It has been improved, but...
Surface Duo, a two-screen smartphone that was said to be the "beginning of a revolution" in 2020. Its successor, the Surface Duo 2, has been released in the United States, and like the original Surface Duo, Gizmodo's Sam Rutherford is reviewing it, but this article has been toned down a lot. Check out the review below to see how far Microsoft's two-screen smartphone revolution has gone!
While foldable smartphones are entering the third generation, devices with two separate screens are still rare. Dual-screen phones may be niche as they should be, but in 2020 Microsoft announced the Surface Duo, replacing ZTE's Axon M. Its successor, the Surface Duo 2, is full of upgrades inside and out, but I still can't quite agree with the two-screen smartphone itself. In fact, I'm even starting to think that Microsoft should just give up.
Microsoft Surface Duo 2
What is this? : Second-generation two-screen smartphone for Microsoft
Price: $1,500 (approximately 170,000 yen) * Not yet released in Japan
What I Like: Bigger screen, updated hardware, "glance" notifications, thinner bezels, improved hinges, built-in fingerprint sensors on the buttons.
What I don't like: Too expensive, rear camera sticky, no waterproofing, no wireless charging, doesn't work well with one hand, sometimes doesn't respond to touch, poor camera quality Too much.
A smartphone that folds up like a book
The biggest feature of the original Surface Duo was its design. The ultra-thin glass display connected by a unique hinge has no unnecessary angles or protrusions, and the whole body is made of minimal lines. It's like Microsoft reimagining a hardcover book for the 21st century, and even if I didn't like the Surface Duo device, I couldn't deny its beauty.
Surface Duo 2 is available in two colors, black and gray, and the basic design follows the same route as the first generation. However, the details have changed quite a bit, solving the problems of the previous model.
Although the hinges were smaller, the bezels were thinner, and the screen sizes were increased to 5.8 inches each (8.3 inches combined), the overall size of the device remained the same. Now that the fingerprint sensor is built into the power button, the indentation on the side is gone. In addition, in order to respond to the voice that the corners of the main body are too sharp, the Surface Duo 2 has rounded corners, making it easier to hold.
The edge of the screen on the hinge side is rounded, and it serves as a glance bar to display the time, notifications, and charging status (when plugged in). It's a clever idea, and it's nice to be able to see basic information without having to open it with both hands.
However, the Surface Duo 2 has added elements that are not suitable for its minimal design. It is the protrusion of the rear camera. The only camera on the first Surface Duo was the in-camera on the right screen, so I can understand the intention of wanting to carry a nice camera on the back of the second generation.
However, I'm very skeptical that the module needed to be this big. It looks like it was hurriedly glued on afterward, and the module doesn't allow you to open the screen upside down for a perfect 360 degree.
Because of this camera, in single screen mode, there is a gap between the screens back to back, which makes the whole thing thicker and less stable. What's more, if you press the floating part (the bottom part of the screen where they are back-to-back), you can attach the corners of the back of the screen to each other without applying a lot of force.
However, the camera module is slightly slanted so that when the screen is flipped over, the rear camera and the back of the screen are in close contact. Still, if it's all that messed up, the more elegant the other parts, the more it looks like the camera module has been taken for granted. And the photos that can be taken with this camera... I'll write more about that later.
Flagship Performance
The biggest failure of the original Surface Duo was its poor hardware. The SoC is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, which was already outdated when it was released. So the Surface Duo 2 has been upgraded to the latest Snapdragon 888, with a convincing 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (unfortunately, it does not support microSD cards). Even in benchmarks, it's on par with premium Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and even slightly outperforms the Pixel 6's Tensor chip in Geekbench's multi-core CPU benchmarks.
The 1892 x 1344 AMOLED screen has a refresh rate of 90Hz and is noticeably smooth for gaming as well as normal web browsing. The OS is still Android 11 (and the update to Android 12 will take some time), but it has been brushed up by fixing multitasking issues and general bugs.
But what still feels rough is the instability of the response to touch.
