You can still do things like swipe up from the bottom to go home, but when it comes to swiping in from the sides to go back, that only works on one side. In this way, Microsoft is sort of entering uncharted territory, which means both us and Microsoft (and its partnership with Google) are learning as we go. It feels like the most natural thing in the world.

This means that simply by putting your thumb on the lower hinge at the base of the phone, the Duo rests gently in your hand just like a real book. Meanwhile, the exterior of the device is practically unblemished, aside from the Microsoft logo embedded within the Duo’s outside glass, a USB-C port along the bottom, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and the usual buttons for power and volume.īut what you can’t see on the inside is just as critical, because unlike regular phones, the Surface Duo has duplicate sensors and accelerometers in both halves of the device, allowing the Duo to recognize which “posture” it’s in, so the phone can react properly to any of its various modes, whether it’s closed, propped up like a tent, sitting on a table like a mini-laptop, or rotated a full 360 degrees so that only one screen is in use.įurthermore, the Surface Duo feels balanced, almost like a proper chef’s knife, with Microsoft intentionally putting the Duo’s center of gravity toward the bottom of the hinge when it’s fully open.

Surface duo