Microsoft Surface Duo 2 Review: Maybe next time

If nil else, Microsoft's Surface Duo 2 deserves recognition for the immense improvement over the original Surface Duo. Microsoft listened to a lot of the complaints and put effort into making the Duo 2 a much ameliorate device than the Duo one.

It's admirable, but information technology also makes the Duo 2's inability to live upwardly to its potential all the more disappointing.

"Unfortunately, not everything that's new with the design is better."

The original Surface Duo has a ton of issues, but I found it like shooting fish in a barrel to await past them and meet the potential of Microsoft's aspirations. While the Duo two remedies some of the most glaring issues with the Duo 1, it feels similar the Duo line all the same has a long fashion to go before it achieves its dual-screen smartphone dream.

If y'all'll allow me to get a little reflective (Panos Panay manner), the Duo 1 felt similar a proof-of-concept. It was flawed, but I could run into the possibilities. Although greatly improved, the Duo ii feels more like proof the concept is flawed.

Specs

Display

Dual PixelSense AMOLED displays, individual: five.vi-inch 1800 10 1350 pixel resolution, combined: 8.1-inch 2700 10 1800 pixel resolution

Dual PixelSense™ Fusion Displays open up: eight.3" AMOLED, 2688x1892, single brandish: five.8" AMOLED 1344x1892 (13:9)

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888

Storage

128GB or 256GB

128, 256 or 512GB

Dimensions (in.)

Open: 145.2 x 186.9 x 4.8mm / Airtight: 145.2 x 93.3 x nine.9mm

Open: 145.2 mm (H) 10 184.5 mm (W) x 5.50 mm (T) Closed : 145.ii mm (H) x 92.i mm (Westward) x 11.0 mm (T at swivel)

Rear Facing Camera

Adaptive 11-megapixel f/2.0 camera, supports upwards to 4K video at 30 or 60fps

12-megapixel wide, 12-megapixel telephoto and 16-megapixel ultra-wide

Forepart Facing Photographic camera

Same equally rear (i photographic camera)

12-megapixel

Battery

3,577mAh

iv,449mAh (typical) dual bombardment

Network Connectivity

Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth five.0, LTE

5G, LTE, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6

Sensors

Dual Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Ambient Calorie-free Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor

Dual Accelerometer, Dual Gyroscope, Dual Magnetometer, Dual Ambient Light Sensor, Dual Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor

SIM Blazon

Nano SIM and eSIM

One eSIM and one Nano SIM

Launch Date

Feb 18, 2021

October 21, 2021

Misc

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner

Available in 'Obsidian' or 'Glacier'

Microsoft Surface Duo

Dual PixelSense AMOLED displays, individual: 5.6-inch 1800 ten 1350 pixel resolution, combined: 8.one-inch 2700 x 1800 pixel resolution

Microsoft Surface Duo two

Dual PixelSense™ Fusion Displays open: eight.3" AMOLED, 2688x1892, single display: five.8" AMOLED 1344x1892 (13:9)

Microsoft Surface Duo

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888

Microsoft Surface Duo

6GB

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

8GB

Microsoft Surface Duo

128GB or 256GB

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

128, 256 or 512GB

Microsoft Surface Duo

Open: 145.ii ten 186.9 x 4.8mm / Airtight: 145.2 x 93.3 x nine.9mm

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

Open: 145.2 mm (H) 10 184.5 mm (W) x 5.50 mm (T) Airtight : 145.two mm (H) x 92.ane mm (W) x 11.0 mm (T at hinge)

Microsoft Surface Duo

250g

Microsoft Surface Duo two

284 grams

Microsoft Surface Duo

Adaptive 11-megapixel f/ii.0 camera, supports up to 4K video at 30 or 60fps

Microsoft Surface Duo ii

12-megapixel wide, 12-megapixel telephoto and xvi-megapixel ultra-wide

Microsoft Surface Duo

Aforementioned every bit rear (i photographic camera)

Microsoft Surface Duo ii

12-megapixel

Microsoft Surface Duo

Android 10

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

Android 11

Microsoft Surface Duo

3,577mAh

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

4,449mAh (typical) dual battery

Microsoft Surface Duo

Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, LTE

Microsoft Surface Duo ii

5G, LTE, Bluetooth v.ane, Wi-Fi vi

Microsoft Surface Duo

Dual Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor

Microsoft Surface Duo ii

Dual Accelerometer, Dual Gyroscope, Dual Magnetometer, Dual Ambient Calorie-free Sensor, Dual Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor

Microsoft Surface Duo

Nano SIM and eSIM

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

1 eSIM and one Nano SIM

Microsoft Surface Duo

February eighteen, 2021

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

October 21, 2021

Microsoft Surface Duo

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

Available in 'Obsidian' or 'Glacier'

Feels like a flagship

On paper, the Surface Duo 2 is better than the original Surface Duo in every way. And as someone who's had the luxury of holding both devices at the same time, the Duo 2 feels much ameliorate likewise. I already wrote near this at length in my hands-on, so I'll go along it cursory here.

