That said, your content will still look good on either of the Surface Duo’s 1800 x 1350 displays, as Microsoft has gone to great lengths to ensure that the color temperature and brightness of both screens is as close to identical as possible. The 4:3 aspect ratio also isn’t conducive to watching media, resulting in a lot of black bordering in YouTube. However, the keyboard becomes a little too wide and cumbersome when holding the Surface Duo sideways (in an orientation I like to call “Nintendo DS-style”), where the text field is partitioned off to the upper panel as you type on the bottom one. Typing is made easier by the way Microsoft breaks up its Swiftkey keyboard for one-handed use, depending on which side you’re approaching it from. Nevertheless, I have some qualms with Microsoft’s insistence on 4:3 screens: most Android apps aren’t built to put wider aspect ratios to good use, and so you end up with a lot of extraneous space in Spotify and Slack, to name two apps. Aside from all the obvious benefits to durability and cost-saving, as well as the fact Microsoft wants the Surface Duo to stand up to the rigors of its Surface Pen, the dual-display design makes this device better suited for multitasking or interacting with two apps at once to complete tasks more swiftly. Microsoft Surface Duo review: DisplaysĬritics may lament Microsoft’s decision to go with two 5.6-inch AMOLED screens on the Surface Duo rather than one big bendy one, but there are reasons for the approach. The bumper also collects lint like nobody’s business. It’s easy enough to put the case on just be aware that after you do, you won’t want to take it off, unless you’re willing to shell out money for a replacement. I say “apply” because the bumper doesn’t just snap around the edges of the phone it’s a rubbery silicone jacket with peel-away adhesive encircling the inner grooves. However, be sure to take care when applying it. Oh, and one more design oddity: Microsoft is generous enough to include a bumper case in the box with the Surface Duo, which should be industry-standard practice with devices that cost this much. The dual-display design makes the Surface Duo well suited for multitasking or interacting with two apps at once. For how hard Microsoft clearly worked to make the Surface Duo as compact as it is, it’s still unwieldy at times. Thus, you might naturally think to stash it in your back pocket, though I wasn’t comfortable doing that either because of how far the top of the phone stuck out of my jeans. The phone’s exterior is clad in white painted glass with a matte white frame, and all that exists to break that up is the stainless-steel double-barrel hinge and similarly-mirrored Microsoft logo.Īdditionally, given its width (the Surface Duo is seven-tenths of an inch wider than the Galaxy Note 20 when closed) this is not a device that’s natural to carry around in a front pocket. In an age of devices with flexible displays, the Duo has two separate, conventional 5.6-inch Gorilla Glass-shrouded panels with gigantic bezels. The Surface Duo looks dull in pictures, it has to be said. Not only does it have a faster Snapdragon 888 processor, it also packs in a bunch of features the original Surface Duo lacked, like Surface Slim Pen 2 support, and new, more versatile, design. With the Surface Duo 2 starting at $1,499, you want to pick up one of those instead. Of course that will only buy you last year's model. The 256GB model is a slightly more expensive $749. That's over 50% off the original price, and the 128GB model is still available at that discounted price point. It dropped to $1,000 ahead of the phones international release, and dropped down to $699 this past May. That said, Microsoft has made some hefty price cuts on this phone since the start of the year.
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