Microsoft Surface Duo Review: Two Screens, Too Many Problems (wsj.com) 41
Joanna Stern, reviewing the Surface Duo for the Wall Street Journal: It isn't always clear when something is ready. Take my grilling. Sometimes I remove steak well before or after I should've. You might say it's a "tough" call. But there's nothing tough about stating this: The new two-screen Surface Duo is undercooked. Microsoft's new $1,400 book-like phone-tablet thingy is not ready for me and not ready for you. Unless, of course, you want an Android device that repeatedly ignores your taps on its screens, randomly slows down, struggles to figure out its own up, down and sideways positioning, and abruptly rearranges parts of its own interface. If that is your dream, well, then it is ready. Somehow, Microsoft disagrees. "We had been testing for some time. We wanted to get it out. We thought this was the right time for us," said Matt Barlow, Microsoft's corporate vice president of modern life, search and devices.
With OneNote, I've loved brainstorming and taking notes with the $100 Surface Pen (sold separately). I'd love it even more if the pen could keep up with my writing. Another performance issue. Unfortunately, key Microsoft apps like Excel and Skype haven't been optimized for two screens. Microsoft and Google are also working with third-party app developers. The Kindle app, for instance, places a page on each screen to make this one adorable little e-reader. (Or at least it should. It glitched midway through testing, but began working again later, after I complained to Microsoft.) You can also launch one app on each screen -- Edge browser on left, Word on right, for instance. One of my favorite features is App Groups, which lets you pair two apps together to simultaneously launch. I have Twitter and TikTok in one with the label, "Bad for My Brain." One screen is still better suited to many of our current needs, and that makes this wide device feel awkward more often than not.
With OneNote, I've loved brainstorming and taking notes with the $100 Surface Pen (sold separately). I'd love it even more if the pen could keep up with my writing. Another performance issue. Unfortunately, key Microsoft apps like Excel and Skype haven't been optimized for two screens. Microsoft and Google are also working with third-party app developers. The Kindle app, for instance, places a page on each screen to make this one adorable little e-reader. (Or at least it should. It glitched midway through testing, but began working again later, after I complained to Microsoft.) You can also launch one app on each screen -- Edge browser on left, Word on right, for instance. One of my favorite features is App Groups, which lets you pair two apps together to simultaneously launch. I have Twitter and TikTok in one with the label, "Bad for My Brain." One screen is still better suited to many of our current needs, and that makes this wide device feel awkward more often than not.
You want to write (Score:5, Informative)
get a reMarkable. They feel like paper and have a sub-20ms lag, and no discernable gap between pen tip and perceived "ink".
They're frickin fantastic if you want a writing-oriented device, instead of a media consumption tablet.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Did I mention it's Linux and you get root?
They've really made an effort to make it accessible to hackers and tinkerers. Heck, set it up with your own server for syncing.. I don't actually use their cloud service, because there's a ton of 3rd party open source tools for it.
Re: You want to write (Score:1)
Aah, so the purpose is to be a false flag mole and make Linux look bad? :D
*ducks*
Re: You want to write (Score:1)
Wait, nevermind. I assumed we were still talking about The Ms Thing.
Re: You want to write (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Those things look interesting.
Does it convert handwriting to text? Does it handle math symbols? Can I upload my pages somewhere I can get to them from a laptop?
Re: (Score:2)
The website answered my questions. These things look very cool.
Re: (Score:1)
Pretty much any touchscreen has been able to do this since the 80s, it's the application that has to do the heavy lifting.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Are you talking about actual paper? What is this handwriting to text you mention?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
You get handwriting on the page, not ASCII or unicode text. You have no way to access the page remotely. You have no backups. Storage needs a lot of space. The media is highly flammable.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Honestly I'd get a remarkable right away if they'd made the screen the size of an 8.5x11 piece of paper. I do not understand why tablet companies don't do this.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Okay, I admit it. I've find the next thing I just gotta have
Re: You want to write (Score:1)
Sounds cool, but pre-ordering is a no-go. And it needs to come down in price a lot too. I'd buy it at <150EUR. IFF I can actually use the Linux like Linux. As in: Alter the kernel, add my own scripts and software, and adapt and extend it however I want. Including installing Krita, and sketching on it, which would be my primary usage case.
Also, does anyone else find it silly, that they act like thinness (anorexia, more lime) is a plus, and in the next section talk about putting it in a protective cover th
Re: (Score:2)
Galazy Z Fold 2 (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
"Ambitious" does not necessarily mean "desirable", unless you are buying gadgets specifically because of the underlying tech.
