The Foldable Future
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2020
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Microsoft's dual screen Surface Duo became available for sale. Like many other folding devices, the Duo has been marketed as a product for busy workers on the go. But now, months into a pandemic where many workers are still sheltering in place (if they're lucky enough to have a job at all), the appeal of such gadgets is questionable at best. Nevertheless, Microsoft and other companies soldier on, searching for ways to make their expensive devices feel relevant. Foldables are here, whether people want them or not.
This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED senior associate editor Julian Chokkattu joins us to talk about Microsoft's "not-a-phone" phone and the future of foldables.
Show Notes:
Read more about Microsoft’s Surface Duo here. Read all of WIRED’s coverage of folding devices.
Recommendations:
Julian recommends rearranging your workspace if you work from home. Mike recommends Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce.
Julian Chokkattu can be found on Twitter @JulianChokkattu. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our executive producer is Alex Kapelman (@alexkapelman). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, everyone. Welcome to Gadget Lab. I am Michael Kalori, a senior editor at Wired. My usual co-host, |
| 0:13.0 | Lauren Good, is out this week, but I am not alone. I would like to welcome back to the show for the |
| 0:18.9 | second week in a row in an unprecedented move, |
| 0:21.2 | Wired Senior Associate Editor Julian Chokatu. Welcome back to the show, Julian. |
| 0:26.2 | Hello, thank you for having me again. |
| 0:28.0 | Of course. You're going to be the expert, and I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions. |
| 0:31.6 | I hope that's cool. That is totally fine. |
| 0:33.7 | All right. We have you on because it's a topic that you've been covering quite a lot lately. |
| 0:40.8 | We're going to talk about foldables, phones, tablets, e-readers, you name it. |
| 0:46.7 | Somebody wants to put a hinge on it. Now, these devices are strange. They're a little bit awkward. |
| 0:51.7 | They're expensive. And later in the show, we're going to talk about the broader foldables market, which is oddly growing more and more crowded. |
| 0:58.9 | But first we're going to look at one newly available gadget, the Microsoft Duo. |
| 1:03.5 | On Wednesday of this week, Microsoft announced that its dual-screen hybrid phone tablet thingy is going to be available for purchase. |
| 1:11.6 | You can buy it right now. |
| 1:12.7 | It ships in early September, and the price starts at 1399. |
| 1:17.0 | We've talked about the duo on the show before, but that was before the pandemic, and the way |
| 1:21.8 | that people use their devices has changed considerably in the months since then. |
| 1:27.3 | Before Microsoft marketed the duo as a multitasking machine for busy professionals who |
| 1:31.8 | are always buzzing from meeting to meeting. |
| 1:34.0 | But now, of course, it's had to adapt its pitch to reflect the reality that much of its |
| 1:38.5 | potential customer base is stuck working at home if they even still have a job. |
| 1:43.4 | But let's start by backing up and |
... |
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