Looking Back at 3 Years of Surface Duo, A Surface Duo retrospective
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- Опубліковано 4 лис 2024
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You're absolutely right in your summation of the Surface Duo project. Microsoft has once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. However, I'm still using my Surface Duo 2 as my daily driver and will continue to do so as long as is possible. I view it as a Collector's Item now 🙂
lol yeah finally got my SD2 back in October. I compare it to cars and how sometimes manufacturers stop making a certain model, I have the last year of the model.
Surface Duo user as my primary and love it. Fantastic device- and for 229$ brand new(purchased my second one last week)- an absolute steal.
I still have my surface duo 1. Absolutely love the hardware but unfortunately it's just in the junk drawer and almost forgotten about. We surface duo users appreciate this community and a couple of other channels like yours that stayed with us throughout those releases and we all prayed for the success of the devices but unfortunately it never happened. I watched your channel grow Shane and it was a nice memory we all have with your videos supporting us users and giving us updates and hope. We all are the official surface duo community. Such a shame really it ended like this...
I use my brand new surface duo 1 as my daily- it's fantastic. My second one as I dropped my first one and warranty claimed it.
The Surface Duo remains my main and favorite phone; I hope Microsoft reconsiders their strategy and makes the Duo 3.
The problem is Microsoft.
They don't know what they are doing when it comes to their hardware.
No commitment, vision and short sighted simply to satisfy their 1% shareholders.
Windows mobile and Nokia went down the drain.
Microsoft Xbox is going to disappear because they're more interested in selling subscriptions.
many people forget Microsoft are just as bad as Google with a whole cemetery of dead devices and other ventures.
Absolutely- Hate the duo2, the bump ruins EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PHONE. Just update screen resolution and faster internals/storage/ram. That is literally all they need to do
Although I have moved on to Oneplus Open My Duo 1 has a permanent place on my cars dashboard so I am literally still daily driving that. My Duo 2 sits on my desk I still use that for media consumption when working , If it hadn't been for the poor battery life I would not have moved away, That phone was the first phone I could actually get work done on, All hail Duo 3!
Thanks Shane, Hopefully Duo3 may arrive September, 2024
Instant like because DUO
Anything, I mean ANYTHING surface Duo is worth a bit of a cash tip. Thank you Shane. My Duo-2 is still pristine! My daily driver is an iPhone so my Duo-2 is preserved as a "new in box" device. I worship the thing. There will never be another device like it.
Thank you Sir.🥰
Thanks!
Yes! Exactly...I say "I miss you" to it often...it still sits on my desk at work and often tempted to put my SIM into it but just can't.
I picked up the Surface Duo on a Woot sale as a secondary device. I was considering an iPad Mini but opted for Duo because of the small footprint when folded. As an iPhone guy I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Android through the Duo and still use it as a digital notepad / mobile workstation for simple tasks. I’ve gotten a ton of value out of your videos Shane - now I want a Fold or Open! Maybe one day…
Thx for walking down memory lane, been using my SD1 as main driver (for work and personal) till now, tethered to lumia950 for data (due to ATT locked version) while wifi at home..stil getting 'AWE' from ppl every now and then..
I had to move on too, I love my SD 1, but at this time it's very slow for my needs, but everytime I use it, I say, what a piece of hardware. Great video Shane.
I still use my Duo. Great video Shane! I hate that we have Windows Phone/Mobile vibes. But we all kinda knew it was coming and I still enjoyed the ride.
I often think of what could have been
Same here, still using my surface duo 1. After my fold 3 die since last update.
Watching this on my original Duo :) Love mine!
I still use my Duo 1 to this day and I don't plan to upgrade any time soon. At the state that it is now it is absolutely usable for me. I first used the Duo 1 on Android 11 in early 2022 and it was a mess. I was absolutely mad about the device after only a month and I switched back to my Flip 3. After more than a year I bought one again for a pretty good price and now it's my main device again since 4 months and I absolutely adore this thing. Even with all it's bugs(which in my case are absolutely workable) I still love it. I use it as my main device even running dual boot with Windows 11. I love the thought of always having a pretty well running PC in my pocket and it was handy multiple times in the last months. So at the end even tho the support ended I still love it and I will continue to use it. I may put a custom rom on it tho in the future but for now it's perfect for me.
