Microsoft Surface Duo 2

After spending less than a week with the Microsoft Surface Duo 2, channeling phone-testing energy and something that resembled hope into this glitchy two-screened albatross, I started to think it might feel good to throw the Duo 2 into the ocean, except that would be bad for the ocean. I began to carry other phones with me—not for camera testing, but because I just wanted a real phone—all the while staying acutely aware that this is not how most people do phones. Most people just have one phone, and they need it to be as fantastic as possible for as much money as they are able to spend on it.

No other handheld device multitasks like the dual-screen Microsoft Surface Duo 2, but it lives in a category of its own. It's not quite phone, not quite tablet.

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 offers better performance and cameras than the original. But foldable devices like Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3 offer a better full-screen experience than this dual-screen device.

At $1,500-plus, everything about the Surface Duo 2 is a tall ask. You could accomplish much of the same with an iPad Mini alongside your phone for a third of the price. If the first Surface Duo felt like it was 50 percent complete, the Duo 2 is perhaps maybe 75 percent of the way there. I can see the potential. But it does not live up to it, unfortunately.

Like the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Duo 2 is suffering a sort of identity crisis. Neither device works well as a phone replacement, but at least Samsung’s foldable has reliable software and good cameras. Despite the improvements, the Duo 2 is still a kind of gimmicky device that’s costly to boot and only people with $1,500 to burn and who really need a dual-screen phone should buy it.

For a device like the Surface Duo 2 to be worth it, the two-screened app experience needs to be materially better than the single-screen app experience. That's just not true today since there are still so many popular apps that aren't optimized. The bigger issue might be that the Surface Duo 2 still feels too awkward to use as an everyday phone, which at best results in a learning curve and at worst feels generally inconvenient. On top of all that, some software performance hiccups still exist.

Microsoft's ecosystem is valuable if that's where you need to be, and the Duo 2 could be a good phone for someone who is equal parts interested in dual-pane Outlook and streaming Gears 5 over 5G. If that's all you need from a phone, the Duo 2 is where it's at. But I am forced to remind you of the price tag. Is this experience worth $1,500? If you ask me, no. I have a hard time even imagining a consumer who would get their money's worth with the Duo 2.

Microsoft still believes in its dual-screen phone/tablet hybrid. Its vision is coming closer, but isn’t quite there. Hold out for the Surface Duo 3.