft, in a blog post. It has a FoldingFeature class providing device-specific information so that a single code base can adapt to different dual-screen and foldable devices.
“For app developers, the hardware differences will not materially affect the way you design and build dual-screen apps – the Jetpack Window Manager APIs will automatically provide the correct information for each device,” Merin wrote.
The new Surface Duo 2 has slightly taller and narrower individual panes and the hinge area is smaller. Also, the screen resolution changes are now reflected in the resource qualifiers that developers can use to load resources and layouts.
The Surface Duo 2 Android emulator provides a complete dual-screen experience for running Android 11, simulating the hinge with a 3D modes view, supporting Jetpack Window Manager APIs for adaptive UI layouts, and more.
“The Surface Duo developer experience team always meets developers where they are at: our emulator and tools run great on Windows, macOS, and Linux and we provide guidance and code samples across a range of Android-supported platforms and languages,” Merin added.
