Surface Duo
Folding screen phones are the future. Wait, or is it dual-screen clamshell phones are the future? Triple-screen? Rotating? Holographic?
It’s impossible to predict what the next paradigm shift in mobile device form factors will be, but what I can say for certain is that the future is finally looking exciting again. No longer will we be force-fed generic candy bar style phones repeatedly year after year. Flexible OLED displays, innovative rotating hinge mechanisms, and even rollable displays have all made their way into not just concept phones, but actual production devices within recent years.
The Surface Duo doesn’t do anything too crazy with its hardware specs, industrial design, or screens. Microsoft went with a stark minimal, very clean aesthetic - fitting in well with the rest of the Surface line, but still managing to stand out as something wholly new and different. Microsoft has really done something amazing with the hardware here - the Duo is a dream to hold, rivaling even Apple in terms of build quality.
It is no secret that Microsoft has some chops when it comes to premium industrial design; other entries in the Surface line are just as impressive as the Duo (Surface Studio, and Book, for example). What I find interesting is that Microsoft chose to go with an all-glass white palette for the Duo. Seems familiar.
A svelte profile coupled with what is quite possibly the nicest feeling hinge I’ve ever felt lets you know immediately that you’re holding a premium device. Rightfully so, at $1,399USD, Microsoft wasn’t shy about the pricing here.
Two Screens, Twice the Productivity?
Not really, twice the productivity, but the Duo is definitely capable of accomplishing real work. Microsoft really nailed it by skipping the whole folding screen craze and instead going for two completely separate, independent screens. By building the Surface Duo with separate screens, Microsoft has eschewed the need for complex, hidden gestures needed to accomplish basic multi-tasking (iOS, I’m lookin’ at you). This makes being truly productive a possibility on the Duo.
Unfortunately, things aren’t all roses and daisies. Have you noticed I haven’t mentioned the software side of things yet?
Yeah… about that.
Android Ruins the Party
Microsoft went with Android as the OS of choice for the Surface Duo. No real surprise here as Windows 10 Mobile was taken out back and shot way back in October 2017.
Android on the Duo leaves a bit to be desired. These folding, flipping, rotating screen phones are still very new, so Android support for these features is in its infancy. That’s at least the excuse I’ve made up to explain away the litany of bugs I’ve been absolutely inundated with while using the Duo. Sometimes when changing “postures” (the term Microsoft cleverly coined to describe various arrangements of the Duo’s screens) sometimes one of the screens will just go black.
Sometimes a screen will get stuck believing it’s folded back and not being used. The gyroscopic sensor will often ignore my rotation of the hardware. The weird flipping motion I have to do to properly activate the camera is just ridiculous. Honestly, I feel like the Surface Duo was not ready for prime time from a software standpoint. I’m just beta testing this for them, I guess.
Updates to the Microsoft custom Android launcher for the Duo come out pretty regularly, and the included fixes and optimizations are definitely noticeable. Hopefully Microsoft doesn’t give up on the Duo like we’ve seen them do with products before.
What ever happened to Encarta, anyway?
TL;DR
What a fun little device. If you’re an Android fan and/or gadget nerd, don’t care much about taking photos with your mobile device, and don’t mind dealing with a few bugs and growing pains of a newly released product - the Duo is amazing. For the rest of the world: Go ahead and skip this one.
