Microsoft Has Turned the Surface Duo Into a Handheld Xbox

Microsoft is updating its Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) app for Android, and it includes dual-screen support for the Surface Duo. The Verge reports: The app update allows Surface Duo owners to use a virtual gamepad on one screen of their device and games on the other. It makes the Surface Duo look more like a Nintendo 3DS than a mobile phone, with touch controls for a variety of games. Microsoft has been steadily adding Xbox Touch Controls to more than 50 games in recent months, including titles like Sea of Thieves, Gears 5, and Minecraft Dungeons. The full list of touch-compatible games is available here, and you can of course just use a regular Bluetooth or Xbox controller to stream games to the Surface Duo.

The benefits of a dual-screen device for this type of mobile experience are obvious. You no longer have touch controls over the top of the game, and your thumbs don't get in the way of seeing important action on-screen. If dual-screen or foldable devices ever catch on, this is a far superior way to play Xbox games without a dedicated controller.

Not much better than a portrait phone

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You no longer have touch controls over the top of the game, and your thumbs don't get in the way of seeing important action on-screen.

The same is true of a conventional mobile phone in portrait mode. The big drawbacks are that A. there are no shoulder buttons (LB, LT, RB, RT), and B. you can't feel where your thumbs are relative to the on-screen controls because a flat sheet of glass has no tactile edges. It's worse than even a Turbo Touch 360 controller in that sense.

PS Vita was discontinued two years ago

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The PlayStation Vita isn't really "still a thing", as Sony discontinued it in March 2019 without announcing a successor.