"When we designed it, the intent was, 'How do you make something so thin, beautiful, light and super elegant that when people pick it up they can feel that emotion in the product," Panos Panay, Microsoft's chief product officer and head of Surface devices, said in an exclusive interview.

The device brings new ideas to the mobile world, including software Microsoft wrote to make the two screens interact.

While CNET Editor at Large Scott Stein -- a noted dual-screen skeptic -- says the device felt good in his hands, he says $1,399 is a lot of money to ask of people on a normal day, let alone in the middle of an economic downturn fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Microsoft shipped us a near-production prototype device with the screens replaced by clear glass so we can see the inner working and learn how it works.

Stein also talks about why he hasn't like dual-screen devices before, and why the Surface Duo may be the device to change his mind.

That's the point, we look at where the Surface Duo fits in the world, and why Microsoft is choosing to make a new handheld device after a series of embarrassing multibillion-dollar attempts that ended in failure.

This device is an Android, in that it runs Google's mobile software for tablets and phones, and it is designed to run pretty much all the apps you can use on a standard non-Apple device. .

In fact, Microsoft said it chose to build the Surface Duo using Android instead of its Windows software because of the large base of hundreds of thousands of apps that already exist in the Android store.

Microsoft said the reason comes down to tradeoffs -- the company chose to stick with the previous generation wireless tech to allow for better battery life and a thinner device.

Microsoft made a point of showing us that standard Android apps run on the device just fine, thanks to its two screens being the equivalent of two standard phone displays.

At launch, it appears Microsoft's apps will primarily be the ones built with the Surface Duo in mind.

The company said that it's working with Google to integrate some of the software it developed for the Surface Duo back into Android so other two-screen devices in the future will benefit from Microsoft's work.

The Surface Duo runs Microsoft apps, including Office, Teams and Outlook, but it doesn't run the same software as your computer.

That's one of the tradeoffs Microsoft had to make when building this device.

But that device, which brings together two 9-inch screens likely wouldn't fit in your pocket as easily as the Surface Duo.

The Surface Duo's individual screens are thinner than an iPad Air.

By comparison, Microsoft's mostly talked about how the Surface Duo is built for productivity and better interaction between apps.

A peak at the Surface Duo's camera.