I want *to want* a Surface Duo 2, but Microsoft isn't making it easy
I am sold on the idea of folding phones, that much is true. I've tried the Surface Duo 1, and I recently wrote about how, ironically, the Surface Duo 1 fabricated me go out and grab a Samsung Milky way Fold 3. Why? Because Microsoft has shown time, and time over again, that it cannot execute software. This is a wild thing 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 2 review, explaining that while it'southward a massive improvement on the original, information technology'south notwithstanding non quite in that location yet. I was very nearly considering selling off my Galaxy Fold 3 to catch a Surface Duo 2, only the reviews ultimately swayed me otherwise.
Later on using the Galaxy Fold 3 for a few months now, information technology's credible that the Duo 2 hardware may actually be preferable for me as a multi-tasking-oriented device. I call up 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 want, but for certain types of users, they take the concept of a smartphone to the next level. The problem is, right now, I know that Samsung is able to evangelize in those crucial places where Microsoft merely, well, can't.
Why is that? And can information technology e'er be solved? Or are nosotros once again at the precipice of another Windows Telephone-style disaster scenario?
Where the Duo beats the Fold
I'm a heavy telephone user, spending several hours a mean solar day glued to this rectangular hell portal we call the internet. Judgments of my life choices aside, at the very least I can bring y'all an in-depth perspective of both devices put caput to head.
The Duo 2 has Corning Gorilla Glass. The Samsung Galaxy Fold iii has a plastic outer layer and a micro-sparse flexible glass layer underneath. I shouldn't have to go deeper than that to explain which device is sturdier.
My Galaxy Fold 3 has picked up scuffs, bumps, and scrapes simply from sharing a pocket with a loose coin. This telephone is just and so damn frail, and it's annoying having to behave this phone around with a painstaking fearfulness of it spontaneously combusting. I oasis't had a phone this delicate, like, maybe ever. My friend's Nokia Lumia 920 survived a autumn from a multi-story car park relatively unscathed. With the Milky way Fold 3, I'thousand worried I'll shatter the screen if I look at it the wrong way.
There'southward also been enough of criticism leveraged at the Surface Duo's multi-screen setup, with people calling it impractical or unintuitive. And sure, at first, it'south a bit tough to arrange years of mental preparation for how phones work. It's harder withal if you lot're not someone who would utilise those kinds of features often. I am, however, a chronic phone aficionado. Being able to side-by-side Reddit and Telegram is great for me, and it's something I do frequently on the Milky way Fold. Ironically, though, the Duo 1 was arguably better at it.
The Duo software gives you more command over how and where links open. Since it knows and expects ii specific regions of the telephone where apps tin can open and interact with each other. The Fold 3 method is an extension of Samsung's built-in multitasking characteristic. The virtual screens piece of work in silos, and can't interact with each other easily. If I open up a link in Telegram, I desire it to open up up separately to the chat I'one thousand having. On the Fold 3, information technology opens in the same panel every time, which defeats the bespeak of multi-tasking scenarios for me. On the Duo, it volition effort to more intelligently open links on the screen y'all're currently not using.
The problem is ... Microsoft removed this functionality on the Duo 2, which is maddeningly disruptive. The Duo 1 even had a cool blitheness when you opened a link, shifting the content onto the unused screen. Is Microsoft even testing their ain phones? And no, I won't leave a report in the Feedback Hub. How about testing your ain devices, Mr. Trillion Dollar Company?
Does the Surface Duo have enough investment?
The affair that makes the Surface line so unreliable for me is the inconsistent back up. We're still a year into the Surface Duo one not having the promised Android 11 update. The Surface Duo 2 shipped with weird blitheness bugs that Microsoft itself said would be stock-still by launch, however they are yet broken. The Surface team doesn't communicate very well either, which is not a great way to build upwardly a community around the devices. Your early adopters are your front line of marketing, and if you can't give them a practiced experience, how practice you hope to entertain the masses?
The Milky way Fold also has the do good of a much larger team, already working with a far more than mature OS. For what information technology lacks in good multitasking features, the Milky way Fold iii makes upward for information technology with a wealth of expected features similar wireless charging, a not-Google payment alternative organization, its ain app store, total theming, and skinning options, and much more. The Duo ii barely reaches beyond stock Android. We do now have a non-Google photos app through a new OneDrive feature, and a more robust camera experience, but it'southward nowhere near enough.
The problem with the Surface Duo, as I've argued before, could exist a lack of investment. For Samsung, Galaxy is its staff of life and butter, so y'all might expect information technology to get more serious backing. The Surface Duo feels like a side projection, inside a side project, which is not exactly reassuring. Sure, it's a multi-billion dollar side project, but when Microsoft can't even land the nuts at launch, I'm left feeling how I felt when I unwrapped the Lumia 950 40, with one-half-baked software, rammed with bugs and unfinished features. Dissimilar the Lumia 950 Forty, though, the Surface Duo 2 is $1,500. i,500. Dollars.
You could argue that the cost is so loftier to beginning the costs of R&D. That hinge system is by no means elementary, and would've been incredibly plush not merely to develop but also manufacture. You could also argue that, because the Duo is pure hardware, with no software upsell like a Galaxy Store or a Google Play Store, 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 as a tech enthusiast and a frequent early adopter, I'm left wondering whether Microsoft is actually serious about 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?
Microsoft doesn't have a practiced history with phones, for various obvious reasons. They've besides failed to make a practiced first, and now second impression with the Duo lineup, with many YouTubers and tech reviewers lining upwards to bash 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 desire to believe that similar the Surface Pro, the third time may be the charm.
Folding phones may not be how the mainstream wants to use their devices, merely dangit, it'due south how I want to employ my devices. I desire seamless multitasking. I want the additional screen real manor. I want the big-screen media experience. And I want inking capabilities. I also but love the uniqueness of the thing. Phones used to exist fun, and foldables brand them fun once again for me, in a globe of relentless iPhone copycats. The Duo fails to put the fun in fundamentals though, given that it misses the marking in far too many ways for a $one,500 handset. The battery life, photographic camera performance, 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. Information technology wasn't until the Surface Pro 3 that Microsoft truly nailed that form cistron and changed tablet computing forever along with it. I desperately want to believe that like the Surface Pro, the third fourth dimension may be the amuse.
Surface Duo 2
The Surface Duo 2 improves on the original, just there's still a long mode for information technology to get earlier information technology can exist considered a "serious" device in my view.
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UH OH
An internet connection will before long be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro
Microsoft has announced that afterward this year, users will be required to connect to the internet and sign-in with a Microsoft Account during the out of box setup experience on Windows xi Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows 11 Abode since launch last October, and Windows 11 Pro is at present expected to follow conform soon.
Deals
Take hold of a case to protect your Surface Duo 2 with these options
Looking for a case to protection your shiny, new, and very expensive Surface Duo 2? We've got you covered with a round up of the all-time Surface Duo ii cases you tin can detect. Unfortunately, there aren't many (yet) only nosotros'll keep updating this mail service with new products as we find them!
Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/i-want-want-surface-duo-2-microsoft-isnt-making-it-easy
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