I've been using the Surface Duo 2 for a few weeks now, and simple gestures like swiping up to open the app launcher or swiping down to open the notification tray take a few tries before it responds. Especially when I first started using it, I was annoyed that it seemed to be ignored. I had other people test the touch responsiveness to make sure it wasn't unique to me, and they said it was broken. What a saying. I've gotten used to it, but navigating between menus and switching between apps isn't crisp and intuitive.
A camera that sacrifices its appearance can still take good pictures...
If you can take good pictures even with a camera that seems like you just put it on, you can endure it. But the Surface Duo 2's camera isn't. The camera module protrudes twice as much as the Galaxy Z Fold 3, but the photo quality is clearly lower on the Surface Duo 2. It's even worse than the Pixel 6.
The problem with the main camera is due to image processing.
In a typical daytime flower photo, the Surface Duo 2 has too much color saturation in the flower, causing it to bleed red. A photograph of a baseball field, on the other hand, is desaturated and lifeless. The ultra-wide camera photos are also grainy and blurry compared to the Pixel 6's. And in a dark environment, it becomes even sadder.
In addition to the poor image processing, the Duo 2 lacks shooting modes for different environments, especially the night mode.
There is an automatic low light function, but it is not enough to save night photography. The above photo of the dark baseball field (although there is light from the surrounding streetlights) looks more like an impressionist painting than a photo, and the other photos taken in difficult conditions are dark and grainy and look like they were taken 2-3 years ago. .
This is a conservative review, so I'd say it's more of a camera than most people would normally use. Microsoft hasn't invested as much in mobile photography technology as Apple, Google, or Samsung, so the lackluster comparison is to be expected. But why is it so expensive, with an annoyingly large camera module, and only capable of taking "usable" photos?
Sufficient battery life, but no wireless charging
Surface Duo 2 lasts 14 hours and 36 minutes on a single screen, compared to the smartphone average of 12 hours and 36 minutes I exceeded it, but if I use 2 screens, it will be just 10 hours. Still, in normal daily use, it lasted from the time I went out until I got home. Don't expect much more than that.
Assuming that 23 watts of wired charging is sufficient, the lack of wireless charging is a bit annoying. Although it is a flagship smartphone, it is also disappointing that it is not waterproof.
Is there a future for dual-screen phones?
After a few weeks of use, I have mixed feelings about the Surface Duo 2.
The potential of having two screens is obvious when it comes to multitasking. It's easy to run multiple apps at the same time, and the extended view of the camera and Outlook keeps more information at your fingertips. There are a lot of things that I think Microsoft did better than Samsung, like moving apps across screens and creating app pairs.
However, even though the Surface Duo 2 is $300 cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 can do more. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 has longer battery life, better photos, high-end features like waterproofing and wireless charging, and no gaps between the displays, so the screen is on the outside when folded.
I know what Microsoft wants to do. The idea behind Surface Duo and Duo 2 is to reproduce dual monitors on your smartphone that will increase your desk work productivity. Certainly Surface Duo 2 is easy to read books and comics. The virtual touch controller when playing games was also great, as if the former Xperia Play UI was updated in 2021. However, there are still too many uncertainties.
Camera quality doesn't matter so much to business users, so I'm surprised the Surface Duo 2 isn't being marketed more to the corporate market, even though it should be very addictive. Microsoft connects most companies with Office 365 subscriptions.
The design of the Surface Duo 2 is also a worrying part. It's been touted as the thinnest 5G device, and that's true, but the smartphone thinness wars have long since ended. If you skimp on important features like wireless charging, battery life, smarter cameras, water resistance, and durability, you're missing your priorities.
I still think the idea of a usable two-screen smartphone is good, but wouldn't it be better for the Surface Duo series to give up two screens and continue as a giant folding screen? Because in a purely hardware sense, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 feels like it does everything the Surface Duo 2 can do better. Both have native stylus support, but would you prefer a screen with gaps in between or a continuous screen (even with a crease in the middle) when using it?
In many ways, it looks like Microsoft spent too much time fixing the problems with the original Surface Duo and didn't have time to think about the new appeal of the Surface Duo 2. With gadget horizons changing at a dizzying pace every year, no one can afford to just prolong the life of a flagship dual-screen smartphone. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Microsoft did.
