Microsoft's second foldable phone, the Surface Duo 2
Microsoft's second foldable phone, the Surface Duo 2
8:16

Microsoft's second foldable phone, the Surface Duo 2

Foldable Phones
Speaker 1: This is the surface duo two Microsoft's second foldable phone, like the original. It has two screens joined by a hinge, allowing it to fold in half like a book. The surface duo two has been upgraded in just about every single way compared to the original, but is that enough to make my Microsoft's $1,500 phone worth recommending? Let's find out Speaker 1: We loved the original [00:00:30] surface duo in theory, but not so much in practice. The software felt laggy and apps just didn't work across the two screens in the way that we had hoped. Plus it was missing. Some features you to spec from an expensive smartphone. The surface duo two is Microsoft's attempt at addressing those drawbacks. It comes with a better triple lens camera, a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon, 8 88 processor, slightly larger screens with a faster refresh rate and support for 5g. With these changes. [00:01:00] I'm finally starting to understand the appeal behind the surface duo reading, playing games and watching videos are some of the areas where the surface duo two really shines, but it still feels like a niche device. And there are some compromises that come with using the surface duo too, as a regular phone plus, since it has two separate screens, instead one continuous screen that folds you can't really use it as a tablet when it's unfolded. Speaker 1: So let's dive in and learn more about what it's been like to use [00:01:30] the surface duo two. At first glance, you might not even be able to tell the difference between the new surface duo and the old one, but Microsoft has made some pretty important changes. The dual screens are slightly bigger at five, 5.8 inches each instead of 5.3. And there's a new glance bar that glows to let you know, if you have an incoming call or notification, the glance bar lights up. When you have an unread message or an incoming call, you can also press the power button to see the time and notifications. This is [00:02:00] useful when you have your phone on silent, but I really don't find myself checking it that often that's because the glance bar is kind of wedged inside the hinge. So it's not really that easy to see it at a glance. Speaker 1: The design is also really sleek and eyecatching overall. It's definitely drawn some attention when I've taken it out in front of my friends. I really like holding it like a book because that feels really natural. And I also find myself folding the display backwards and using it in one hand most of the time, which actually isn't as awkward [00:02:30] as you might expect. It kind of feels like you're holding an e-reader or a small tablet. The only issue here is that since the new surface duo has a nice big camera module on the back, it doesn't fold completely flat when you're using it in one hand it mode. And you can forget about trying to fit this phone into a small pocket or purse. But the biggest thing we want for Microsoft is a reason why you need two screens. Instead of one, you can already buy a really good smartphone and a tablet for less than the price of the surface duo two. Speaker 1: So why [00:03:00] do you need it first? Let's talk about why the surface duo has two screens in the first place. It isn't quite as straightforward as other foldables like the Samsung galaxy Z fold three Samsung's device is a phone when it's closed and a tablet when it's open. It's that simple. The surface duo two on the other hand is a little, little bit different. Since the hinge runs down the center of the display. It's not meant to be used as a tablet when it's open, but it still has that same goal of giving you more screen space for your apps. [00:03:30] It just accomplishes it differently. But the catch is that apps need to be optimized to really make use of these two displays. Of course, we're seeing some of that in a few apps from Microsoft, such as outlook, you can view your inbox on one screen and compose a new email on the other and even drag and drop content like calendar invites in between the camera app is another good example. Speaker 1: You can take a photo and see how it came out right away on the other screen when taking a photo. But the vast majority of apps that I use most often is aren't [00:04:00] designed to be used on two screens when span across both displays apps like Google drive, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Google maps just look stretched out with a big crease running down the middle. Still Microsoft is making some progress on this front when it comes to getting third party apps optimized for the surface duo, it's just feels more like the exception rather than the norm. The Amazon Kindle app is a really good example. It even has a page turn animation that makes it look like you're actually turning the page [00:04:30] of a book when you're using it. Some Gameloft titles like asphalt nine were also tailored for the surface duo two and TikTok, nicely places. Speaker 1: The four you feed on one screen and the dis discover feed on the other. The original surface duo felt underpowered and there was a lot of lag and inconsistency when using it. Luckily the new Qualcomm snap and 8 88 processor in the surface duo two has fixed that. At least for the most part, using the surface duo two generally felt fluid [00:05:00] and smooth, some exceptions that's partially also thanks to the new 90 Hertz refresh rate found on both displays. It really makes scrolling seem light and snappy on most occasions, the display orientation adjusted quickly when I moved from book mode to one handed mode and 10 to mode, but there were still some hiccups when using it in landscape mode. Sometimes the screen would and adjust and switch to the other screen in time, which was an annoyance. One of the biggest updates coming to the surface duo two is in its camera. Speaker 1: [00:05:30] It has a triple lens camera with a 12 megapixel wide lens, a 12 megapixel telephoto lens and a 16 megapixel ultra wide lens. That's a big upgrade compared to last year's surface due, which only had one 11 megapixel camera. The camera placement has also changed the original surface duo had one camera located on the inside of the device while the new surface duo has a camera bump on the back, just like most other phones. There are pros and cons to this approach on the bright [00:06:00] side, the surface duo too, can take better photos on the first one, since it has more camera lenses that are capable of producing photos with more color and sharpness. The downside is that you have to keep the phone open while shooting to actually use that new camera, which can feel awkward as far are, as image quality goes. Our early tests show that the surface duo two can take clear and colorful photos. Speaker 1: But I have noticed in a few instances so far that the surface duo two photos, sometimes aren't as bright [00:06:30] or colorful as photos taken with other phones, like the Samsung galaxy Z fold three and the iPhone 13 Promax. But again, these are our early tests, so you'll have to wait until we do more in depth camera testing to find out more the surface duo two's battery life seems pretty promising even despite the fact that it has two screens, instead of one, after a full day of usage, I still had 30% of its battery left. That was after I an entire day using the phone for streaming [00:07:00] Xbox games via game pass, taking photos, sending text messages and checking email. Overall, the surface duo two feels more like what we wanna, the original surface duo to be it's versatile design makes it a lot better for certain tasks than a regular phone. Speaker 1: I'm talking about things like reading books, reading recipes off your phone in the kitchen, watching videos and playing games, but there are still two big problems for one more apps need to [00:07:30] be optimized to work well across both screens for this phone to be worth it. And the way apps work across two screens also needs to be compelling to convince people to spend $1,500 on a phone. Microsoft is on its way to figuring that out, but it's still not quite there just yet. And two, the surface duo two can still feel a bit awkward to use as a regular phone because of its size. If you're already used to large phones, this might not be as tough of a transition, but for vast majority of [00:08:00] people, this is a cumbersome phone. That's gonna take some getting used to for more details on the surface duo two, check out our full written review, linked in the description. And if you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment or find me on Twitter. Thanks for watching. And I'll see you next time.

