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Microsoft's Surface Duo Now Available, Starting From $1,399

bobenhaus said:
Yesterday was rumored, Apple purchased tons of foldable screens from Samsung

www.macrumors.com

Apple Reportedly Orders 'Large Number' of Samsung Foldable Mobile Phone Display Samples

Samsung will reportedly provide foldable display samples for a potential future iPhone, following a request from Apple, according to leaker "Ice Universe," who has today shared the information on Weibo. The "large number" of foldable displays will be samples for use in mobile phone devices, and...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
Click to expand...

Rumors are not considered fact. Also, purchasing tons is quite different from producing millions. If the rumor is true, I'm guessing testing and kicking the tires. My original statement still stands.
 
bobenhaus said:
Yesterday was rumored, Apple purchased tons of foldable screens from Samsung

www.macrumors.com

Apple Reportedly Orders 'Large Number' of Samsung Foldable Mobile Phone Display Samples

Samsung will reportedly provide foldable display samples for a potential future iPhone, following a request from Apple, according to leaker "Ice Universe," who has today shared the information on Weibo. The "large number" of foldable displays will be samples for use in mobile phone devices, and...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
Click to expand...
those may well be tested to destruction. The last thing Apple would want to see is the word 'FoldGate' plastered all over the Media. I'd call that purchase strictly a "Proof of Concept" operation.
 
The Courier was just vapourware. MS announced it to try and steal a little of the iPad’s thunder. As far as I remember, it never even got into the trial stage.
ArPe said:
As nobody has mentioned it yet, this product was derived from the Microsoft Courier project over a decade ago. It was supposed to be pen and gesture driven and running on top of Microsoft’s own operating system, but that went nowhere and most people prefer keyboard to pens for text entry.
Click to expand...
 
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I like it. Courier finally arrived. Yes, it's the wrong OS. But this is the way to go. Not the stupid foldable bendable displays Samsung and Motorola are using!
 
Terrible for media consumption. Steaming a movie on your next flight, pass. If you put a book on it, you could do side-by-side pages, but then the font would be so small - but spreading the page across the dual display gives you the gap in the center of the page. Same with working on a presentation, or spreadsheet - a gap in the center of your work unless you just use one screen. This thing will really be good at nothing, IMO.
 
I think what this has done is open my eyes to how far an iPad mini has come… A12, Apple Pencil, True Tone display. I have the original iPad Pro behemoth size, and if they put FaceID on a mini, I’ll be sold.

All the split screen productivity arguments make me 🙄. I have split screen on my iPad… now improving the multi-app management is needed, but that can be fixed in software.

I just can’t thInk of when I wouldn’t prefer 2 devices, my phone and an iPad, over one that folds.

regarding notifications, I wonder about the ramifications of leaving it folded open as the traveling default.
 
The base hardware is really intriguing, but it is missing too many features and is too buggy. It has the potential to be a fantastic productivity device, but not at that price point.
 
the Surface Duo is a dual screen small tablet thingy that can make phone calls.
The concept in itself isn't interesting to me and does have some primarily business centered use cases.

the execution however is terrible with outdated hardware, Google's tentacles Android version with some Microsoft Cosmetics and buggy as hell all for a low 1400$...

Why the hell would Microsoft release this?! :oops:
the hardware needs a couple of revisions to become acceptable. What a way to hurt the Surface brand they've had to build up for so long and that has actually some good hardware nowdays.

the duck taped together buggy OS is a disaster, but no surprise.
This current Microsoft/Android OS was built by a small external team and only recently bought inhouse btw...

The originally intended OS Windows10X, which is supposed to be the modern and light Microsoft OS, without all the legacy baggage. But they are years behind on that and even changed course multiple times.
Initially supposed to launch on the dual screen devices (most of them have been cancelled) that OS is currently scheduled to launch on single screen devices first, eventually... maybe...

I get that the wanted access to Apps, but why not go with with a Google free version of Android or even their own Microsoft spin on it?!

Microsoft is all business and services with some school/education.
They threw away (the towel in) the consumer market Xbox aside, which I find is a shame, as they had excellent devices (Nokia Lumia's, Zune)
 
The ad is well done.

As to the product itself, not TOO bad as a starter, but bad enough to cause little to none ripple.
 
Rogifan said:
iFixit unhappy. Scored it 2/10.

www.ifixit.com

Microsoft Surface Duo Teardown

Microsoft has reportedly been working on the Surface Duo for six years. We can probably tear it down in less time than that, but with any brand-new...
www.ifixit.com www.ifixit.com
Click to expand...

Not a good start:
  • The hardware honeymoon ends abruptly as we try to use the dysfunctional software to load a web page. Crashes, flashing screens, and flickers galore!

