Today, Microsoft is shipping out its Surface Duo Android-powered dual-screen mobile device to customers. This means we will hear in-depth reviews about the device. Here is a Surface Duo review roundup from some of your favourite tech YouTubers.
Like every other device review, the Microsoft Surface Duo review reactions are mixed. Most are fascinated by the hardware and design concept. A lot of them believe there is room for improvement and look forward to the next generation device to correct these shortfalls. Every reviewer seems to focus on an area of the device.
Microsoft Surface Duo Review Roundup
Here are summaries from the lengthy videos. Do well to click and check out the full videos for their thoughts on the Surface Duo.
MKBHD
MKBHD: It is an amazing piece of hardware but … it’s a bit of a mixed bag. It is the first of a lot of things. I don’t think most people should buy this. Overall, practicality suffering at the expense of folding in half is the thing that’s holding back all first-generation folding phones. And it is happening here with Surface Duo. When the fold is just another feature, that’s what i’m looking forwarding to. But keep an eye on it, i really think they are on to something. I like the dual-screen thing … because the productivity, flow, compartmentalization of having two screens work, it’s real. Click to check out the full review video.
iJustine
iJustine: This has a great future. I don’t think this is perfect by any means, there are so many things they will need to make this better. For a first-gen, i’m pretty excited about what the Surface Duo can be. Click to check out the full review video.
Daniel Rubino – Windows Central
Daniel: Microsoft nailed the hardware. The battery life is actually pretty good, it isn’t a two-day device, it should last you a full day. The camera is actually better than i thought. Where it fails should be obvious, night time. It’s kind of surprising, i like the colour science that Microsoft has done. Images look really nice even though you don’t get a lot of details. The front-facing camera is also very good for selfies and video conferencing, which is the focus of this device. The software is underbaked and Microsoft is going to have to work with Google to improve that and i expect they will. The OS is a little buggy, the hardware is missing a lot of stuff on it. This is early adopter stuff.
Microsoft has a long way to go with Google to solve dual-screen usability with Surface Duo. I think the initial hardware is encouraging. If the Surface Duo 2 or 3 can be a Surface Pro 3 category defining device then software problems will be a distant memory. We’ll wait and see. pic.twitter.com/LtbuY3Xro4
Michael Fisher: The Duo is more expensive than competing products. It is more ambitious as well. You probably shouldn’t buy one in its first generation, … almost every first-generation product is a risky buy. The things i was most concerned about going into this review, have been the least of my worries. Pocketability is a pleasant suprise. The lack of a cover display for notifictaions is solved by a smartwatch. The watches also let you tap to pay. You probably don’t need an outside display as you think.
Brad: The Surface Duo has average specs but opening it up is a lot of fun. The hinge is buttery smooth. Microsoft put in a lot of effort into this hardware. This device has a lot to offer and for the right user, this is going to be a fun thing to put in your pocket. When you hold it in your hands it is large, a big device, in a thin package. There’s a lot that goes on with the OS though, that is something we should talk about. There are a lot of minor hiccups and jaddering that appear from time to time. There is definitely a learning curve. It is not a great smartphone for the price. What you want this device for is to be your productivity hardware. Outlook is fantastic, Teams is fantastic. It is a great piece of hardware for getting work done.
Jenna: Lots of you asked different questions and i talk about them. I’m pretty impressed in the quality of the display. Compared to the iPhone this is very very clear. I think the hardware is there, the software needs some updates and improvements. It is a really cool device.
David: The hardware is different from any other you’ve ever used. There is going to be a lot of tradeoffs if you make a device that is this thin. The key problem is developers have to specifically implement the duo API into their app to get it to span correctly. Right now not even Google has done this. At the system level the duo thinks it is a tablet, the system registers it as one big display. The Microsoft Duo isn’t optimized yet. Microsoft needs a little bit more time to get the software under control.
We look back at 2019 and acknowledge the year had some amazing surprises and announcements from Microsoft. Especially in the Africa and Middle East region where we focus. Let’s take you through some of these exciting moments through pictures.