Shane, thanks to you I'm a happy, proud and loyal SD1 and 2 user. And I will keep using this fantastic phone untill he dies. Untill today I get questions and compliments for using my SD.
This phone is rare here in the Netherlands so it's almost a collectors item 😉
The Panay vision of two separate but aware screens in the pocket really worked for me. The glimpse of the 'homemade' Duo with W11 was the holy grail for my business and pleasure daily uses. Microsoft despite confessions from Gates and Nadella on mobile mismanagement butchered another opportunity and burnt the fan base. Panay wanted hardware that maximised Microsoft software which can't be only a three year commitment. Seems the addiction to Win32 and a wavering belief system has brought about the Microsoft mobile demise (again). Dumbfounded.
As far as all the new foldables...
Shane said:
"They are not Surface Duo
None of them do multitasking as well
None of them do multitasking as easily, as automatically, as Surface Duo
and none of them ever will."
True dat.
That is why I am still using my SD1 daily.
I still have my og Duo, the two screens were so fragile they both stopped displaying correctly after like 6 months... I send it to Microsoft who replaced it so quickly. I now have new Surface Duo and I'm still really enjoying it.
Late to the party but finally watched this - Great tribute. Still daily driving my (bumpless) Duo2, and I shall until it breaks. Then I can think about what's next...
I still have two Duo ones and I am trying to buy a Duo 2 through ebay - not because I will likely use it - as you say, without the updates, or the sparseness of the updates for the two, it's not really useful, but there is something nostalgic about having them I think. It is coming to the end of that era, and I just felt I'd like to have one, when so many of them will end up consigned to the landfill. Who knows, maybe one day with advances in tech, someone like my grandson (now 15 y/o) might find it one day when I'm gone and repurpose it into something usable again - if that ever becomes possible. I have been trying with various fold devices, but they truly aren't the same and I really miss that hinge gap. Thanks for the wander down memory lane, Shane.
I don't know about anyone else, but I lost TWO SD1's to broken hinges in the same place! It was the plastic covering the bottom hinge on the right side, its so thin on the SD1. I guess there was a point where i dropped the SD1 on that corner when it was closed. Some time after, I usually had my SD1 closed and would open it to do anything, the plastic snapped right over the hinge. Once that happend, the SD1 was basically rendered unusable(the wire inside became exposed and would slip out and cause on screen to black out totally). This happend on my first SD1 when I wasn't expecting it. When I got my SD1 replacement, I kept an eye on the corners. At some point after a year of my replacement I notice I had bumped that plastic corner again so that it was slightly damaged and I KNEW I had to start looking for a replacement which I eventually scoured Ebay for a SD2, which has thicker plastic covering the hinges! Very happy with the SD2 and it runs so much better and less buggy than the SD1.
Why is anyone's SD2 in the draw? I use mine as my daily driver cause its still the best dual screen phone available. Works great. Super quick with zero issues.
Love my duo 1 period.And I have an iPhone 15 pro ,iPhone 14 pro and a 13 mini sounds crazy but still loving my duo 1
The surface duo is my first phone. I got it off amazon for less than $300, and I love it despite all of its glaring flaws. I wish Microsoft made the frame thicker and out of metal to prevent the charging port from breaking, and I also wished that it was supported longer. It's crazy how it depreciated from over $1k to what its at now, but it still confuses people when I use it in public lol. Thanks for keeping us updated on all of your experiences with this interesting device.
I just pulled my duo 2 out to run all the app updates. A couple of things jumped out at me. The screens on and the hardware feel and looks very premium. Battery life is pretty bad compared to my OnePlus open. Multitasking is still king on duo. 1 duo screen provides almost the same amount of video as my OnePlus open when unfolded.
I still love that phone, really too bad Microsoft gave up.
The SD 1 make a great reader and that's primarily what i use it for now. I do miss being able toj have things open on two separate screens.
Still using Duo 1 and it's still great and feels mint condition. It did have some major bugs at different times. Never had the black screen bug but do have the opposite. It very often likes to turn both screens on while in phone mode and that's definitely the biggest problem. Never had any touch issues really.
I moved on from my Duo 2 to a Pixel Fold but I still keep it around as a backup in case the screen breaks. Miss it a lot. It's the phone that got me to switch to Android and will always have a special place in my head. Shame what happened with it. Missed the November update.
