PC Magazine - USA (2020-10)

(Antfer) #1

When you try to wake the phone up with the screens folded all the way back to
WDNHDTXLFNVKRWRIWHQWKHZURQJVFUHHQZLOOOLJKWXSVR\RX¶UHOHIWVWDULQJ
DWDEODFNXQOLWSDQHO2UWKHVFUHHQ\RXZDQWZLOOOLJKWXSZLWKDQLFRQWKDW
VD\V³GRXEOHWDSWRVZLWFKVFUHHQV ́DQG\HWGRXEOHWDSSLQJRQWKHVFUHHQ
does nothing.


,WGRHVZRUNRFFDVLRQDOO\6HYHUDOWLPHVWKHYLHZ¿QGHUDSSHDUHGEXWLWZDV
upside down. The only way to activate the outward-facing camera reliably is to
RSHQWKHSKRQHLQERRNPRGHODXQFKWKHFDPHUDDVDVHO¿HFDPHUDDQGWKHQ
fold the screen back, rotate it, and wait, which isn’t at all practical.


The photos the camera takes, meanwhile, look like images from a phone that’s
several years old. The device has nothing like a night mode, so photos taken in
low light are dim at best. It has no optical zoom lens, so photos taken with any
OHYHORI]RRPDUHVRPHZKDWGLJLWDOO\EOXUUHG$QGLWV+'5LVDPDMRUVWHS
behind other leading phones, so photos with, say, lamps in them, typically blow
out the bright parts. It felt like I was looking at images from a Galaxy S7.


This feels like a gap in understanding. Yes, the inward-facing camera is far
EHWWHUWKDQDQ\ODSWRS¶VZHEFDP,W¶OOEHWHUUL¿FIRU7HDPV%XWDWWKLVLV
going to be people’s primary mobile device, and that means it’s going to be their
primary camera, too. The Surface Duo fails as a primary camera for the world
around you, and that in itself is enough reason not to recommend it.


Trying to zoom
results in digital blur
(and another upside-
down photo)
Free download pdf