Here’s what reviewers are saying about the Surface Duo

Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Microsoft’s Surface Duo is out today, and that means that there’s a tidal wave of reviews to go through. In addition to our review, the review from our friends at Android Central, and MrMobile’s review, there are detailed reviews from a wide range of tech experts and enthusiasts.

Here are some snippets of reviews from the biggest names in the mobile industry.

Cherlynn Low writing for Engadget:

The Surface Duo is decent as a phone, quite bad as a tablet, and somewhat functional as everything in between. That is, when the software works as promised. But bugs and app incompatibility plague this $1,399 device, which will need monthly updates from Microsoft to fix its numerous issues.

Dieter Bohn writing for The Verge:

This Surface Duo? It’s not really ready. It has a bunch of good ideas, but the execution is bad in places, and a lot of people aren’t going to get what Microsoft is going for. There are more than enough problems here to keep me from recommending it.

Marques Brownlee shared on his YouTube channel:

Practicality is clearly suffering to achieve this form factor. But in future generations, when this actually improves, and they’re able to add back those things, that’s when foldables will actually have a convincing future. When it’s not like you’re sacrificing and sacrificing, but you happen to get it to fold now, when the fold is just another feature, that’ll be a sweet feature … That’s what I’m looking forward to.

Brad Sams writing for Petri:

What it boils down to is that the Duo is an excellent PDA, an average phone, an ok camera, and a big display that can fit in your (larger) pockets. The Duo is something that I love to use and at the same time, shy away from too; it really is dependent on the task I am trying to accomplish.

When it comes to working and knocking out my tasks for the day, I reach for the Duo first. But when it comes to sitting on the couch and doom-scrolling social media, a traditional smartphone is much better for that experience.

The general consensus seems to be that the Surface Duo has good hardware and nice ideas, but is held back by buggy software and other flaws. The majority of reviews either don’t recommend buying it or recommend it with caveats.