I want *to want* a Surface Duo 2, but Microsoft isn't making it easy
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Cardinal
I am sold on the thought of folding phones, that much is true. I've tried the Surface Duo 1, and I recently wrote well-nigh how, ironically, the Surface Duo 1 fabricated me become out and grab a Samsung Milky way Fold 3. Why? Because Microsoft has shown fourth dimension, and time again, that information technology cannot execute software. This is a wild affair to write given the fact that Microsoft is very much known for its software.
Our executive editor Daniel Rubino recently put out our total Surface Duo ii review, explaining that while it'southward a massive improvement on the original, it's still not quite at that place yet. I was very near considering selling off my Galaxy Fold three to take hold of a Surface Duo 2, but the reviews ultimately swayed me otherwise.
Afterwards using the Galaxy Fold 3 for a few months now, it's apparent that the Duo ii hardware may actually exist preferable for me equally a multi-tasking-oriented device. I think Microsoft (and Samsung, for that affair) are entirely on the right track with these devices. And sure, they may never be the mainstream form cistron people desire, but for certain types of users, they take the concept of a smartphone to the next level. The problem is, correct now, I know that Samsung is able to deliver in those crucial places where Microsoft only, well, can't.
Why is that? And can it ever exist solved? Or are nosotros once over again at the precipice of another Windows Telephone-style disaster scenario?
Where the Duo beats the Fold
Source: Windows Central
I'm a heavy phone user, spending several hours a 24-hour interval glued to this rectangular hell portal we call the internet. Judgments of my life choices aside, at the very least I tin can bring you lot an in-depth perspective of both devices put caput to head.
The Duo 2 has Corning Gorilla Glass. The Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 has a plastic outer layer and a micro-thin flexible glass layer underneath. I shouldn't have to go deeper than that to explicate which device is sturdier.
My Galaxy Fold 3 has picked upwardly scuffs, bumps, and scrapes just from sharing a pocket with a loose coin. This phone is just so damn delicate, and it'south annoying having to deport this telephone around with a painstaking fright of it spontaneously combusting. I haven't had a phone this delicate, like, maybe ever. My friend'southward Nokia Lumia 920 survived a fall from a multi-story car park relatively unscathed. With the Galaxy Fold 3, I'm worried I'll shatter the screen if I look at it the wrong way.
Source: Windows Central
There'southward also been plenty of criticism leveraged at the Surface Duo'due south multi-screen setup, with people calling it impractical or unintuitive. And sure, at commencement, it's a flake tough to adapt years of mental preparation for how phones work. It'due south harder still if you're non someone who would apply those kinds of features oftentimes. I am, however, a chronic phone addict. Being able to side-by-side Reddit and Telegram is great for me, and information technology'due south something I do frequently on the Milky way Fold. Ironically, though, the Duo ane was arguably improve at it.
The Duo software gives you more command over how and where links open. Since it knows and expects two specific regions of the telephone where apps can open up and interact with each other. The Fold 3 method is an extension of Samsung's built-in multitasking feature. The virtual screens work in silos, and can't interact with each other easily. If I open up a link in Telegram, I want it to open up up separately to the conversation I'm having. On the Fold 3, it opens in the same panel every time, which defeats the point of multi-tasking scenarios for me. On the Duo, it will attempt to more intelligently open links on the screen you're currently non using.
The problem is ... Microsoft removed this functionality on the Duo two, which is maddeningly confusing. The Duo 1 even had a absurd blitheness when you opened a link, shifting the content onto the unused screen. Is Microsoft even testing their own phones? And no, I won't exit a study in the Feedback Hub. How about testing your own devices, Mr. Trillion Dollar Company?
Does the Surface Duo accept enough investment?
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Primal
The thing that makes the Surface line then unreliable for me is the inconsistent support. Nosotros're still a year into the Surface Duo 1 not having the promised Android 11 update. The Surface Duo 2 shipped with weird animation bugs that Microsoft itself said would be fixed by launch, yet they are still broken. The Surface team doesn't communicate very well either, which is not a great fashion to build up a community around the devices. Your early adopters are your front end line of marketing, and if you tin't give them a good experience, how do you hope to entertain the masses?
The Galaxy Fold also has the benefit of a much larger team, already working with a far more mature OS. For what it lacks in good multitasking features, the Galaxy Fold iii makes up for it with a wealth of expected features like wireless charging, a non-Google payment alternative system, its ain app shop, full theming, and skinning options, and much more. The Duo ii barely reaches beyond stock Android. Nosotros do now have a non-Google photos app through a new OneDrive feature, and a more than robust camera experience, only information technology'due south nowhere near enough.
Source: Windows Key
The problem with the Surface Duo, as I've argued before, could be a lack of investment. For Samsung, Galaxy is its staff of life and butter, so you might look it to get more serious backing. The Surface Duo feels like a side project, within a side projection, which is not exactly reassuring. Sure, it'due south a multi-billion dollar side project, but when Microsoft can't fifty-fifty state the basics at launch, I'k left feeling how I felt when I unwrapped the Lumia 950 Forty, with half-broiled software, rammed with bugs and unfinished features. Unlike the Lumia 950 XL, though, the Surface Duo ii is $1,500. 1,500. Dollars.
You could argue that the price is then high to offset the costs of R&D. That hinge system is by no means unproblematic, and would've been incredibly costly not only to develop simply besides manufacture. You could too argue that, considering the Duo is pure hardware, with no software upsell similar a Milky way Store or a Google Play Shop, Microsoft needs these types of prices to continue the dual-screen Duo even vaguely profitable.
Those are business considerations, though. As an end-user, even equally a tech enthusiast and a frequent early adopter, I'yard left wondering whether Microsoft is really serious nearly the Duo line, or if it's some kind of vanity project that will die in the same drawer as Razer'due south ill-blighted phone line.
Can Microsoft fix this?
Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Fundamental
Microsoft doesn't accept a good history with phones, for various obvious reasons. They've besides failed to make a good beginning, and now second impression with the Duo lineup, with many YouTubers and tech reviewers lining upward to fustigate it. Even the heaviest Microsoft apologists likely have bad memories of Windows x Mobile fresh in their minds, left wondering if, indeed, Microsoft is serious this time around.
I desperately want to believe that like the Surface Pro, the 3rd time may be the amuse.
Folding phones may not be how the mainstream wants to use their devices, only dangit, information technology'southward how I want to utilize my devices. I want seamless multitasking. I want the boosted screen real estate. I want the big-screen media experience. And I desire inking capabilities. I also just love the uniqueness of the thing. Phones used to be fun, and foldables make them fun one time again for me, in a earth of relentless iPhone copycats. The Duo fails to put the fun in fundamentals though, given that it misses the mark in far too many ways for a $1,500 handset. The battery life, camera functioning, and software quality are nowhere near where it needs to be.
The Surface Duo 2 like its predecessor is a vision of a truly amazing phone, gradually coming into focus. It reminds me of the Surface Pro line in a lot of ways. It wasn't until the Surface Pro 3 that Microsoft truly nailed that grade gene and changed tablet computing forever along with it. I desperately want to believe that like the Surface Pro, the third time may be the charm.
Surface Duo two
The Surface Duo 2 improves on the original, but there'south still a long manner for it to go before it can be considered a "serious" device in my view.
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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/i-want-want-surface-duo-2-microsoft-isnt-making-it-easy
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