The magic of a 360° hinge and two screens Surface innovation comes to a dual-screen mobile device, featuring the best of Microsoft 365, every Android app in the Google Play store, phone calls, and more. ![]() Open two screens and open new possibilities The problem here is that the phone simply ignores the reason why people would want to turn to a device with more screen space.Important Note: These units are locked to AT&T and cannot be unlocked for use with any other carriers. ![]() Ultimately, the problem with the Surface Duo 2 doesn't come down to its feature set, its price or any of the specs that usually make or break a phone. And while that phone costs $300 more than Microsoft's handset, its truly foldable display doesn't suffer from as many limitations. The same things could be said, though, of Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3. And Microsoft has worked to see that a number of apps are optimized for the Surface Duo 2's dual screen design. ![]() The phone is compatible with the Surface Slim Pen 2, after all, giving you an accessory for note-taking and drawing on the phone's display (if you're willing to pay another $129 for the stylus on top of the $1,499 the phone already costs). Microsoft would counter that its phone has other factors in its favor besides the ability to spread your work across two panels. Making the case for the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 It was all right, but if I had just streamed the game on an iPhone 11 Pro Max, I would have had a more expansive screen area for streaming. When I tested the Surface Duo 2, I spent some time watching a streaming soccer match with the display in tent mode, propping up the phone so I could watch the action unfold on a single panel. (For more on how these two phones compare, see our Microsoft Surface Duo 2 vs. This is even more prominent than the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and its visible crease where the screens bend - at least that display is fairly seamless. ![]() Open an an app so that it spreads across the Surface Duo 2's screen, and you've got to contend with a noticeable gap where the two panels come together. So how does the Surface Duo 2 get this wrong? Because while its two 5.3-inch AMOLED panels can form a larger work area, it's not an uninterrupted display like you get from the best foldable phones. Where the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 falls short "The productivity of a tablet in a device the size of a mobile phone" is the sales pitch for foldable devices, and as far as marketing spin goes, it's a pretty compelling argument. Instead of a screen that's confined to a smartphone-sized space, you get a work area that's wider and taller - big enough for full-screen work like marking up documents or editing folders or for running multiple apps at once, if you're so inclined. I've tried to edit documents on everything from an iPhone 11 Pro Max down to a compact iPhone SE, and it's a real drag.įoldable phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 3 as well as dual-screen devices like Microsoft's latest Surface Duo address that problem. Smartphones give us the processing power of a portable computer in our pocket - yet, they have the screen size of a device that's ill-suited for anything but quick, easy work. I would argue that the case in favor of the Surface Duo 2 - and indeed for any of the best foldable phones or dual-screen devices - is that it gives you the workspace of a tablet in the form factor of a phone.
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