I love my duo 2, even if I would have enjoy a better camera, a 4 windows split and more apps adapted for dual screen. A Duo 3 with those features and I would still buy it. 😅
Still using my SD2. I dropped it and the hinge is now no longer flat when I open it but no issue with opening and closing for now. I'm still very satisfied with it. The camera definitely is a downgrade coming from an older LG G8... I only swap phones about once a decade 😂
Of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: what might have been
but sadder still is often seen, it is, but ought not to have been. (though this second part of the quote does not apply here)
Nothing comes close to the multitasking of the duo and duo 2. Since I have moved to the pixel fold I am multitasking 10% of the time. No cover display forces you to use the dual screens by default. I am taking a lot more pictures on the pFold. I agree w your statement that duo one hardware is still a masterpiece.
I still daily use my Duo 2 as my main device. I'm still paying it off so I'm going to use it as long as I possibly can.
Did they post any news about the Surface Neo? They both got announced at the same time.
I was one of those like Craig that waited with baited breath for the delivery of the package for the SD1. I had even made a paper cutout version to show people what it was going to look like when it came. Best buy had a huge trade-in program and I updated to the SD2. Love it so much, I have become worried what is going to happen if I break it since there is no replacement model coming out. Recently I picked up a SD1 from Woot as a back up and a place to try out the Andriod 14 pixel ROM on it. Ended up resetting back to Android 12 - we really aren't missing much that I could tell.
It had the potential to be the new BlackBerry, and top the sales charts - at least for business and media users. There's simply no other mobile device that offers a screen size as big and wide as it did, to date. Yes, foldables are getting larger (Honor & Xiaomi are up to 8" now) and Google's Pixel Fold is moderately similar in aspect ratio, but nobody has still managed to combine the large sized and aspect ratio - for the ideal two-app side-by-side use case (and for video watching in landscape mode). Let alone with actual glass screens rather than flimsy plastic ones. Hopefully this market failure will once day be righted.
I still love my Duo 1, actually typing this on it now. It saddens me that it's days are numbered, This is a reccurring theme for me with Android, where they make me fall in love with a device, then kill it off! The last time being my beloved Huawei Mate 20 X 😢
One of the things I miss the most is actually your content though Shane! You did an excellent job of spearheading the community (along with Steve Litchfield on my side of the pond) and it felt great to be part of that niche, it made mobile tech exciting again for me, Now I still watch your content for it's quality, but with the greatest respect, it's no longer directly relevant to me, as I'm very squeamish about these "soft screen" foldables, and just can't see myself ever being on board, it would be a catastrophe waiting to happen 😂
Thanks again for all the content Shane, the Duo era is one I'll remember fondly, alongside the XDA era and the Nokia Communicator eras, albeit considerably shorter!
Oh, and recently I've installed Nova, and am really enjoying using it as a simple foldable tablet, rather than a dual screened device ... Which is crazy as I've been telling everyone for the last couple of years that this was the wrong way to use it 😂. It's amazing how your mind ignores the screen gap!
I think the dual screen design was smart 🤓 but are they going to have a complete cover screen and make it with good chip please.
I still have my OG Surface Duo, it's a glorified E-book reader now, however every time I pick it up I think WOW how bloody light and thin is this thing, i really wish Microsoft had given the Duo another Year, at least generation 3 of the same form factor, I'll be keeping the Duo till it dies.
Whatever happened to the larger tablet version of this that was supposed to have a magnetic keyboard attachment?
Recently switched from the original Duo to the OnePlus Open. It was time...mainly because battery life was no longer reliable for full day use. I am happy I switched but as awesome as a foldable is, it somehow feels mundane compared to the Duo. It's thin but not as thin as the Duo. Its screens are very usable but the extra width of the Duo just made reading content and watching videos just a bit better. Heck,despite that extra width I also had an easier time one-handing the Duo. Especially with the left hand, on the thin Duo I could hit the right-hand sided finger print scanner with my left hand index finger. I probably just got used to the Duo's uniqueness but my hands do miss fiddling with it 😅
Thank you for looking back in a thorough and concise way for to sum things up. The ZFold4 has been primary phone since September 2022. I'm considering using my SD2 or original SD more often, at least at home, and maybe while walking around as a secondary device to an next Ultra. Others are buying these up and on forums people are often asking where to buy one. So Shane, what would people need to know about using it nowadays? You seemed to say the most OS update for the SD2 and maybe SD is buggy, but the prior one is reliable? I think the custom OS sounds ok. I'd like to know which one to avoid and why one ROM is better than the good but earlier official release. Thank you for your help, brother!
