I was so waiting for the Microsoft Surface Duo. This would be Microsoft’s first attempt and a Surface-branded phone while I really like the device it has its issue.
Battery Life
The Microsoft Surface Duo comes with a 3577mAh battery and while this is good to power one screen using a dual-screen device is just not sensible. I charged the device two and three times just to get through my busy workday. While this is a productivity device and it’s great but you can’t be productive if you are always needing to charge the device. A bigger battery is a must on this device.
Single Screen Mode
You can flip around the phone and use it as a single screen but I found that’s where most of the problems happen. The device is designed to be used with two screens while one screen is great for making phone calls browsing the web the gestures do not work well. If the battery was better and you could keep both screens on all of the time I don’t think these issues would be such an issue.
Microsoft Apps
As I would expect the Microsoft Apps to excel on this device no pun intended. The Microsoft Apps and especially Outlook, Calendar, and Edge are amazing on the Microsoft Surface Duo. They work better than on any Pixel, Samsung, or iPhone but I expect it to since its Microsoft branded device. The Outlook and Calendar as especially amazing with special features you could only get on a dual-screen device.
Microsoft grouping is a great feature for a duel display device allowing you to open two apps at once and pick the screen you want to display either on the right or left.
Third-Party Apps
The third-party apps like Spotify and Kindle found ways to utilize the two screens and it works very well but one big issue is the lack of duel screen support for apps. While this is not a big issue for me it would have been nice to have duel display apps.
The camera app is where things really fall apart while the single-lens camera is ok at best the camera app glitches, is slow, and just does not work right. If you were trying to catch a quick picture of a precious moment it would be over before you could get the picture.
Speaker
I really feel the speaker on this phone is beyond terrible if you have the device in your pocket with a certain ring tone you can’t hear the phone ring. For me, this is an issue because I use the phone for work and get a lot of calls. I would imagine most people that buy this phone are business people that need to hear their phone ring. The only way to fix this is to set a really loud intrusive ring tone.
When I am on speakerphone with a customer a few times if the customer was soft-spoken I could not hear them. When using the phone to my ear, not on speaker I could hear fine so it’s kind of a weird issue. That I am surprised no one noticed that maybe can be fixed with software.
Charging
Microsoft does give you a very long USB-C charging cable and charging brick. I can honestly say I was very impressed with the quality of the cable and charger. The charging worked well and did a great job of quick charging plus since you get such a long cable you don’t need to be close to a plug.
Case
Microsoft sends bumpers with the phone to help protect it but there is no real case for this device which makes me worry about dropping or damage the device which is why I got a better warranty.
Price
The price to me is the real killer. With the two-year warranty, the 128 gig model was almost 1800 dollars with taxes and the 256 was almost 2000 dollars. I have a serious problem spending that kind of money when the new iPhone 12 Pro Max 512 Gig is 1,399.00.
Final
I do really like the device but I can’t recommend it. I myself will be sending mine back it’s just too much money for not enough value. The software is too glitchy and just not what it should be for that price. While the hardware is fine the software needs a lot of work which is sad since Microsoft is a software company. I did have people say to me the phone looks dated while I do not agree with that I don’t get that premium feeling for a premium price which is an issue with a $2000 phone. I just can’t recommend it going forward. Maybe version two might be better but as of right now I do not feel it’s worth the price.