Microsoft Surface Duo, image courtesy of Microsoft
This isn’t a review. I do not own a Duo however I find it to be one of the most interesting devices on the market currently.
More so this is a review of reviewers. I have a gripe with just about ever tech blog, tech blogger, reviewer, etc. because they are pedantic, narrow-minded, and lack vision. There are exceptions but for the vast majority of them, tech bloggers have a very myopic view of technology, features, specs, and proceed from a false assumption that technology, good technology, has some definition that they know and no one else does. That technology ‘should’ be a certain way or thing.
I have a problem with the cavalier way we English speakers use the word ‘should.’ As though there is a universal constant about things we discuss. It is a very narrow vision of things and, therefore, people proceed to act in very narrow lanes.
Microsoft has received a lot of criticism for its Duo. They don’t call it a phone but nearly all tech bloggers call it a phone. How bold are they defiantly redefining things differently than its creators?
The Surface Duo has phone features—you can make calls but so can one from Apple Watch but no one dare call it a phone. Further, what is the definition of a mobile phone? Is it strictly that it is a device one can make calls on a wireless carrier? If so, if one could make a traditional phone call from a 12.9” iPad Pro, would it then be a phone?
These are more rhetorical questions but I think one can see my point. The Duo is not a phone in a traditional sense.
The majority of the reviews I’ve read and watched about the Duo share how awkward it is as a phone as though that is the defined parameters of the device. It is an assumption that if one makes it their primary mobile device they would be unhappy with it as a phone. But for all the experience of these tech reviewers, I find it interesting as I almost never use my phone held up to my ear anymore. Aside from quick calls the question is, does form factor matter all that much? I use my AirPods for call. Without calculating it out, I would say more than ninety percent of my calls are being made using AirPods. My phone sometimes doesn’t even leave the night stand for hours. Or, having been placed in my backpack, says in that pocket all day while I use other devices for my daily needs.
So imagine, you have a Microsoft Surface Duo—you computer, life, entertainment, productivity, with you at all times—doing it better than your traditional phone which you almost never use in a traditional way. A call comes in, and rather than pulling your phone out, you have your wireless headphone in your ears to take the call. That seems like a natural progression of technology.
In fact, Panos Panay, the head of Microsoft’s Surface division, even has said that they are looking to take their tech wear tech is /going/ not where it is now. While one might disagree with where technology is going, their rational is very much on point.
Another negative we’ve heard from many reviewers is the camera isn’t very good. Does it matter? What a hubristic point of view that the person who wants the Duo is a person who wants a brilliant camera. Give them the position of the camera, it has a primary function of video calling and not snapshots.
As a photographer, my phone’s camera is very important to me. But on my iPad Pro, it isn’t. When Apple brings out a new iPhone and the camera specs are amazing, I’m ready to upgrade. But when Apple brings a new camera to iPad, that isn’t something I’m terribly concerned with. While I appreciate my iPad Pro having a good camera, I use it for scanning documents and such mostly and it becomes secondary because of how and why I use my iPad.
And that is the point. Surface Duo is a device around productivity, multitasking, beautiful design, business, and more. And a device to help one “turn off” technologies ever streaming presence—a bit of digital detox from a very digital device. It is a device to take with you everywhere. Perhaps even replacing someone’s general computer.
If I were to design a hierarchy of my devices, my MacBook Pro would actually be lower on the ladder than my iPhone and iPad Pro. Those device I use more for daily tasks. However, when I need power, editing video in Final Cut Pro X, that is where my MacBook Pro comes back into play.
An example of this goes back to Japan for the past two decades. To the chagrin of many in the west, for a very long time, many people in Japan d\use their mobile phones as their primary computing device. Some of the is because of space—if one have a small apartment, does one want a desk with a computer on it. Of course, over the years computers like MacBook (12” display) made a big difference.
The Duo has that potential, like iPad, to be someone’s primary computer. And with dual screens, it has advantages over a large phone.
Reviewers have noted that there are some very strange bugs in the software of the Duo. All of this appears to be something Microsoft can fix with update—though my criticism is how this device hasn’t been nearly perfected since it was announced over a year ago. But, that aside, I find the software criticism the only valid criticism from most of these reviewers.
Is this a mistake for Microsoft to release such a unique device with so many bugs in the software that they surely knew would be heavily scrutinized? Probably. Is it the end of the device as we know it? Doubtful.
The bezels of the device have been a point of contention. That is a very strange observation to me. The device is designed to be held. The bezels are there to support that. It just is the nature of good ergonomics. While reviews shame the Duo for bezels out of one side of their mouth, out of the other, they will criticize phones with nearly no bezels as having the propensity for accidental screen taps. It approaches cognitive dissonance.
And I would estimate that in future Duos we will see smaller bezels but not having them disappear. We could argue that software, like palm rejection, could be implemented to ignore one’s figure on the edge of the screen but palm rejection isn’t perfect. And palm rejection is easier because of the size of one’s palm. Imagine programming a device to ignore large areas being touched versus trying to figure out how to instruct a computer to understand what is an intentional finger tap very an intentional figure tap. I have no doubt that it can be done but the law of diminishing returns also then becomes a focus.
Some have also balked at the specifications of the Duo. “It has last years hardware.” So what? Who cares. If the hardware worked last year, it works this year. It is a very pedantic perspective that all devices must have the very latest specs. The megahertz war ended many moons ago. The optimization of device software is much more important.
The perfect example is how powerful iPhone is compared to flagship Android devices. iPhone is, on paper, slower and has less RAM, and yet, it still out performs the highest end devices running Android with the latest specs—even a year later.
The conclusion that rationally can be made is devices, like all things, should be scrutinized for what they are, not what they are not.
Adrian’s Life Rule #62: Things can only be what they are, not what you want them to be.
The Duo appears to be exactly what Microsoft set out to make: a device that is knew, that has no previous technology definition. And given the confusion of tech reviewers, mostly, Microsoft has succeeded.
Those who know me best know that I love great and innovative technology. If the Duo fit into my life better, I would probable own one. And I am highly critical of Microsoft and have some very hard opinions of their software but I am excited when I see companies taking risks and making things that will undoubtedly disrupt the future of the industry.
If the price point was thirty percent less, I would go out and pick one up and do my own hands-on review but for now, I point out that many tech reviewers since the beginning have made unsubstantiated claims about technology because, while they have experienced, many lack clarity and understanding of the technology industry. The list of bold (false) claims is very long.
Perhaps Duo will be a failure but many superb technologies and devices that should live on don’t and many that should not have lived on have. All will need to watch the landscape and find out but in the meantime:
Adrian’s Life Rule #9: Learn to see the value in something even if it isn't valuable to yourself.