Great vid! I was wondering how the Android 14 install was fairing for you?
I use the original duo as my main device. If I sold it for $500 and paid another $1300 for either the Pixel or Z fold, what would I do that's much different? I paid $214 brand new unlocked. When I compare the speed to the Zfold 5, the 5 beat it 70% of the time, but not by much. You can watch a speed comparison here: ua-cam.com/video/At2BDVlatxA/v-deo.html. I really like the Pixel, Zfold, and the Open but for now I'll stick with my my super classy and very elegant Duo
Everything you said is spot on even my feelings about Surface Duo wish they wouldve got it right the first time..I believe if they commited to it before the first drop of microsoft duo it would have definitely been just as popular as the Iphones
Genuine question: if the surface duo had a foldable screen and a screen on the front (like almost all foldables), but handled multitasking the exact same same way duo does (maybe with a software border between screens), would you love it just as much?
I'd have to use it to know.
@@scaryifliteral Would be curious if someone could add this as a launcher to an existing fold (OnePlus? Pixel?) Could be an interesting experiment for previous duo users¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sadly, this would likely go deeper than just a launcher. It would take someone like a former Duo dev making a custom ROM to truly get it right.
I'm still on a Duo 1, but it's on its last legs. Some ass in a bar grabbed it and dropped it while I wasn't looking and it's all cracked. I've got Insurance and a Galaxy Fold 3 or 4 on Amazon would be dirt cheap to replace it with, but I still find myself multitasking regularly and I KNOW it's going to suck on a different device. I am looking forward to a better camera though. This one is pretty unforgivable.
I'm still using my sd1 daily.
Dam… this is sad. I’ve been under a rock with all this and I’m stunned. I dropped my duo and it won’t power on. R.I.P. beginning of the video I was feeling it might have been for good but at the end when you said there is no multitasker phone as good on the market it broke my heart. Which would you recommend Shane the one plus or google fold?
R.I.P Surface Duo 2😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
i miss you
Awesome recap.
I moved to a Pixel 7 after an update borked my Duo 2 (it would restart every 10-15 minutes).
I put my Sim back into it a few weeks ago, I really miss this for factor. There are still a lot of oddities but I still love it.
My Pixel 7 is in my bag at all times just incase this things goes wonky again but... Sigh
still rocking duo 1 as my daily driver....still my go to for ds gaming :)
Bit of shame the device did not get the commitment it deserved , I did see myself getting a duo at some stage as it looked good , and im not really fan of the bendy plasticy screen fold devices , alas , i`ll stay with conventional phones and tablets.
It's the perfect device for AI. They will forever regret their shortsightedness.
bought the original Microsoft Surface Duo a couple months ago and people constantly asked me about it and how they like it. did they bother to advertise it? some people have never heard of it
Most people have never heard of it lol
Just got a Duo One always wanted to try it out bought it for under $200 im actually enjoying it more than my Z Fold 5 not a bad phone even on Android 12L
It's funny I still daily drive Duo 2 but this video just made me miss the original Duo. I had it and sold it when I bought Duo 2. I just ordered another Duo 1 one on Ebay yesterday. Hahahaha. Still not another phone like Duo... I have an iPhone and ZFold but Duo is just different. Wish Panos and the team could have done more with it. Sadly it is like my Windows Phones of old... I will ride with them until they no longer work.
Microsoft has dropped some great projects: MS band, phone, Cortana, earbuds, and now the Duo 2. Each was ahead of its time and vastly innovative and imaginative. If MS gets their collective act together and decides to apply their collective brilliance to another product that exceeds expectations now, what secondary company will work with them? What third-party companies will risk $$ to develop the supporting products that we all enjoy? Certainly not Harmon Kardon, who got dropped on Cortana. Certainly not all the companies that produced cases, wraps, and extraneous products for the Duo. I believe in the ability of MS to produce innovative products, but at this point they've shot themselves in the foot with supporting companies.
