microsoft began to unfold Android 12L for two generations Surface Duo, their dual-screen smartphones. Despite none of them seeing commercial success, this is yet another chapter in which we see a device from the Redmond giant using a non-Windows operating system, although in the corporation’s favor it can be said that this has happened since it diversified its offer on this front.

But Microsoft’s adoption of Android doesn’t mean it’s just jumping through Google’s hoops, as the Windows maker has tweaked the mobile operating system to make the connection “tighter between your Windows 11 PC and your PC.” easier”. It is well known that Microsoft is interested in integrating Android into Windows, so much so that it is developing the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), which recently reached version 1.0 without yet being a complete solution.

Coming back to the topic at hand, the arrival of Android 12L to the two generations of Surface Duo, as seen in the published images, is supposed to be a visual refresh that presents a more homogeneous experience between Windows and the mobile operating system by unifying iconography, colors and user interface controls.

In Android 12L for Surface Duo, the user will find the culmination (or so Microsoft puts it) of visual alignment in quick settings and system settings to contribute to “greater operability between devices”. On the other hand, the dynamic theme engine gives the possibility to personalize the experience with color palettes applied system-wide based on a set of wallpapers.

Another aspect that the Redmond-based corporation highlights is the Pen offer, which includes the Surface Slim Pen 2 digital pen, which works on x86 computers of the same brand and the Surface Duo 2. This peripheral should automatically pair as soon as you press it on the screen .

Moving on with more details, there they are privacy enhancements brought Android 12 with a new dashboard “that tracks camera, microphone and location usage by apps over the last 24 hours. Camera and microphone usage is now constantly actively indicated in the status bar. Android 12 also gives the customer control over in-app location accuracy, allowing them to choose between coarse and fine accuracy based on their preferences.”

Finally, we can highlight the functions for data transfer from Apple iPhone, the addition of some other new widgets to improve the system experience and the Glance Bar, which was updated in June to support conversation notifications.

In short, Android 12L is now available for Surface Duo and Surface Duo 2 to improve aspects like user experience, especially when it comes to offering consistency with Windows as well as privacy. We’ll see if Microsoft is encouraged to carry the latest Android 13.