Microsoft rolls out a new update for Surface Duo SDK Preview

Last month Microsoft announced the general availability of Surface Duo SDK Preview for developers. The company has now rolled out the first update for Surface Duo SDK Preview which brings new changes and improvements.

• Changes to how size is reported to an App: We have been busy setting up an App Compat lab where we test against the top apps from the Google Play Store.We found some inconsistencies in how activity, window, and display metrics were returned to apps and games. We have made the changes to how size is reported so that the app gets sizes appropriate to the displays it is on. In the case of:
  • For apps on a single display, windows and display metrics will be related to a single display
  • For apps across both displays, window and display metrics will be in relation to both displays, including the display mask
• Updates to DisplayMask API: Display Metrics based on apps window and DisplayMask API change to return hinge mask relative to apps window:

  Display Mask has been updated to return a bounding rectangle relative to the display metrics based on the app context. When running in single screen the DisplayMask will now return an empty list it will not intersect with the window. When running in dual screen the display mask bounding rectangle shall identify the area under the hardware hinge in relation to the app window

  As consumer of this API apps run in one of the following scenarios:

  • App running in single screen mode: DisplayMask will be an empty list
  • App running in spanned mode: DisplayMask = hinge mask rectangle
• Surface Duo Image Build Flavor is now a USER build and not USERDEBUG: This image refresh contains a USER build flavor which will result in less logging and faster image access within the emulator.Note that the ADB commands will continue to work as usual without the need to enable Developer Options in settings.

The new update is available for Mac, Windows and Ubuntu and can be downloaded using this link. You can head to Microsoft’s official announcement to read in-depth about the new changes.