Loved the Duos, but the lack of support killed it for me. Despite going to team Pixel (Fold), I still miss the Duo for multitasking, especially since the PF does not have app pairs yet 6 months after launch.
With that said, the PF is better in almost every other way than the Duo/Duo2. The good camera is a key feature I need. And I find myself using the inner screen for videos/content on a stand so much now. The double screen Duo failed at that.
I'll always have a place in my heart for the Duo line, but I will never buy another. I am interested to see what the PF2 is like, but I may try the OPO2 as well. I'm not loyal to Pixel yet.
I will also say that even if Microsoft does a "foldable" OLED Surface Fold, I WILL NOT BE BUYING IT!
I feel like there's still room in the market for a dual screen phone instead of foldable. Hope Microsoft tries for a 3rd although I'm not counting on it.
Any news of update?
its crazy, i bought a s23 ultra 512gb. Didint even bother to unpack it. its on sale again. Just can't get off my duo 1
Dear Craig, I have an offer to buy a Surface Duo. I would use it as a second phone. I wanted to ask you if I should buy it after all? I also need the device with the pen! Best weshes from Berlin
Their handling? MAGNIFICENTLY TERRIBLE. REMARKABLY BAD.
They made almost every bad decision in handling this device. Whiplash from having a great update followed by a bad one. It was so damn catastrophic.
...yet somehow I ended up absolutely loving my Surface Duo. Still do.
I regularly put my SIM in this and there's just (as you've said many times)... something about it.
Still sad to see that they didn't pick up any "Third times a charm" learnings from Surface Pro and give Duo one more shot... but I can still enjoy my Duo even in its EoL state.
And it's VoLTE so I'll be able to continue enjoying it until networks come up with some new crazy reason that old phones won't work anymore.
Which is your top1 bro?
I think it would still have been around if they hadn't also massively overproduced the duo 1, leading to fire sales that made it affordable to folks like myself but also removing it from visible store shelves in the process, then overcorrected and underproduced the duo 2 making that one hard to find and overpriced. They got no favors from retail stores because of that poor distribution strategy. People are still shocked when they see my phone because they don't know it existed.
Surface Duo 1 (128gb) is my main and single phone! I switched to it from iphones which Ive been using for 10 fucking years! And you know what? I bought a new Surface Duo 1 (256Gb) just for a future, when this Duo will die, so I could stay with this phone vibe as much as I could. If there was a Windows Phone 8 on it, I would buy this phone every year for a lifetime. Unfortunately there are bunch of idiots in Microsoft management I guess
P.S Surface Duo 2 is shit because of the camera bumper, they ruined the perfect design and close/open thing.
очень очень жаль.
I dont understand microsoft smh.....the duo 2 rarely for sale, and if it is, they are still trying to charge over a $1000 😳🤨
I used to respect your content for its balanced analysis and insightful comparisons, like with the OnePlus Open. But lately, your videos have sharply declined in quality, resembling less of insightful tech commentary and more of a reclusive nerd's monologue to a camera. It's perplexing how you've amassed 36K followers with content that now makes me cringe. Watching your recent videos prompts the question, 'Why am I wasting my time on this?' Sadly, this is where I unsubscribe and move on to better content
This video has a 99.5% like rate lol. If my videos upset you so much that you have to write a paragraph telling me how much you don't like it while taking pot shots at me personally, please move on to other content. We'll both be better off 😅
The Microsoft Andromada/non-Win32/non-PC mission is a story worth telling. Fans driven to other ecosystems is a curiosity that needs some explaining. I appreciated it.
Thanks, Paul! Almost everyone who watched the video seemed to dig it, which is great!
@Toxicat_Jaja I could not agree more, as a tech enthousiast I came across this channel but recently I feel that content is made to make content...
lol water is wet bro ? this channel has been drowning for a long time
ATTENTION: Never, ever, ever invest in any Microsoft" Mobile device" ( Other than the Surface Pro Line) Microsoft will Abandon it!!! I was a Microsoft Phone Fan Boy for years ( Windows CE, Pocket PC, The Band, Nokia line , Windows Mobile Their Own Branded Phones ,etc) I left and moved to Samsung and avoided This Surface Duo like the plague!!!! I am so glad I did . Sorry for all of you cos I know how it is to love technology and embrace a great device , Satya Nadella needs to be replaced!!!!