  • We're used to using broken devices (we occasionally break things around here), but many reviewers seem to be having similar software issues.
Click to expand...

Only 3 years of software updates, not good again especially for the high price tag. Apple gives 5 years of updates:
  • Thankfully, Microsoft has promised three years of software updates for the Duo. That should be long enough to iron out lots of kinks. But will this ultra-thin, all-glass slab last that long in your hands?
Click to expand...
 
I like the design. Well, I like that it’s a different design. It would need smaller bezels, and rear camera and run an OS that I was more familiar with before I’d buy it. But I do like thinking outside the box tech.
 
This has actually got my attention, at least, not enough to buy one.

It would be really cool if when hooked up to a monitor, the Duo displayed a full Windows 10 desktop OS, and when being used on the go, ran a modified mobile version of Windows, instead of android. (Think Windows Metro, but with a bit more beef)

That would be amazing.
This is where Windows Phone OS would have shone. I personally liked the Metro interface of Windows Phones, and I purchased a Lumia years ago out of sheer curiosity. Live tiles were really sweet, something iOS would suit. (I know its coming)

Gen 2 will be interesting! Either thinner bezels, (or a true folding display), better camera/speakers, and faster performance.
 
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Great concept but messed up execution. There’s no 3rd party support to maximize the use of that dual screen. Only apple could execute such device because the developers would be on board to support the dual screen in no time.
 
H2SO4 said:
lol, so no.
Deflection is one of the most embarrassing ways of admitting you may be wrong. P
Click to expand...

I am wiling to bet that most, if not all, commenters here don’t own a surface duo or plan to get one anytime soon either.

So if you want to prove me wrong, you are also going to have to do a lot better than simply attempt to handwave my opinion away simply because I don’t have a surface duo.

This is a hill I am ready to die on.
 
I like that twisty motions they do'

...show-offs.

The tagline would read "more space" as a selling point.
 
That is the most expensive phone in the world. And it doesn't appeal to business customers because it doesn't have a keyboard.
 
Abazigal said:
I am wiling to bet that most, if not all, commenters here don’t own a surface duo or plan to get one anytime soon either.

So if you want to prove me wrong, you are also going to have to do a lot better than simply attempt to handwave my opinion away simply because I don’t have a surface duo.

This is a hill I am ready to die on.
Click to expand...
Ok. Let’s ignore the others for now.
Please list the FACTS in your original statement. We’ll start there.
 
H2SO4 said:
Ok. Let’s ignore the others for now.
Please list the FACTS in your original statement. We’ll start there.
Click to expand...

Facts:

Lacks NFC
Going by all the YouTube review videos, camera is subpar and it’s awkward having to fold it a certain way because there is only one camera
Software is buggy as heck, and the older processor and inadequate ram are clearly problematic in a device built around multitasking.
Unoptimised apps look like crap because they are not designed with the folding display in mind. Maybe this will improve, maybe it won’t.
Battery life isn’t great unless you stick to using one of the two displays

The iPad mini is way cheaper, with a far more established ecosystem, with the only drawbacks being that it can’t make calls and doesn’t fold (which is in itself a very questionable proposition).

What are the main things a person buys a phone for? The software experience, NFC payments, taking great photos on the fly. The surface duo manages to fail magnificently at all 3.

What problem is this phone even trying to solve? Are people really clamouring for the ability to edit ms documents on the go, vs just working on them using a laptop? But then again, this is the same company whose signature feature in their wireless earbuds offering is the ability to control ppt slides by swiping on your ears, so...
 
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Abazigal said:
Facts:

Lacks NFC
Going by all the YouTube review videos, camera is subpar and it’s awkward having to fold it a certain way because there is only one camera
Software is buggy as heck, and the older processor and inadequate ram are clearly problematic in a device built around multitasking.
Unoptimised apps look like crap because they are not designed with the folding display in mind. Maybe this will improve, maybe it won’t.
Battery life isn’t great unless you stick to using one of the two displays

The iPad mini is way cheaper, with a far more established ecosystem, with the only drawbacks being that it can’t make calls and doesn’t fold (which is in itself a very questionable proposition).

What are the main things a person buys a phone for? The software experience, NFC payments, taking great photos on the fly. The surface duo manages to fail magnificently at all 3.

What problem is this phone even trying to solve? Are people really clamouring for the ability to edit ms documents on the go, vs just working on them using a laptop? But then again, this is the same company whose signature feature in their wireless earbuds offering is the ability to control ppt slides by swiping on your ears, so...
Click to expand...
Fail. I'll highlight the facts for you.
See how short your post is when you remove all the BS?
 
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