Microsoft Surface Duo review: Two screens aren't always better than one
Phones are like lifeboats, now. iPads and Chromebooks are classrooms. VR is my escape pod. Every device in my house has taken on a special purpose, connecting to schools, work, and everywhere else in some sort of insane clockwork dance. I pick my tools carefully. Experimentation happens, of course, but things need to work. This is the life of gadgets in our overburdened virtualized world, 2020.
From the outside it looked promising. I like the feel, the hinge. But if only the experience was as good on the inside. My time using the Surface Duo has been a rough ride through what feels like not-fully-baked software, and so far it most definitely has not convinced me of the value of dual screens. In particular, the sense of flow that the Duo aspires to -- that feel of things working well together, the device not getting in the way -- hasn't been there for me.
There are some things the Duo does do well: Its feel and shape are compelling. It can stand up at multiple angles, which normal phones can't do. The bonus screen can come in handy as an extra help at times, although I found I needed it less than I'd expected. (Scanning something like Twitter or Slack is helpful, but multitasking with keyboard input can get weird.) And if the dual screen stuff gets frustrating, well, it can be folded over and used as a single-screen phone. It's perfectly fine at that -- but that's not why you'd get a Surface Duo, is it?
And, this Duo is arriving alongside the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, a more expensive $2,000 (£1,799 or about AU$3,270) phone that's thicker, but has a nearly seamless folding display (rather than two hinged displays), multiple cameras, 5G, a better processor, and more RAM. I haven't used the Z Fold 2, but my colleague Jessica Dolcourt did, and she loved it. I don't know if I'd like the Z Fold 2 any better than the Surface Duo, but The Z Fold 2 is Samsung's second-year effort on folding phones. The Surface Duo ends up seeming, by comparison, like an idea that could still use another year of fleshing out. But even if the Z Fold 2 never existed, I'd still feel dissatisfied with aspects of the Surface Duo.
Here is a summary of my psychological state with this product: the Five Stages of Duo Acceptance.
Stage 1: What a pretty design
Stage 2: Whoa, why is nothing working smoothly?
Stage 3: How do you use this, exactly?
I get the idea of a bigger screen you can unfold or tuck into your pocket: That's the promise of a Galaxy Fold or Z Flip. Two different screens suggest you'll find ways of making apps work together, and there aren't many that play nicely like this. Really, it's just Microsoft's suite of apps, some of which need a Microsoft 365 subscription to unlock all the features.
The laggy feel of my review Duo and its early software, plus the weird interface, make navigation a serious challenge. I try Slack and Gmail, which work together fine... until I get hamstrung by popping the keyboard up in one window or another and trying to either thumb-swipe or flip the phone and type.
Stage 4: I miss my old comfy phone
When new devices are this tough to use, you stop using them. The first Apple Watch was so slow at opening apps that I just went back to the iPhone instead. If the Duo makes email and Slack and Zoom weirder, I'd just reach for a normal-feeling smartphone or tablet or laptop instead -- which is what I've been doing.
Phones are good at what they do. Most new phones have amazing cameras, optimized apps for nearly everything and they can zip between tasks at speeds we take for granted. I appreciate them again after seeing the hiccups on the Surface Duo. If the Surface Duo worked at the same speed, I'd love it. Maybe some of that is software that still needs work. Maybe it's because Google hasn't made Android truly dual-screen optimized yet or Microsoft is still figuring out how it wants to tackle dual-screen for its ecosystem. I think it's all of these. I'm finding it hard to adapt, and the Duo isn't helping.
I wonder what the Duo would have been like with more RAM or a faster processor. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and 6GB of RAM seems underpowered for dual high-res displays, and it shows. I also wonder about 5G, especially in a year where most major flagship phones are going that way. It's unclear how the Duo can be a future phone when it leaves out the future's network.
But bleeding-edge tech isn't always the path to comfort. I use the devices I use because they work and I understand them. Or, because they're so amazing at what they do (like the Oculus Quest) that I want to dive in and use them over and over.
The camera on the Surface Duo (and there's only one) is fine. Definitely not great. It's been serviceable for Zoom, and has created some photos and video clips that aren't as good as what I've come to expect. Image stabilization for video seems particularly jittery. Also, the corner-oriented camera, while trying to serve all Duo positions, is too off-center for comfortable Zooming while it's propped up -- I always seem like I'm staring off to the side.
I want the Surface Duo to be more like a magic book. It's not there yet.
Stage 5: Accepting a slow road to the future
Phones are clearly evolving. They're already overpowered-everything machines that have outstripped their size. But rebuilding the phone isn't easy. I see some logic to the book-tablet design Microsoft is going for here. The form and shape make sense, but the speed and implementation and features don't. Yeah, this is $600 less than a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, but it's also left parts off that probably should have been here.
The perfect folding and dual-screen devices may be coming later. Google hasn't solved for all of this in Android. Microsoft's going to take another shot at figuring it out on the Windows-based Surface Neo next year. The idea isn't going away, and just like the first big wave of smartphones, there will be plenty more experiments.
Battery life seems to last for the day
The 3,577-mAh dual battery is rated for 15.5 hours of video playback, and an 18-watt USB-C fast charger comes in the box. So far, it seems to hang in there for my needs. I'm not sure what a full commuting train ride away from home would be like, because I'm always at home now.
Credit : Scott Stein/CNE
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