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Team Athena-IO from Tunisia, came in second place at the Europe Middle East and Africa Imagine Cup regional final championship qualifying round.
Microsoft opens second Policy Innovation Centre in partnership with the University of Pretoria and the South Africa Department of Science and Technology.
In this review i talk about the Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband service that solves my 4 years old need. Better late than never as it is a money saver.
UPDATE: There’ve been changes to the service after I first published this post. Kindly scroll down to read about it.
As someone who is always on the go and mobile, i tend to spend a lot on mobile data. I am a heavy user of data. Mobile data isn’t cheap, not in Ghana and any African country. I remember some years back when it was so obvious this was going to be my routine i decided to find a solution. My pocket was feeling the drain by telecommunication companies.
My quest was to find that network that will offer me good internet speed, more data and a reasonable price. I searched, researched, spoke to telecom business managers on their various mobile data options but there was no hope. No one had it all. The closest i came to was super expensive. I was being offered a dedicated line et all but seriously out of my budget.
So i stuck with using Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband at home and a mash up of other mobile data packages on the go.
Not the Saviour
I remember when a friend suggested GLO was the saviour i needed. He wasn’t far from right. The pricing was great and they gave lots of mobile data. Maybe as a way to wow in more clients. There was a slight problem though. In the locations i frequent and have to use it, there is either poor or no signal. I would have to use about 30 minutes to 1 hour finding the right spot to place phone or mifi. Oh and this was in Accra and also around the airport so GLO really where does your network work, lol?
Fast forward to June last year when Vodafone Ghana announced it was introducing a new service. Where any suscriber of its fixed broadband service can enjoy their fixed broadband data on their mobile phone. I was like wow God has finally answered my cry.
To put it in context, it means i can walk around with over a 100 GB of data on my mobile phone for less than how much it will actually cost to buy that as mobile data. Let me help you get a clearer idea.
Vodafone currently sells 20GB mobile data at GHS 199, 200GB at GHS 399. Whereas Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband packages range from 20GB at GHS 85, 40GB at GHS 125, 80GB at GHS 180, 200GB at GHS 265 and 500GB at GHS 400. (these prices might have been changed as at the time of reading). This means if i buy the 200GB for FBB and transfer it to mobile i have saved about 134 GHS.
Vodafone Ghana Fixed Broadband Delight
Now this is why i’m delighted and like this service offer. It offers me lots of data at a very good price. Compared to buying the mobile data at a very expensive amount for even less data. Vodafone 3G’s service – (see i’m not even mentioning 4G, that’s for another post) – is everywhere and offers good speeds to do most of my work. Streaming isn’t the best with light buffering on HD content, so i won’t stream HD away from the fiber broadband router (which offers great speeds up to 100Mbps on default routers). But it does however offer everything i had wanted some 4 years ago.
From the terms and conditions of the service, i can buy a data package and as long as i don’t move all of the data – to render the account inactive (you can leave only 1MB, lol) – from the broadband i can keep moving it back and forth till it is either exhausted or package expires. Rendering your FBB inactive after moving all the data to your mobile sim means you can’t reverse it.
Does it work?
Does it work? Yes it does work. I have suscribed to the 200 GB FBB package and moved plus or minus 100 GB to my phone. I spend only nights and weekends at home so balance i guess. Also don’t judge me, lol, i stream everything on HD with the broadband, i mean why not. When i’ve watched various premier league matches, movies, documentaries and run the FFB data down i just use the USSD or the myVodafone portal to send more data to the FBB to top it up. The app can be used as well.
So far i’ve linked two different mobile numbers to the FBB account. Oh one mobile number at a time. Vodafone says “the linked number can only be changed after 30 days of linking“. Well i was able to do that in less days so not so sure about the real limits. The data on the SIM has a three months validity which is good.
I have been able to find more hacks around this to enjoy the service to it’s max. More of that in another post. Subscribe to be updated on new posts.
Have you used this service offer? Did it work for your needs? Got more questions? Share and leave them in the comments or ask me on twitter.
UPDATE
Vodafone has reduced the validity of the shared mobile data from 3 months to align with that of your broadband. You can only link 1 mobile number in all the FBB packages except the office package. (Vodafone really! At least let the 200GB and 400 GB packages link to 2 numbers) Notice anything else? kindly share.
Who doesn’t like free things? Tell me and I’ll ask for an explanation. We all like and enjoy offers that are money-saving and give more goodies, not so? Also, some factions have said free things aren’t all good or are shady in a way. More like be wary or suspicious of free offerings as there might be a catch or clause. You can imagine the delight and brim on my face when I heard Safaricom has a free WhatsApp data package.
Technically you’ll need to get the requisite Safaricom data package but when your initial data runs out, you enjoy free WhatsApp till its validity runs out. Also, Safaricom claims it is an unlimited use of WhatsApp. This kind of means you should be able to use the full features of the WhatsApp application without hindrances.
So here I was enjoying WhatsApp chats after I had run out of data and believed all was well and rosy as promised. I became dumbfounded when I had to send images from our day out at the Nairobi Arboretum to a friend and it didn’t upload. Huh! What? Is something wrong with the network? Okay, I’ll give it a while maybe the file size is big. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours. I can clearly see text chats coming and my responses going out, so something might be happening here.
I checked with other friends on the Safaricom network to make sure it was a general problem, nope it wasn’t. Turns out, I was in this alone. Do you have mobile data I was asked? Ummm nope, I run out of it but Safaricom said I should enjoy free WhatsApp usage afterwards till the bundle duration is over. So I decided to see what else didn’t work. I tried checking stories of friends and nope that didn’t load up as well.
So no WhatsApp Stories, no images, audio and video messages? Wow. The only thing that works or goes through are text chats? Phew, I didn’t see that coming. It felt like going to a restaurant and getting extra free nyama choma. That’s nice right? Well until you eat it and it feels half-cooked in your mouth, yup. That’s how I felt upon my realization of Safaricom’s free WhatsApp offer.
Speaking to a Safaricom customer care agent, I was told the terms and conditions (T&C’s) – [which isn’t available on the Safaricom website, or readily available for consumers to access] – of the offer apply. So let’s take a look at the T&C’s.
The Safaricom free unlimited WhatsApp starts only after you use up the initial data bundle you buy. Users will not be able to do video and audio calls. Safaricom says picture and video messages should go through or work. As well as the ability to watch stories.
If you are having issues as I am, I’m made to believe it is a systems issue. Of what essence will it be if we all are having systems issues with a good offer? Well, I leave you to decide that. As much as Safaricom calls it unlimited, I believe it has a fair usage policy and cap on the data usage. This was confirmed to me. A daily unlimited WhatsApp bundle subscriber has a cap of 500MB. A weekly subscriber has a cap of 3.5GB and a monthly subscriber has a 10GB cap on the usage.
So it isn’t unlimited after all. I have heard some say the speed drops as well. Surely unless there’s a way to do a bandwidth speed test to measure a WhatsApp app speed? I haven’t been able to confirm this. It might appear I’m not the only one baffled by this half-baked free offer.
It’s good and an okay offer if you are a text chat person or if it works as Safaricom says it should. But when you like sharing, checking and commenting on stories, well. Also if you are a video or audio person or your friends are, then sorry this isn’t for you. Except it works as mentioned. kindly share your experience with me or tell me if it works for you. Asante sana.
Safaricom recently launched a new app giving users features that include more security and control.
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It’s been about two weeks since my Microsoft band arrived after not getting anyone to do me the honors of bringing it home for the US, yeah sure I could have shipped & shipped it right? Well the second shipment part can’t be so trusted so! the wait.
The setup synchronization of the band to the Microsoft heath app is very easy but tricky. It needs a step by approach that if you don’t follow will only result in unnecessary stress. Happened to me and I was fortunate to blame it on the Windows10 mobile preview(i read from forums and articles others had synchronization issues, especially with Bluetooth not working)installed on my Lumia 930, tried it on an iPhone 5S still without success and then the experience learnt from another setup came to mind. So i started over with the iPhone 5S again going step by step and voila it connected. With renewed faith and only preview to blame I retried and flawlessly it connected and syhappens when you’ve been waiting on a device for a long time and can’t wait to get it going) It’s very easy to get it styled to your like or you can just go with the default settings.
I got the small size as I had earlier printed and used the near to natural size check for wrist size template provided. It fit very well and has room for allowance, that’s if you want it very tight or loosely firm. It felt a bit bulky and sometimes too tight to my wrist (even though I can adjust it, but it feels much firmer when tighter). It can collect dust but doesn’t easily. The screen hasn’t had a scratch yet but the front is all but looking like I’ve had it for about maybe 6months or a year. I think Microsoft needs to change the material used for the front part. I currently have so many hair line scratches on the front, but amazingly the screen is intact. This might probably be due to how I’ve been wearing it, that’s with the screen in (opposite way of wearing a watch). Doing a lot of typing means it has it’s face always scratching a surface (I like using my devices without covers and screen protectors, not sure why I’ll like to get a case for say a green or orange colored device; what case color then will I have to buy?, I also well read that was going to happen, but I still held on to my principle of no protectors, it actually feels cool doing that). Using the band the other way, how watches are usually worn felt a bit out of place on my wrist when it comes to using it or checking an incoming notification.
So what have I been using it for? well lately to check how well I have rested, using the sleep data from the health app. I actually had an issue with how that was going to work but it looks like it’s resolved. Issue was I had to set it the first few nights when ready to sleep. Then I asked myself how often I could remember to do this. It eventually happened that I one time slept and forgot to set it up (those nights when you are so exhausted you even can’t eat but just head off to bed). Woke up and realized I forgot to set it up, but after it synced I saw it had registered a new log titled sleep identified. Good huh! So I can go to bed actually forgetting to start it but it’ll still record stuff. I haven’t been out running or riding so haven’t put that to test. I use the steps, heart rate monitor and calories sections often. I don’t think I’ll be using the UV thing, always says 60 minutes to sun burn which kind of never happens so I guess I can replace that with another notification.
Talking about notifications I wish with the one windows store it’ll get more developers to do something with the band. I receive my email, twitter, calls and SMS notifications on the band. Maybe Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook and others could make it fun. Getting call notifications Works this way, call comes through to phone and after 3-5 seconds gets sent over to the Microsoft band. Sometimes it delays and comes in a little too late to find your phone before the call ends (I think this could be a preview issue). There’s also the weather, time, calendar and Cortana. I haven’t been able to get Cortana working very well with the current build of the Windows 10 mobile preview on the phone so I think it has an effect on the band as well. It tries to listen but returns nothing and is neither able to send me updates from the phone. I hope the next phone build will sort this out.
Battery life has been very on point. I haven’t had a lot of cause to keep charging it. It’s able to last at least two whole days before alerting for a charge. But I think this is largely up to your usage. If it keeps notifying you every second I doubt it’ll be able to last that long. You can always snag it up on charge when you don’t need it doing a thing for you.
It’s been two weeks and It doesn’t feel bulky or give me the impression I have something on my wrist. It’s become a part of my daily life, I now find myself looking at the Microsoft band when I feel the vibration on my wrist, even when I have the phone in front of me on the desk I prefer looking at my wrist. I no more put my hand in my pocket to reach for my phone because the band serves me well in this regard and oh yeah before I forget you know you can send a reply in some apps right? Well even though the screen is small I was surprised by the accuracy it had. I don’t worry going back to check if a sent reply was the right message or if it had typed out something else. I can’t wait for a much improved version 2 of the Microsoft Band (microsoft sure does it better with version 2’s, check the Surface line) hopefully it wouldn’t disappoint when its released.
Have you been using the band? Do you have a question about the band? Want to share some helpful hints about or your experience with the microsof band? Tell us in the comments.
Let’s interact and don’t forget to follow or check me up on twitter @silverscholar for all updates and trends in the Microsoft Ghana, West Africa, Africa and Microsoft Corporation world.