Where the original Duo feels shoddy, the Duo two feels sturdy. Microsoft really refined the design. The outer glass panels sport a subtle curve, which makes the Duo ii experience much amend in the hand compared to the sharp, uncomfortable edges of the original Duo. The swivel feels a little stiffer too. That could be a factor of my Duo 1 unit of measurement being about a year old and the swivel getting looser over time, however.

Even the buttons feel ameliorate on the Duo 2. They don't wiggle around and offer a satisfying, tactile click. I as well capeesh the power push button doubling as the fingerprint scanner, which naturally sits right where my thumb lands while belongings the phone.

This all gives the Surface Duo ii a great starting time impression. However, the positivity fades when you use the Duo ii. Equally I noted in the easily-on, I hadn't really used the Duo two much across performing the initial set-upward and scrolling around the interface for a flake. Having used it equally my daily commuter now, I think the negatives of using the Duo ii outweigh the positives of the external improvements.

About that bump…

The Duo 2's 'Obsidian' colour is a fingerprint magnet.

Unfortunately, not everything that's new with the blueprint is better. The Duo ii sports a massive photographic camera bump. I'yard hesitant to mutter besides much since the original Duo didn't take a rear-facing camera at all. I also want to preface this by noting that the Duo ii is a remarkably thin device, which unfortunately helps brand the camera bump experience even larger than information technology already is. (For context, the Duo two'south crash-land is but slightly thicker than the photographic camera crash-land on the Pixel 6, simply the Pixel 6 is nearly twice as thick as one Surface Duo 2 console).

All this is to say the Duo 2's photographic camera crash-land is large, but not without reason. With that in heed, I think I could forgive the size if the photographic camera was better placed. The major gripe I have is that the camera sits correct where my fingers residual when I concord the Duo 2, making information technology experience very bad-mannered. I can shimmy my hand down a little so there's less conflict between the crash-land and my fingers, but that grip merely really works if I'm holding the phone with two hands (which is practically mandatory given the form factor).

The bump as well makes holding the Duo 2 sideways (similar a Nintendo DS) awkward. If you have the console with the camera on the bottom, the crash-land gets in the way. Just if you lot hold it the other way with that panel on top, the actress weight of the camera bump makes the Duo 2 feel height-heavy.

At the aforementioned time, I'm not certain of a better place for the camera. The Surface Duo 2 sports a 360-degree hinge that joins ii panels. The outside panels feature the Windows logo on one and the camera bump on the other. The Duo 2 opens like a volume to reveal two screens, one on the within of each console. Cheers to the 360-degree swivel, uses can fold the panels all the way around so that the 2 exterior panels meet (the front end panel with the logo presses against the back console with the camera bump).

Information technology's possible rocking a example could alleviate issues with the bump. However, Microsoft offers 2 official cases for the Duo 2 — neither covers the back console or camera bump in any way. I haven't seen much in the way of third-party cases either.

Since the original Duo didn't take a rear camera, the 2 panels would sit flat against each other. With the Duo 2, the photographic camera crash-land prevents that from happening. I must commend Microsoft for putting some thought into the bump — it added a slight lip around the edge to proceed the front, outside panel from touching the glass on the camera bump directly to avoid scratches. Further, Microsoft designed the camera bump with a slight angle to information technology and then it forms a wedge betwixt the two panels when you fold information technology back.

Although that all works well and seems well thought out, my one concern with the layout is the camera bump acts as a support for the top half of the telephone, but there's nothing in the gap between the panels on the bottom. In an unfortunate scenario where a lot of pressure level is applied to the panels, I could see some serious impairment happening to the Duo ii.

Anyway, the electric current photographic camera bump placement, while problematic, also seems platonic. Moving the bump closer to the swivel to avoid disharmonize with users' easily would brand folding the Duo 2 into single-screen mode less viable (and would exacerbate the gap effect mentioned above). Rotating the camera bump to exist horizontal instead of vertical would also reduce conflict with the mitt, but would likely also cause problems for folding the Duo two. While I'm hesitant to say it, I wonder if maybe Microsoft was right to not include a rear camera on the original Duo.

