Microsoft Surface Duo is great for Game Pass, but it sucks at just about everything else

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Microsoft Surface Duo is neat for Game Pass, just information technology sucks at just about everything else

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

The Microsoft Surface Duo is a beautiful device with a unique dual-screen premise (versus a true folding one like the Milky way Z Fold three). But with and then many caveats, the Surface Duo is not a phone/tablet anyone in their correct mind would recommend as a main device.

If, however, you lot're actually into the deject gaming aspect of Xbox Game Pass, the Surface Duo is one of the best phones for that. The reason being that, in games with affect controls enabled, the 2d screen can deed as a touchpad, turning the Surface Duo into a Nintendo DS-like gadget.

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There are merely two problems. The first being that it requires actually using a Surface Duo in any chapters (any amount of money is also much for this thing), and the 2nd being that not all games that work on the Android version of Game Pass support touch controls. Many still require an external controller, something I think Microsoft should have improved by this bespeak. Yous're therefore left in a worse spot than if y'all simply used a controller.

I used the Surface Duo as my sectional Game Pass device for a couple of weeks — I couldn't wait to go dorsum to a regular phone. Here are my thoughts.

Using the Surface Duo for Game Pass

(Image credit: Tom'south Guide)

I like to play Game Pass games on my phone, mostly Maneater and NieR: Automata. The latter works with the Surface Duo'south secondary screen setup, as do several others similar Hades. But you're nonetheless limited, notably in shooters like Halo: The Primary Chief Drove, Destiny 2, and fifty-fifty Halo five.

Even if those were supported, I think I'd take trouble adjusting to touch controls in those fast-paced moments. The do good of a concrete medium like a controller or keyboard is the tactile response to input. There's no such thing on the touch controls for Game Pass games.

It also doesn't assist that the layout on the Surface Duo's second screen is different for each game. Hopping between NieR: Automata and Hades, for example, required re-learning the whole control scheme. It baffled me that Microsoft has not instituted a universal input layout for Game Pass on Android. Information technology's downright disappointing.

At the end of the couple of weeks I spent with the Surface Duo, I was itching to go back to a traditional smartphone with a controller. Part of that had to do with the tactility thing, but also for ergonomics — holding the Surface Duo like a DS and reaching for the buttons tin be quite tiring, if you're even able to hit them all.

The problems with the Surface Duo

(Image credit: Tom'due south Guide)

As cool equally this whole dual-screen thing is, it doesn't take away from the fact that the Microsoft Surface Duo simply sucks at well-nigh everything a telephone/tablet should practise.

Hell, it doesn't even have Android eleven nevertheless and Android 12 is right effectually the corner. This is a botched attempt by Microsoft to get into the Android infinite after the failure that was Windows Phone. I know some of you fans of Microsoft'south dead mobile OS might hate me for that, but I used information technology and it was never good. I digress.

But some might fence that the Surface Duo is meant to be more of a tablet than a phone, and I'd concord. But when you expect at something like the Milky way Z Fold 3, which is both a phone and a tablet, you lot kickoff to wonder where in the earth the Surface Duo fits in. The Fold iii is far more than pocketable than than Microsoft'southward device, also.

The Surface Duo has little going in its favor. From underwhelming performance to no 5G and a bad camera, it fails to make a case for itself. It notwithstanding has glitches and oddities and then long after its release, and information technology was far as well expensive when it launched.

Outlook: Look for Surface Duo 2?

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

I don't recollect anyone should purchase a smartphone or tablet for one purpose only — that'southward just an poor apply of money for most people. As information technology stands correct now, the Surface Duo is a i trick pony, offer the all-time Game Pass feel for the titles that back up impact controls.

But if you lot spring for something like the Razer Kishi, you lot can turn the all-time Android phones into powerful Game Pass devices. They'll as well be meliorate at virtually other tasks, too, like existence phones.

I recall the Surface Duo is neat and I appreciate Microsoft trying something new. But novelty lone does not make a skillful device, and the Surface Duo is far from a good device. It's a bad phone, and it'south a lackluster tablet. It could have been OK somewhere in the center, but it even failed to accomplish that.

If the rumors are truthful and Microsoft is readying a Surface Duo ii, we would similar to see better cameras, a faster processor and the latest version of Android. Maybe then the Surface Duo can be more than a gaming device.

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Jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom'south Guide, covering all things phone-related. He's written nearly phones for over five years and plans to keep for a long while to come. He loves nothing more than relaxing in his home with a book, game, or his latest personal writing projection. Jordan likes finding new things to swoop into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Jordan tends to lurk on social media, but you can best reach him on Twitter.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/microsoft-surface-duo-is-great-for-game-pass-but-it-sucks-at-just-about-everything-else

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