Up Next

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist
240225-site-motorola-rollable-concept

Up Next

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist

Samsung's Concept Flip Phone Can Bend Both Ways
samsung-booth-tour-seq-00-03-28-11-still002

Samsung's Concept Flip Phone Can Bend Both Ways

Camera Test: Google Pixel Fold vs. OnePlus Open
thumbvs

Camera Test: Google Pixel Fold vs. OnePlus Open

Honor Reveals Concept Phone Purse at IFA 2023
purse-phone-site-image

Honor Reveals Concept Phone Purse at IFA 2023

Foldable Phones May Be the Future. In South Korea, They're the Present
1080-00-04-47-14-still001.png

Foldable Phones May Be the Future. In South Korea, They're the Present

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Flip Phones Are Cool Again
z-flip-5-review-cnet-00-00-18-22-still003.png

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Flip Phones Are Cool Again

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Is Thinner, Lighter and Gapless
230803-site-galaxy-fold-5-review-2

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Is Thinner, Lighter and Gapless

Galaxy Z Flip 5: First Impressions From Seoul, Korea
cnet-24-hours.png

Galaxy Z Flip 5: First Impressions From Seoul, Korea

Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Z Flip 3 and 4: How Do the Specs Stack Up?
230726-site-galaxy-z-flip-5-vs-z-flip-4-and-3-spec-comparison

Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Z Flip 3 and 4: How Do the Specs Stack Up?

Everything Revealed at Samsung's Summer Unpacked
samsung-unpacked-2023-clean

Everything Revealed at Samsung's Summer Unpacked

Tech Shows

The Apple Core
apple-core-w

The Apple Core

Alphabet City
alphabet-city-w

Alphabet City

CNET Top 5
cnet-top-5-w

CNET Top 5

The Daily Charge
dc-site-1color-logo.png

The Daily Charge

What the Future
what-the-future-w

What the Future

Tech Today
tech-today-w

Tech Today

Latest News All latest news

PlayStation 5 Pro Leaked: Everything We Know
playstation5pro-leak-clean

PlayStation 5 Pro Leaked: Everything We Know

Everything Just Revealed at Nvidia's GTC AI Conference
nvidiastill

Everything Just Revealed at Nvidia's GTC AI Conference

Nvidia Reveals Omniverse Cloud Streams to the Vision Pro
nvidia-vision-pro-image

Nvidia Reveals Omniverse Cloud Streams to the Vision Pro

Nvidia Shows Project GROOT and Disney Bots at GTC Conference
robot-2

Nvidia Shows Project GROOT and Disney Bots at GTC Conference

Expert vs. AI: Is Now the Time to Buy an EV?
gettyimages-1178244881

Expert vs. AI: Is Now the Time to Buy an EV?

The PlayStation Portal Built-In Volume Is too Loud: Here's How to Keep It Low
playstation-portal-audio-options-thumb2

The PlayStation Portal Built-In Volume Is too Loud: Here's How to Keep It Low

Most Popular All most popular

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)
innovation

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost
240123-site-samsung-galaxy-s24-ultra-review-4

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen
circlesearchpic

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop
asus-preces-00-00-25-11-still003

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions
samsung-galaxy-ring-clean

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024
240111-site-best-of-ces-2024-1

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024

Latest Products All latest products

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day
240304-site-nothing-phone-2-first-look-v3

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More
240229-site-best-of-show-at-mwc

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display
240225-site-lenovo-translucent-laptop-concept-v3

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist
240225-site-motorola-rollable-concept

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist

See Adobe Lightroom on the Apple Vision Pro
adobe-lightroom-00-02-58-03-still006-1

See Adobe Lightroom on the Apple Vision Pro

This $400 Cane Has a Built-In Phone
p1022441-mp4-15-35-32-23-still001

This $400 Cane Has a Built-In Phone

Latest How To All how to videos

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features
240311-site-windows-11-hidden-tips-and-tricks-v2

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3
VisionOS 1.0.3

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra
240216-site-galaxy-s24-ultra-tips-and-hidden-features-2

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro
tiktok-on-vision-pro-clean

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips
superbowl-tv-settings-thumb1

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro
240202-site-spatial-computing-on-meta-quest-3

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro