Yeah, you read that title right: we have the Microsoft Surface Duo in the house and we’re doing what we do and unboxing it. The reasons I bought this device are various, but the primary factor was the interesting way that Microsoft chose to angle this device as a pocketable computing device that happens to make phone calls.
Taking the Surface Duo out of the simple flagship phone conversation caused me to instantly be drawn to the idea of having a device in my pocket that is capable of true dual-screen multitasking. At its core, the Duo is built for productivity and though it falls down really hard on things like camera quality, performance, and screen refresh rates, the beautiful build quality and stunningly good hinge design are absolute wins with the Duo.
Our unboxing is a quick reaction to those outer things: the feel, the weight, the look, and the overall quality of what Microsoft has built, here. We don’t really plan on reviewing this per se. Instead, our plan is to use it and allow it to help us dream a bit about what Chrome OS on a similar piece of hardware may one day be. While dreams of a Chrome OS phone have never been grounded in reality, a folding, small, pocket-bound Chromebook that can take a call is a far more realistic hope. Enjoy the initial reactions to this odd-ball ‘phone’ that’s not really a phone at all.
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