Try an e -book in "Surface Duo 2".It can be held half -open like a paperback book, and you can turn the page with one hand.

　Microsoft's "Surface Duo 2" is an Android smartphone with two screens. When folded, it becomes the same size as the iPad mini when it is spread, and it can be used in various scenes. [See another image about this article] This product has a structure close to paper books, which connects two screens on the left and right, and can be held in half, so e -books are like a paperback book. Suitable for reading in style. Nevertheless, it is easy to imagine that the usability changes greatly depending on how optimized the app is optimized, as the connecting area of ​​the screen also occurs. This time, using the equipment borrowed from the manufacturer, we will check the status of e -book applications at the moment, about one month after its launch in Japan, and how to use this product in enjoying e -books. To go. ■ The size and weight are "iPad mini that can be folded" First, let's take a look at the specifications. This product is characterized by having a seam in the center because the left and right screens are connected with hinges instead of bending one screen in the center, such as the so -called Fol Double smartphone. It is also possible to display both screens as one screen, but it can be said that it is a product that assumes a method of displaying separate applications on the left and right screen. The screen size is 8 in the expanded state.It is equivalent to the iPad mini because it is type 3 (2,688 x 1,892 dots).5 in the folded state.8 type (1,344 x 1,892 dots) is the same size as a smartphone. However, the aspect ratio is 13: 9, unlike the current smartphone, the width is wide, and the total length is short. Therefore, whether you have one hand or put it in your pocket, it is a different thing. If anything, it is close to a paperback book. The weight is 284g and is almost equal to the iPad mini (293g). If you haven't actually seen this product and don't seem to be on display in the neighborhood, pick up your iPad mini at a nearby mass retailer and think, "I see, this is folded into two." You should be able to grasp the size and weight of the spread. The processor is Snapdragon 888 and the memory is 8GB, which is equivalent to a high -end smartphone. There are three types of storage, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. The resolution is 401ppi, so there is no shortage of use in e -books. The OS is Android 11. The fingerprint authentication sensor is integrated with the power button, and is located on the right side with a spread. The volume button is also provided directly above it. In the folded state, there is no sub window outside the main unit, but the hinge is equipped with an indicator, and if you look at it, you can see the status such as incoming calls. However, the content is limited to basic items such as telephone, message, clock, battery level, and there is no function to display any app notification. ■ The operation method is intuitive. The setup that is concerned about the hidden part is a complicated content with the basic flow of Android, sign -in to the Microsoft account, and the procedure unique to this product with the screen split left and right. However, if you follow the instructions, you won't get lost. The app consists of Google apps such as Gmail and Google Calendar, in addition to Microsoft's office -related and edge apps. The apps around the e -books are not particularly pre -installed, so you will choose and introduce them yourself. The home screen is opened on the left and right screen, and when swiped in the horizontal direction, slide one screen at a time. Unlike the e -books described later, it is interesting to slide on a single screen unit. If you swipe from the bottom of the screen to the top, the drower of the application is displayed from the top to the bottom, and the notification area is displayed as the Android standard operation method. To switch the app to the full screen display, drag the screen from the bottom to the top, display the app list, and drag it in the center. Since the range is shown, if you release your finger as it is, it will be enlarged to the full screen. It is also possible to set the automatic span in an app unit and display the full screen from startup. In this way, the operation itself is easy and you get used to it, but what you care about is the connecting part of the left and right screen. Actual measurement for the connecting part of the screen of this product 3.There is a width of about 5 mm (black belt), but it is treated as a data displayed in this area on the display.In other words, if you display the full screen across the left and right screen, this 3 is always 3.The width of about 5mm is invisible.Start Excel as a trial and display a worksheet with the cell width at equal interval, and 3 in the black belt..Rather than shifting to the right of 5mm width, Part 3.It can be seen that the place that overlaps the 5mm width is hidden. This specification causes many problems in e -book use, so I will look in detail after this. ■ Comic display should be divided into comics and textbooks, as well as comics and textbooks, regardless of the app, regardless of the app. For the sample, the comic uses Ume's "Tokyo Toy Boku Seeds Volume 1" and "Dai -Tokyo Toy Box Volume 1", and the text is Soseki Natsume "Botchan". Each company's apps use the latest version as of February 24. For devices with special design like this product, e -book apps require tuning according to that, but at the time of this article, about one month has already passed since the launch of this product in Japan. 。 The company may have already decided on a policy of whether to respond, and if necessary, the update may have been implemented. The first thing I want to keep is to be "horizontal" when the screen is expanded. In many Fol Double smartphones, the aspect ratio was "vertical" even if the screen was spread, so when the comic was displayed as a spread display, it was necessary to rotate the main unit 90 degrees and turn it sideways. This is because Android cannot be opened unless the screen is horizontally long. Therefore, if you try to display the spread with many Fol double smartphones, it will not be displayed one page on the left and right screen, but the upper half of each page is on one screen, and the lower half is half to the other screen. It was in a rotated state. It was a way that could not occur in paper books, so the discomfort was great. However, since this product is "vertical" in a closed state, and "horizontal" in the open state, when the comic is displayed in an open state, one page is displayed on the left and right screen properly. Therefore, like a real book, you can read the page without any discomfort, even if you hold the page in a half -open state. This is controlled on the Android side, not the app side, so from the app, it is the same as the behavior when switching vertically and horizontally with a general tablet. Therefore, in principle, all apps can be displayed without any problems. As far as I tried this time, 7 major e -book store apps in Japan (Kindle, Rakuten KOBO, DMM Books, EBOOKJAPAN, BookLive!, Book Walker, Kinokuniya Bookstore Kinoppy) have no problems, all of which switch between single pages and spreads. I did it. For the electronic comic site, we tried Yanmaga WEB, Jump Plus, and next Young Jump on the browser -based, but the spread display was performed without any problems. However, if the viewer is not compatible with the spread display in the vertical scrolling main, it will be a strange state of vertical scrolling that displays one page in the width. Also, when displaying with a browser, if the