![]() The Surface Duo 2 sports a 360-degree hinge that joins two panels. But if you hold it the other way with that panel on top, the extra weight of the camera bump makes the Duo 2 feel top-heavy.Īt the same time, I’m not sure of a better place for the camera. If you have the panel with the camera on the bottom, the bump gets in the way. The bump also makes holding the Duo 2 sideways (like a Nintendo DS) awkward. I can shimmy my hand down a little so there’s less conflict between the bump and my fingers, but that grip only really works if I’m holding the phone with two hands (which is practically mandatory given the form factor). The major gripe I have is that the camera sits right where my fingers rest when I hold the Duo 2, making it feel very awkward. With that in mind, I think I could forgive the size if the camera was better placed. (For context, the Duo 2’s bump is only slightly thicker than the camera bump on the Pixel 6, but the Pixel 6 is nearly twice as thick as one Surface Duo 2 panel).Īll this is to say the Duo 2’s camera bump is large, but not without reason. I also want to preface this by noting that the Duo 2 is a remarkably thin device, which unfortunately helps make the camera bump feel even larger than it already is. I’m hesitant to complain too much since the original Duo didn’t have a rear-facing camera at all. Unfortunately, not everything that’s new with the design is better. The Duo 2’s ‘Obsidian’ colour is a fingerprint magnet. Having used it as my daily driver now, I think the negatives of using the Duo 2 outweigh the positives of the external improvements. As I noted in the hands-on, I hadn’t really used the Duo 2 much beyond performing the initial set-up and scrolling around the interface for a bit. However, the positivity fades when you use the Duo 2. This all gives the Surface Duo 2 a great first impression. I also appreciate the power button doubling as the fingerprint scanner, which naturally sits right where my thumb lands while holding the phone. They don’t wiggle around and offer a satisfying, tactile click. That could be a factor of my Duo 1 unit being about a year old and the hinge getting looser over time, however.Įven the buttons feel better on the Duo 2. The outer glass panels sport a subtle curve, which makes the Duo 2 feel much better in the hand compared to the sharp, uncomfortable edges of the original Duo. There’s even a new glance screen feature, which uses the curved edge of the glass on the edge of the device to signal an incoming call, with a glowing colored bar that signals new messages await.Where the original Duo feels shoddy, the Duo 2 feels sturdy. The ability to interact with one app on one screen (the Duo 2 has larger 5.8-inch AMOLED screens at 1344×1892, or 401 PPI) and a second app on another is a key advantage that the Surface Duo 1 and 2 offers compared to most phones. The fundamental advantages of the Surface Duo 2 haven’t gone away. We had about two minutes to play with the Surface Duo 2, and that’s not nearly enough to tell. (Reports say that the original Surface Duo will be upgraded to Android 11 this fall.) But the real problems with the Surface Duo 2 were in how apps flowed from screen to screen, how they correctly oriented, how apps spanned screens, and so on. Yes, the Surface Duo 2 ships with Android 11, a noted omission in the Surface Duo. The questions here will be in what we don’t see on paper. There’s a new “glance screen” on the Surface Duo 2 that uses the curved edge to display information about calls and messages.
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