Snapdragon 888 is a welcome improvement, merely Microsoft needs more than but a powerful chip

While many of Microsoft's biggest (and all-time) changes were external, the switch to a newer chipset is an important internal change. The original Surface Duo was lambasted for sporting an quondam Qualcomm Snapdragon flake — the Duo 2, thankfully, sports Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 888.

On paper, that puts the Surface Duo ii on par with flagships from other Android manufacturers similar Samsung and OnePlus. Technically, it also puts the Duo ii ahead of Google's new Pixel 6 line, which uses the visitor's custom Tensor chip that didn't match the Snapdragon 888 in benchmarks.

I've said earlier and I'll say once more that benchmarks don't mean a whole lot. Benchmarks are a decent style to compare performance between devices through a standard exam, but they often don't tell the whole story nearly performance.

While I normally say this in the context of a device like the Pixel 6, which didn't benchmark every bit well as other phones but nevertheless performs well in existent-world use, the Surface Duo ii is the reverse. It's ane of the best-performing Android devices we've tested this year in benchmarks, merely real-earth use suffers from all kinds of weird stuttering and jitter.

Software issues abound

To exist articulate, the Surface Duo two wasn't slow. Apps opened really fast and I seldom ran into bug where apps closed due to lack of memory. Just scrolling and swiping around sometimes felt unresponsive, and almost everything involving the navigation was janky.

Ultimately, I don't think that the Duo two suffers from performance problems. I suspect the root of this problem lies in software optimization, especially with aspects of the Duo ii experience that differ significantly from a usual phone thanks to the ii screens.

For example, the gesture navigation features heavy customization to back up opening apps on each display simultaneously, moving apps from one screen to another and bridging an app beyond both screens. These were problem areas with the original Duo and I'thou lamentable to run across they didn't run into the same level of improvement as other areas of the Duo two.

More than but bugginess, at that place'due south a level of unpredictability with the navigation system. Mostly, if y'all tap an app on one screen, it opens on that screen. But that's not ever the case. Some apps, like Settings, tin open things on the second display, but this seems to happen without reason. It can be a frustrating experience for users when things don't happen the style they expect.

Other improvements fall flat

The Duo 2 Glance Bar in (limited) activity

Other new additions to the Surface Duo 2, unfortunately, don't measure out up to Microsoft's promises. Peradventure the best case of this is the new Glance Bar.

The Surface Duo two features a curved edge on both displays — typically, I dislike curved screens, just with the Duo ii the curved edge is only along the hinge side of the display. This accomplishes a few things, like helping the 2 displays mesh together improve when bridging an app across both screens.

It too ways a small portion of each brandish is visible along the hinge edge when the Duo two is closed. This forms the Glance Bar, which Microsoft touted every bit a way to see incoming notifications and calls without opening the Duo two.

On paper, this sounds bang-up (and it fixes ane of my grips with the Duo, which was the inability to run into incoming notifications without opening the device). In practice, information technology sucks. The Glance Bar only displays notifications for incoming text messages and calls. There's no way to customize this to see more notifications, such every bit incoming emails.

More than frustrating is that the Glance Bar only uses a fraction of the available infinite to show notifications. For example, when a message comes in, you just see a spoken communication-chimera icon with a number next to it for the number of unread letters. I feel like Microsoft could have improved the usability past briefly showing the name of the contact that sent the message or even a snippet of the message itself.

Similarly, incoming calls flash blueish on the Glance Bar, but it doesn't evidence any information about who's calling.

"I found the inconvenience of having a second brandish often outweighed the few benefits of having information technology."

The Glance Bar can too testify battery level, just just when you plug in the Surface Duo ii, and the volume level when you press the volume buttons. However, forth with being extremely limited, the Glance Bar was incredibly inconsistent. Pressing the book buttons just showed the volume level on the Glance Bar twice while I tested the phone — the remainder of the time, the Glance Bar did nothing when pressing the buttons. Similarly, the battery indicator would only show up immediately after plugging the Surface Duo 2 in and there was no way to make the Glance Bar show battery level once again, which meant I had to open the Duo two to check if I was fully charged.

Subsequently some niggling with the Duo 2, I discovered you could printing the power button while the phone was closed to make the Glance Bar light upwards and show the time and notifications. Unfortunately, this was likewise inconsistent and sometimes wouldn't work at all.

The problem here isn't a lack of expert ideas — Microsoft has a bunch of them! The Glance Bar is frankly a creative solution to a unique problem with the Duo 2 form factor. It only doesn't piece of work.

I besides know Microsoft can execute on these things. There are other small features in the Duo 2 that do work (and piece of work well). For example, the Duo ii has a shortcut to launch the camera by double-clicking the power push button. However, that shortcut is useless when the Duo 2 is closed. So Microsoft made it turn on the camera flash instead, a clever comeback that proved helpful when I needed the flashlight merely didn't desire to open up the Duo 2.

