An enormous enchancment from final 12 months

Microsoft’s $1,500 Floor Duo 2, the corporate’s second folding telephone, launches Thursday. I have been utilizing it for a couple of week and it is an enormous enchancment over the primary mannequin Microsoft launched final 12 months, which was too buggy and underpowered.

Microsoft does not make some huge cash off of {hardware}, and it has a poor observe document with telephones. Whereas the Home windows Cell working system was in style earlier than the iPhone launched in 2007, the corporate’s {hardware} has by no means caught on with customers the best way iPhones or Samsung telephones have. The Floor Duo 2 most likely will not change that narrative, since its design and worth will solely entice a distinct segment viewers. Microsoft probably will not promote a ton of those.

However the Floor Duo 2 provides one thing distinctive that you aren’t getting with another telephone in the marketplace. It has two screens that may run totally different apps aspect by aspect. The corporate thinks individuals will be extra productive with the Floor Duo 2. I am undecided I am extra productive with the Floor Duo 2. I nonetheless take out my laptop computer once I have to get work finished. However it’s novel, enjoyable to make use of and truly works this time.

Here is what it’s essential know in regards to the Floor Duo 2.

The Floor Duo 2 is sort of a shiny glass Moleskine pocket book with chrome accents. Like the primary iteration, it seems to be excessive finish, with two skinny halves that fold collectively right into a tiny pocket book. It opens as much as reveal two massive 5.8-inch screens that, used collectively, provide 8.3 inches of area to run two apps aspect by aspect or to span a single app, like Outlook, throughout each. 

The shows are barely greater than final 12 months, so you might have extra space for apps. I’ve the black mannequin, which seems to be nice, but it surely will get lined in fingerprints. So you might need to think about the white model as an alternative.

Microsoft addressed almost all the {hardware} complaints final 12 months. The 2020 Floor Duo lacked plenty of options of competing high-end units. The Duo 2 has the identical Qualcomm chip as different high Android telephones, as an alternative of a barely older one. It has assist for quicker 5G mobile networks — nice for streaming video games or downloading a film earlier than you hop on a flight as soon as the Covid pandemic ends — and in addition provides NFC assist, which I take advantage of on a regular basis for cellular funds.

Final 12 months’s Floor Duo launched with terribly buggy software program. It was sluggish to open apps, the screens would not reply in case you tried to flip it again into the single-screen mode, and the digital camera did not all the time work the best way it was speculated to. Microsoft addressed plenty of these bugs. The Floor Duo 2 feels quick and apps open the best way I count on them to. I nonetheless bumped into occasional bugs the place a video would quickly run the other way up, but it surely usually mounted itself in seconds.

The Floor Duo 2 is usually a pleasure to make use of. It is not all the time as handy as an iPhone or a daily Android telephone, which has only one display and is faster to entry. However, I really like that I can prop up the Floor Duo 2 and watch CNBC on my desk whereas I am engaged on my pc, or learn a guide within the Amazon Kindle app with a web page on every show.

I loved chatting with associates on one aspect of the display whereas studying a information article on the opposite. And I appreciated taking part in video games with Xbox Recreation Move with a related Xbox controller, or with the added touch-screen buttons that seem on one display whereas the sport seems on the opposite. It is only a actually distinctive expertise you will not get anyplace else. The closest comparability is Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3, although the within of that telephone is a single full display so the Fold is best for watching films.

Microsoft additionally added stereo audio system, which have been lacking final 12 months. Which means it sounds just like the audio is coming from either side of the telephone, as an alternative of only one aspect, and it made a distinction whereas watching movies.

And, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3, it helps pen enter. I used the Floor Slim Pen 2 ($129.99), which is handy for taking notes or simply sketching. That very same pen works with the Floor Professional computer systems, so you might already personal one (or an earlier mannequin).