I'd love to see a well-made, fully-baked two screen foldable. I suspect that the difference between having two very close side-by-side screens versus one foldable screen will disappear cognitively after a couple hours of use.
Re: (Score:2)
Not that I would be buying a $2000 phone in the foreseeable future. I am very happy with my Galaxy S8 Active for $300.
News at 10.. (Score:3)
News at 10. Microsoft made something. It's rubbish. Nobody expected any better from them.
Re: (Score:3)
News at 10. Microsoft made something. It's rubbish. Nobody expected any better from them.
To be fair, this summary is unusually brutal compared to the other reviews out there. The vast majority of them are full of general praise, with caveats about camera quality and occasional glitches in the UI. The impression I've got from those reviews is that the glitches sound like they're just minor software issues that will likely be corrected. This summary, and your comment, seem to give the impression the device is unusable. Very different results.
Re: (Score:2)
As a corporate phone for people who want to make extensive use of Microsoft apps it's great. For everyone else it's not.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe I'm biased because I had a phone with a Microsoft OS once. Never again. And I'm not falling for that "but we changed" BS Microsoft have been peddling since the 80's.
Re: (Score:1)
Microsoft's first generation of any product is almost always crap. Windows 1 & 2 sucked big-time, for example. Over-eager users are their beta testers.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't agree that Windows ever stopped sucking. Microsoft started with a bad design and just carried on with it. UNIX, OS/2, BeOS, VMS were all designed. Windows was and still is a bad ugly bag of hacks hidden behind a GUI to keep users away from it.
Have you actually seen the nonsense in the registry? That's not design. That's a sign of a hobby project that got partially rewritten twenty or thirty times by people who were not allowed to do a complete job.
Re: (Score:1)
>No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Re: (Score:2)
News at 10. Microsoft made something. It's rubbish. Nobody expected any better from them.
Ironically for your post the thing that makes this rubbish is the part that wasn't made by Microsoft. This would be a pretty damn awesome product if it ran Windows. But as an Android based tablet, what is the frigging point. There are many competitors that offer a better experience and the dual screen here offers nothing new that Samsung hasn't already done better.
Now if it ran Windows 10 it would have been a game changer. Just like many of the other not at all rubbish things Microsoft make like pretty much
Like usual (Score:1, Troll)
MS makes a gadget
It sucks.
The End.
Re: (Score:2)
MS makes a gadget
It sucks.
The End.
I agree with you with the following exceptions: Surface Pro 4+ and the Microsoft mouse
I love my Surface Pro 4 for travel, etc. You can argue a preference for a smaller tablet, an iPad, etc. But I've used my Surface Pro 4 as a second screen for my work laptop, to watch movies on a plane when traveling, etc. It's always worked well for me and gives me access to all of Windows apps without any compromises.
A lot of people still love their Microsoft Mouse. I can't personally comment because I'm more of a Bal
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
The Microsoft mouse is just a rebranded Logitech mouse.
I've never owned a Surface Pro tablet, nor would I. I remember seeing them as check-in tablets at events though. I remember an AWS event used them, they crashed causing attendees great annoyance. It was an OS crash, not an application crash.
Sounds like a typical smartphone. (Score:1)
Yeah, they are infuriating as hell.
Their UIs are not even remotely "easy" or comfortable, let alone powerful.
Average people just don't know, because they have never seen what's possible.
I have yet to see a touch screen UI where inputs did not work as intended rarely enough to not be as irritating and rage-inducing as Chinese water torture. Especially virtual keyboards... aka "Why do I hear boss music?".
And try any mobile web site or comolex mobile UI ... they all have UI elements randomly pooping up and shi
Microsoft create an Android tablet... (Score:2)
You had me at Microsoft (Score:2)
You had me at "Microsoft", which convinced me to avoid it.
US-centric launch again (Score:2)
High price, focus on US, competition including an optional dual screen detachable LG G8X that arrived earlier and cheaper and with better cameras, annoying user experience ("peeking" by partially opening the device), no killer app.
It's easy to see why this is a flop. They're claiming it will make sense for businesses but it's just as easy to have a tablet or laptop at work, or just your normal phone.
Microsoft marketing strategy (Score:2)
"We had been testing for some time. We wanted to get it out. We thought this was the right time for us,"
The sooner they can get this out in the market, the sooner they can discontinue it.