Table of contents for January 2020 in Tech Advisor

Price: £1,699 from fave.co/31H18wa Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 feels fresh again, after two successive generations of relatively stagnant designs. Those eager for a larger computing experience now have a new 15in option, which also boasts something novel: a custom-designed mobile AMD Ryzen processor. In all, it’s an intriguing mix of style and speed. The new Surface Laptop 3 has a modern USB-C port in addition to the tried-and-trusted Surface Connector, expanding your charging and I/O options. Microsoft’s stunning PixelSense display remains, and while the touchpad has grown larger and more functional, you may find the keyboard a tad less enjoyable. But wait, there’s a choice to be made. Microsoft also has a Surface Laptop 3 for Business. This 15in option essentially replicates the consumer version we reviewed, but includes a…

With Microsoft’s Surface Neo, the company looks ahead to a future that’s foldable. At its Surface event, Microsoft unveiled a prototype Surface Neo that will feature a next-gen Lakefield CPU, the thinnest LCD ever made, and a new vision for mobile productivity. It won’t ship until late next year, but what Microsoft showed gives all the other companies trying folding devices a lot to think about. The Surface Neo features two opposing screens that fold on a geared 360-degree hinge. That hinge allows the Neo to be used as a large tablet, as a book-shaped reader, or as a small tablet when the screens are folded back-to-back. Microsoft knows productivity matters whatever the mode, so it’s cleverly designed a magnetic wireless keyboard that attaches to the back of the screen…

Nearly a decade after the fabled Microsoft Courier was strangled in its crib, PC makers desperately want dual-screen hardware to become a thing. Lenovo’s Yoga Book dropped all the way back in 2016, while Asus, HP, and even Intel itself have all teased dual-display devices of their own in recent months. Now all that hardware is getting some much-needed software backup: At its Surface event in New York, Microsoft revealed Windows 10X (ten ten?), a version of the popular operating system designed specifically for Windows devices with multiple displays, and championed by a dual-screen Surface Neo. It’s “made to adapt to you in both form and function”, Microsoft hardware chief Panos Panay crowed during the Neo’s introduction. “Windows has always been about productivity, and now we take that to a…

It seems barely a week goes past without a new Android handset being announced with ever flashier features. On the one hand that’s fantastic news for consumers, but on the other it makes finding the right model difficult. What size screen should you get, what about the storage and will the battery last you a full day? Thankfully we’re here to do all the hard work for you. We’ve tested all the best new models, and over the following pages we reveal our top Android picks. 1. OnePlus 7T Price: £549 from fave.co/2qzeSMG Following a flurry of teasers from OnePlus itself, the company took to the stage at an event in New Delhi, India to reveal the iterative upgrade to the current line-up, the OnePlus 7T. As with previous…

Price: £799 from fave.co/2PbZKPN Most of the improvements in Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 are tied to an Intel ‘Ice Lake’ microprocessor upgrade, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Admittedly, we’ve dinged prior Surface tablets like the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 because they have largely remained static over the past few generations. We can’t quite say the same for the Surface Pro 7, for two reasons: One is that chip, and the other is the addition of a more modern USB-C port. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 starts at £799, and is available in either black or platinum. (The existing Type Covers have several different colour options, including black and the red colour shown here.) That price can quickly climb to £2,249, though, with higher-end. A corporate version running Windows 10…

My Microsoft a-ha! moment came not with the surprise Surface Duo Android phone, nor with the two-screened Surface Neo, but when Microsoft unfolded the wraparound keyboard accessory that shipped with its dual-screen Neo prototype. Why? Because tapping on glass loses its appeal beyond banging out a quick text message. Actual work requires a keyboard with travel, in much the same way that we wear comfortable, cushioned shoes for walking or running. The Neo’s keyboard is emblematic of what Microsoft is trying to achieve: flexibility. We’ve previously told you what microprocessor diversity means for Microsoft, as well as its chip partners Qualcomm, AMD, and Intel. What we thought then was that Qualcomm would enable all-day battery life (which emerged as the Surface Pro X), AMD would pump up the Surface’s graphics…

Microsoft’s Surface Headphones probably hitched themselves too closely to Cortana, turning what was an intriguing product into a trinket that was handed out at a Surface fan event before Microsoft’s Surface launch started. With Microsoft’s Surface Earbuds, Microsoft seems determined not to make the same mistake. That’s not a slight against Microsoft. The Headphones offered powerful, selective noise-cancelling technologies, but Microsoft positioned them as a Cortana accessory. When Cortana was de-emphasized, down went the Headphones. With the Earbuds, Cortana appears just once on the Earbuds’ one-page product sheet. Instead, the secret sauce is its cloud transcription capabilities, plus what Microsoft is touting as a superior audio solution for apps like Spotify. At $249 (£tbc), the Surface Earbuds are more than the Apple AirPods (£199) – which will inevitably be seen…

Price: £999 from fave.co/2qwef6z Microsoft’s Surface Pro X adds a formerly missing piece to the Surface line-up: an always-on, always-connected device that enables productivity wherever you go. What it changes on the inside – especially the custom Snapdragon 8cx-based processor that Microsoft co-designed with Qualcomm – is reflected by dramatic changes on the outside: a pair of USB-C ports, a rechargeable pen tray...and the unfortunate removal of the headphone jack, USB-A, and the microSD slot. There’s also a SIM slot for connectivity, though it’s well hidden. The 14in Surface Pro X tablet is priced from £999 to £1,819 and is available now. That base price is a few hundred more than the cheapest £799 configuration of the Intel-based Surface Pro 7. As shown below, users will get to select from…

Microsoft’s Surface Duo shocked the tech world this morning. Everything else the company revealed at its event in New York was foretold in leaks over the days before, but not this dual-screen smartphone, the company’s first foray into mobile since the long, agonizing death of Windows Phone. This time, however, Microsoft is partnering with Google to run the phone on a special version of Android, guaranteeing no app gap. The Android world already has Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, and the Surface Duo works similarly, opening like a book. Microsoft’s version reveals not a bendable OLED display, however, but rather two 5.6in displays mounted side by side. Like its newborn cousin the Surface Neo, there’s a very visible hinge in the middle of the Surface Duo. Considering the torrent of troubles Samsung’s…

Price: Free Microsoft’s Windows 10 November 2019 Update is deliberately low-key, primarily designed to optimize Windows rather than pile on a boatload of new features. If nothing else, Microsoft is likely clearing the path for the bigger splash expected from the Windows 10 20H1 ‘feature update’, expected to ship around March 2020. Microsoft recently said that the November 2019 Update (also known as ‘19H2’ or version 1909) is essentially finalized, and has been released to the Windows 10 Insider ‘Release Preview’ ring. Here are some of the features you can expect to see in the 19H2 update, based on our time with the Windows Insider previews that were released just before launch. File Explorer integrates with Windows Search In the early days of Windows 10, files stored on OneDrive were…