I do not want a pen usually, but it surely’s helpful to have for once I have to signal one thing for my kid’s day care. It is helpful for scrolling round apps and transferring by emails, too. I like to recommend additionally contemplating the Floor Duo 2 Pen Cowl, which protects solely the entrance glass of the Duo 2 however holds and expenses the pen with a magnet.

Whereas the Floor 2 Duo is a breath of recent air in a sea of telephones that largely look the identical, it is also simply not terribly handy if it’s essential simply shortly ship a textual content message or make a telephone name. It’s important to open it to reply a name, for instance. You can all the time simply go away it folded again, but it surely looks as if it is higher to maintain these massive shows protected by maintaining it closed. The Floor Duo 2 is sensible as a secondary gadget, possibly one that you just largely use for work and watching TV, however whereas nonetheless additionally proudly owning an iPhone or a separate Android telephone. Kind of like a conveyable pill that matches in your pocket. It is how I spent plenty of time with it.

I respect that Microsoft bends the screens ever so barely over the hinge so to see icons representing notifications on the aspect, or an incoming name, or how charged the battery is, but it surely solely lights up when a brand new notification is available in. So, you need to crack open the telephone to see your alerts. And the battery charging indicator does not keep on the entire time it is plugged in, so it’s essential unplug and plug it again in once more to see how charged it’s (or open it). Microsoft might repair this by permitting the hinge to reply to a faucet, lighting up the slim display to offer a standing replace.

Final 12 months’s Floor Duo had a digital camera that wasn’t very nice for a lot outdoors of video chat. Microsoft addressed these complaints by including three extra cameras to the again, together with a wide-angle, an ultra-wide angle for becoming extra into an image and a zoom lens. The cameras are superb, however they’re nonetheless not so good as what you’d get on telephones that value a whole lot of {dollars} much less, just like the common iPhone 13 or the Samsung Galaxy S21. There is a split-second delay whenever you take a photograph, so I usually missed my son smiling earlier than he moved on to do one thing else. Or the image would end up blurry. These are points which can be usually mounted in software program updates, so it is not an enormous concern. However you need to be getting a significantly better digital camera on a $1,500 telephone.

My greater concern is that it is simply bizarre taking photos with the Floor Duo 2. It’s important to maintain it with each screens open, so it is form of like taking photos with a guide. It would be helpful to have a tiny display on the entrance that might be used as a viewfinder and to indicate small notifications. The excellent news is the colours in photos are much better than final 12 months’s single lens, which frequently produced actually washed-out pictures.

There is a hole whenever you fold one display again onto the opposite, because the digital camera lenses come out. It makes the Floor Duo 2 slightly fatter to carry in single-screen mode, but it surely’s not as unhealthy because it may appear. Microsoft did a pleasant job angling the digital camera lenses so that they relaxation in opposition to the again panel, and it nonetheless feels sturdy regardless of the additional hole.

I like that I can broaden apps like Outlook to span throughout each shows, to see messages on one aspect and the contents of an e-mail on the opposite. However even different apps which can be designed for spanning throughout each screens do not all the time look nice. Some content material is reduce off by the hinge within the center, for instance. Different apps do a greater job, like a brand new TikTok app, which exhibits you what is trending on one aspect and a video on the opposite. I would prefer to see extra apps add assist for each screens, however I do not assume builders are going to be incentivized to do it if tens of millions of individuals aren’t utilizing this telephone.

Lastly, the Floor Duo 2 does not assist wi-fi charging and is not as water resistant as costliest telephones are. I hope to see Microsoft add these options subsequent 12 months.

The Floor Duo 2 is approach higher than Microsoft’s first try. It is not a mass-market telephone for most individuals, but it surely’s value a glance in case you’re in search of one thing extra distinctive than a daily telephone or assume it could be helpful to run two apps aspect by aspect. I desire the pliability of Samsung’s costlier $1,800 Galaxy Z Fold 3, and respect that telephone’s water resistance, so that you also needs to give {that a} look.