viewer does not have a full -screen display function, the address bar on the screen may be displayed. However, this is an exception, and if the original view is properly compatible with the spread display, there is no problem in principle. The neck is the spread of the spread. Since this product is also treated as the central seam as the data is displayed, the page that is open at the drawing stage will not be visible. In general, it is difficult to see the part of the throat in a paper book, but it is a great sense of incongruity when it is filled with black belt. Similarly, the viewer where the first page (cover) is displayed in the center of the spread is also in the center of the page. The single story that is common in electronic comic apps is often the case of content from the first page without the cover. This is not the same as a product with one screen with one screen. ■ Is there a problem other than the seam? The text is that there is a lot of habit of comics that have almost no problem in total. This is because, unlike a comic that was originally separated by page, the text of a variable layout overlaps to the seam part of this product due to the settings of the line interval, etc., and it may be invisible. From. The Kindle Store is the most common example, and there are frequent cases where the line is invisible at the seam. If you swipe the screen and shift it in the horizontal direction, you can read it properly, but it will be painful to do it every time. What users can do is to make the line spacing as widely as possible in the display setting, and make the letters less likely to be the seam. However, these apps have already become a minority, and all apps, except Kindle and BookLive!, Have a margin in the center of the center, and the texture does not overlap. It is a mechanism. As long as I remember, most of this specification has been around for a long time, regardless of the release of this product, but it can be said that it has been dealt with. In any case, the text display is completely different for each application, including the margins of top, down, left and right, so please check with the following photos. This time, for comparison, it is arranged in the Android tablet, which is close to this product, which is close to this product, which is close to this product. Even with the same Android app, different devices should be easy to understand how the appearance changes (you can see that most apps can have margins in the center even if they are not this product). However, even if there is no problem in the display of such content, there are applications that are not displayed by overlapping the font size, margin, page sending effect, etc. overlapping this area. BookLive! And Kinokuniya Bookstore Kinoppy is it, and to open these icons, you have to return to a single page. I didn't notice this at first, and I looked around for the setting screen as it was. In addition, there is an application that the font size becomes extremely small when returning from the spread to the single page display. Rakuten KOBO and DMM Books in this pattern, if you only want to temporarily display a single page before and after switching to the spread display, but if you try to read while switching between spread and single page, you will not adjust the font size every time. It is troublesome. In this way, all apps were equivalent to 2-4 points in five -stage evaluation, and an app with no complaints was not found in the apps that were evaluated this time. The only problem so far, eBookjapan, whose name has not been mentioned, can only change the font size in 5 levels, and among them, there are only two stages that can be used practically in this product, so it is actively recommended. Hesitate. In any case, the Fol Double type smartphone that can be displayed as a complete screen, and the iPad mini and docomo D-42A, which are one-piece tablet in the first place, are better. If Android 12L, whose OS itself considers folding, appears, the evaluation around here may change, but at this stage there is no reference, and the implementation seems to be different. ■ The style of using only one screen has a good and short, and this time, we checked the behavior of e -book use, but we will also put on other applications and summarize the points that I noticed when I tried it. Regarding video playback, there is no problem in terms of performance, but if it is displayed on the entire screen, there will be seams in the center, so the display is not very comfortable. In the movie theater, there is something that is always close to the feeling that the head of the person in front of the seat is blocking the screen. It is quite fatal that the playback/pause buttons in the center of the screen, which are particularly common to many video players, are buried at the center of the center and become invisible. Unlike the menu icon in the e -book app mentioned above, this is a function that you always use almost every time. It would be safe to give up on the horizontal display and use it in a laptop style. Fold the body to the other side and check the style of using only one screen. This product can be used in the opposite direction, that is, folded back to back, and can be used for smartphone. In particular, when used in e -book use, there is an advantage that it can be displayed larger than a 6 -inch class smartphone due to the aspect ratio in this state. However, in this opposition, it is troublesome that the back camera gets in the way and cannot be properly backed back. The fact that there is no gap even if the two layers are layered after folding is just inward, and if it is turned in the opposite direction, that is, a back match, a gap between the back camera will occur, and the two layers will float. This product may have been a high -end smartphone, so it would have been a point that the camera function could not be compromised, but the appearance of this appearance is quite difficult when used. In this regard, the first Surface Duo, whose back was completely flat, is higher. It is a point where pros and cons can be divided depending on whether you use this product in the main or a sub. ■ The biggest disadvantage is to pay attention to handling? As mentioned above, if you look at the details, it is rough, but it is not a perfect score, so this product is a product that is suitable for e -book use. There is still something. What you can hold with one hand like a real paperback book is how to use this product, which allows you to fix the book half open. It can be said that the hidden advantage of the product is strong and can be stretched firmly. If this is a bend just because it is lifted, a comfortable reading with one hand is hopeless, but if it is a product that can maintain a pinned state, it is a problem even if it floats in the air. You can read without it. If you use it normally, it is too natural to overlook it, but this is the only point. The biggest disadvantage of this product is that you will always be careful about handling. This is the case with other Fol Double Smartphones, but it is expensive than a general smartphone or tablet, and it is reflected in the behavior of unconsciously using the fact that it is more expensive, has a movable portion, and heavier than the exterior. It's easy to do. These can be resolved to some extent if you attach a protective case, but in the case of this product, it is difficult to bend to the back match when the protective case is installed, so it is difficult to go straightforwardly. Even if the price is reduced in the future, this problem should be attached, and although this kind of device with a folding mechanism, it seems to be a really difficult problem.

PC Watch, Masahiro Yamaguchi