A photographic camera non worth the crash-land

One of the biggest complaints I saw about the original Surface Duo was the photographic camera. Information technology didn't assist that Microsoft only equipped the phone with a bones selfie camera meant to pull double duty as the primary camera too.

However, the Duo 2 makes it clear that hardware solitary does non a good photographic camera make. The only consequent thing about the Duo two camera was its inconsistency — sometimes, information technology would evangelize some decent images. About of the time, it wouldn't. Across similar scenes, I would get widely varying results that were strangely dim or as well bright. I too plant it hard to frame pictures with the Duo 2 since the phone made everything seem zoomed-in despite shooting at 1x.

Worse, the viewfinder seldom showed an accurate representation of the final production. I'd line up what I idea was a smashing shot, snap the picture, and then wait at it and find it wasn't quite what I idea it'd be. And when I blew those images up on my computer, they looked even worse.

The Duo 2 image is zoomed in despite shooting at 1x and taking the picture the same distance from the tree with each phone.

That unreliability makes it hard to praise the 1 attribute of the Duo 2 camera I did like — the ability to review photos on the 2nd screen. The camera viewfinder only takes up one of the ii displays, so the other shows your pictures as you take them. Unfortunately, it didn't matter as well much — as I said above, I'd snap a moving picture I thought looked proficient and and then it would disappoint me when I reviewed it later on on my computer.

Notwithstanding, the biggest trouble I had with the Surface Duo 2 wasn't the lacklustre auto mode. It was that ii of the three rear cameras straight up didn't work.

I noticed the ultrawide camera first when I went out to take pictures for the review. Well-nigh camera apps have buttons to swap between the dissimilar camera options. The Surface Duo two simply had options for the regular photographic camera and the telephoto camera. There was no manner to even admission the tertiary ultra-wide lens.

When I got home and started reviewing the examination photos, I noticed that all the telephoto pictures were missing — instead, I had four pictures of the discipline I used to test the zoom, but all at roughly the same zoom level. So, I tried the zoom examination again at home in my function. I took 1 picture with the main camera at 1x, another at 2x with the telephoto lens and then a tertiary at the maximum 10x zoom. The second display showed all three photos with the correct zoom, just when I opened the images on the Duo 2, the third photograph reverted to the same zoom level as the commencement photo from the primary photographic camera. The second photograph retained its slight zoom.

The selfie camera, on the other hand, worked out pretty well in my testing. It consistently grabbed sharp images of my face. I found it tended to overexpose the image a little, merely generally I was satisfied with the result. I found portrait mode had some problem with edge detection, although surprisingly the Duo 2's frustrating departure between what you lot meet on the phone and what you run across on your computer screen played in portrait mode's favour here. One of the images I grabbed completely failed the edge detection, simply the image was surprisingly spot-on when moved to my PC.

Left: On-device, the Duo two shows a very incorrect portrait manner shot. The same picture when pulled off the phone (correct) is much meliorate.

Given the other concessions Microsoft made to get all this camera hardware into the device, I'm frankly disappointed information technology didn't perform ameliorate. I wasn't expecting the Duo 2 to accident me out of the water with a top-notch shooter, but I was hoping for something more than reliable than what I got.

I'm not sold on two screens

Microsoft'due south first crack at a 2-screen smartphone was ambitious. Information technology was also extremely flawed, only I was willing to look past those flaws and consider the potential of the dual-screen dream.

The Surface Duo 2 was, I recollect, Microsoft's opportunity to show that potential — an opportunity botched. The Duo 2 manages to meliorate on almost every attribute of the original Duo, and withal yet amazingly isn't good.

Some problems could get better. Microsoft could invest in the camera software to improve that experience. There'south a lot of piece of work to exist done on the software side too. The hardware already feels great.

Merely fifty-fifty with all that, I'chiliad not sure information technology'd make the Duo 2 worth using. Peradventure I'chiliad in the minority here, only my experiences with the Duo and Duo two accept cemented my opinion that yous only need ane screen.

There are moments when having two screens is helpful, merely those moments are exceedingly rare. In my testing time, I appreciated having the two displays during set-up because I could put my password manager on one side and log into apps on the other. Across that, I occasionally used the screens to reply to a message or email while watching a video on the other. Most of the fourth dimension, I merely used one app, even when I had two open. Sure, I could have Twitter on one screen and Reddit on another, simply I can't focus on both at once.

In other words, I found the inconvenience of having a 2d brandish often outweighed the few benefits of having information technology. I think that'due south the primal hurdle Microsoft volition demand to get over for the Duo line to succeed.