Screenshot Snipper is a free tool that makes life easier for Surface Duo users
Two new free helper apps change some of the default behavior on Microsoft’s dual-screen Android device.
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What you need to know
One of the quirks on Microsoft’sSurface Duois that Microsoft doesn’t “hack” Android to enable dual-screen functionality. Instead, the company works with Google so that whatever changes are made, they go upline to the Android OS itself for other OEMs. This approach is vastly different than “forking” features like Samsung, which does a lot of customization (seeS Pen features).
The upside to Microsoft’s approach istimely monthly updates– it’s more of a pure Android OS. The downside is custom features take longer to arrive on Surface Duo. A clear example of this is creating a screenshot. On Surface Duo, you can hold the volume key and power button (or hold the power button) to grab an image of your displays. However, the OS always capturesbothscreens as Microsoft did not rewrite the Android API for native screenshots. That means if you want to share only one side, you need to do a post-edit crop.
It’s not a huge deal, but one extra step.
Screenshot Snipper, as seenon reddit, is a free tool that works around that limitation. The helper app is installed, and when you screenshot, you can “share” to this helper app, which then lets you choose one side or the other before passing on to Twitter, Facebook, email, or whatever. It’s all a bit wonky and not as good as a native solution (something Microsoft and Google are surely working on), but it’s better than nothing and indeed more expedient.
The same developer created another app called ‘Duo BrowserHelper.’ This one is a bit less clear, as it says it helps “to open the browser on another screen when available on Surface Duo.” By default, Surface Duo opens any hyperlinks clicked in Microsoft Edge on the second displaybut only if that second display is clear(that is, no app is running on it, and you can see your home screen).
Duo BrowserHelper effectively forces your default browser (Edge, Chrome, etc.) toalwaysopen on the opposite display regardless if there is an app already in that spot. It is a very subtle change to the default behavior, but one that some people may prefer.
Both apps are free and made only for Surface Duo. While not for everyone, it is clever to see how some developers are now trying to improve the dual-screen experience.
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Screenshot Snipper is a free helper tool that lets you choose which of the Surface Duo’s displays to you want to share after a screenshot.
Duo BrowserHelper is a free helper app that lets you always open a hyperlink in your default browser on the opposing display regardless if there is already an app running.
Microsoft Surface Duo
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Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer,podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.
