I had been anticipating my Duo's arrival for so long that I almost couldn't believe it was finally here when FedEx rang my bell! The packaging was minimal and easy to rip into and open and, there it was in all it's glory. I had experienced a brief hands-on at Best Buy a few days before, but this was different...this was MINE. Important detail to note about my expectations around the Surface Duo- I never intended it as a phone replacement. My use case is as a tablet that, in a pinch, could act as my phone backup if I needed it to (e.g. if my phone needed to be repaired, or was otherwise unavailable). With that in mind, I was not looking for a stellar camera experience, but rather a creative approach to a tablet (folding) running Android. My prior tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 that I've used for the past 4-5 years. I typically use my tablet at work for taking notes (looks more professional than typing into a phone), media consumption and during long trips. I've used tablets for the past 10 years, and according to my old receipts (stored in Evernote!) my first one was the Verizon Tab that I purchased on 12/2/2010.
I'm no stranger to adopting new technology, either- as a matter of fact, yesterday I was able to power on my old i-mate Jasjar (2005) and Palm Pixi (2010). For the young kids, Windows Mobile (and Blackberry) used to rule the world once upon a time!
I powered on my Surface Duo and spent the first few hours exploring, then configuring it for my use. The first remarkable benefit I experienced with having a dual screen was the experience of having an app open on one side, and being able to open my password manager on the other to log in- I was blown away at how convenient that was.
As I went through the day, more and more dual-screen case scenarios started coming up. I flipped to IMDB to look up an actor without interrupting a show I was watching on the other screen. At one point I pulled up my closet app to confirm that I still had a top I was looking at on Facebook (turns out I do!) There were just so many times that the second screen came in handy that I never would have thought about.
Over the past day I have experienced a few quirks- some I can't truly explain (a button that did a weird thing when pressed, a close out that acted like a fling) and overall, it's clear that this is a first-gen device. But I am impressed that I have not had a random restart, or any issue that has made me regret my purchase. As I scrolled through my Twitter feed in bed this morning in tent mode, I appreciated not having to hold my phone or tablet. And the size made it easy to toss into my bag to bring with me to work today. There are some tips and tricks that have helped my usage, and may help you as well:
1. When you first turn it on, set aside time to let it download and apply updates. It is probably a good time to charge it up so it is ready for a few solid hours of play time.
2. To deactivate the gestures and go to conventional navigation buttons, go to Settings-System- Gestures and change System Navigation to 3-button navigation.
3.Your Surface pen will work with your Duo. As a matter of fact, it was this realization that played a compelling reason in making the Surface Book my Laptop purchase a few weeks ago. My slim pen works well, but it shines in the One Note App. As an Evernote lover, I was bummed at how few inking options were available in it, but I have found that sending a PDF of my One note written into Evernote gives me an untidy, but acceptable workaround.
4. Spend some time thinking about how you plan to use your device,and organize accordingly. I applied my favorite homescreen widgets, and downloaded the apps I use on my tablet.
5. Do not be fooled, like I was, into thinking that AT&T is magically giving you 5G. If you see 5Ge, note: 5GE, or 5G "Evolution" is the name that AT&T is using in areas where 4G LTE technologies like three-way carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO, and 256 QAM are available. These features making existing wireless networks faster, provided your smartphone supports them.
6. The Duo is a slick fingerprint magnet. I have ordered some clear grip to apply to it while I wait for my Dbrand skin to be shipped out.
7. For some reason, when I tried to open the Calendar, it made me download Company Portal and I could only log into that with my company login. I'm not sure if I missed something, but I didn't really want my work details that ingrained in my tablet to start with. If you don't have a company login on Exchange I am not sure how you'd get those features working.
8. Register both index and thumbs twice on fingerprint unlock. I did this and it has made it so easy to unlock my Duo as I open it, I don't even realize I am doing it.
The truth is, this is not a device for everyone. I don't see it being mainstream and, to be honest, but for the money I have saved with not traveling this year, I am not sure I would be in the first cohort either. I also don't know that I would feel the same if I purchased this intending it to be my main phone. But, for a secondary device, I have been very happy with it and am looking forward to finding more game-changing use cases for it.
I had been anticipating my Duo's arrival for so long that I almost couldn't believe it was finally here when FedEx rang my bell! The packaging was minimal and easy to rip into and open and, there it was in all it's glory. I had experienced a brief hands-on at Best Buy a few days before, but this was different...this was MINE. Important detail to note about my expectations around the Surface Duo- I never intended it as a phone replacement. My use case is as a tablet that, in a pinch, could act as my phone backup if I needed it to (e.g. if my phone needed to be repaired, or was otherwise unavailable). With that in mind, I was not looking for a stellar camera experience, but rather a creative approach to a tablet (folding) running Android. My prior tablet is a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 that I've used for the past 4-5 years. I typically use my tablet at work for taking notes (looks more professional than typing into a phone), media consumption and during long trips. I've used tablets for the past 10 years, and according to my old receipts (stored in Evernote!) my first one was the Verizon Tab that I purchased on 12/2/2010.
Comments