Microsoft Surface Duo User Reviews

This phone is different. Therefore it takes a day or so to get used to it but as a business productivity device it is superb. Outlook runs great and my first wow moment came as I opened a pdf attachment and it rendered correctly and clearly on the second screen. Finally I can see emails and attachments easily. The real test was an Excel spreadsheet attachment--same result, the spreadsheet looked great with 8 columns showing in the screen.

The rest of the phone is good. The build quality is excellent and the screens are bright. For normal phone calls the volume and speaker work great. Viewing You Tube videos is a pleasure compared to my older candy bar 6.4" phone. Looking at a map across both screens is not ideal with the gap between the two screens.

For business purposes it is a great phone.

It would seem this will be the final epithet on the tombstone of why MS failed at smartphones. As an avid user of WIndows Phones until 2018.. I have a lot of experience.

First impression out of the box.. the Hardware and Form factor are amazing. The fact both screens are super thin and wide was nice. To be honest I have big hands.. and I wish they had more phones this wide. In folded mode it was perfect for me.

The build quality was top notch with a unique flare and style.

Sadly, that is where it starts and ends.. although the DESIGN was really thought out and executed perfectly when it came to the size, and the hinges. The other hardware choices, not so much.

The main issues aren't the processor, or RAM.. But the camera ?? The 950XL had a 20 MP f/1.9 Zeiss.. WP10 phones were known to have great shooters.. So the question is WHY.. a 11MP ? On a $1400 phone.. ? I compared the iPhone 7 with its 11MP camera and it did a better job.

Sound is mono, tinny and horrible.. The mid-range WPs were better.

No expandable storage.. ?? seriously ?

Bezels.. The phone is larger than most and yet each side is 4:3 as opposed to 16:9. If they cut down the bezels and they could have gotten to 16:9. Which matters in this case a lot.

As super thin as it is.. just 1mm or more on each side would still have been super sleek and they could have added better speakers.

Then there is the Software :

Microsoft thought it good to rely completely on gestures out of the box. So to get Home often require a ton of swipes as opposed to.. a HOME BUTTON and the Navigation Bar. Fortunately you can go turn them back on in the settings, which helped but should have been the default option.

Overall the Duo can be very touchy when you swipe up if you are anywhere near the bottom of the screen or NOT.. it doesn't seem well defined. Or if you have it closed and only one screen open and touch anywhere even a little with your non-typing hand you can have the app close on you in the middle of typing out a email. So I found myself constantly having to slow down.. OR reopen an app.. which wastes a lot of time.

The one irritation for WP supporters, is a lack of customization or live tiles. Other launchers won't work.. and the MS Launcher is about as vanilla as it gets. Why not throw the few WP fans left a bone and bake in some live tiles or at minimum the option for them. The MS Launcher in the Duo isn't even as customizable as the one for any other android.

Seriously how can they take all this time, make such a fine piece of hardware, and then not only give it crappy audio, and a crappy camera, but also hamstring the software side.. You would have thought 4 years would be enough time to really have figured it out by now.

The sad truth is it looks great and if ALL the hardware and software were as seamlessly smooth as the screens and the hinges.. it would be a out of the park home run.. but software is buggy, and with subpar audio and camera.. its at best a sacrificial out.