Surface Duo first impressions are starting to come out and I'm expecting reviews soon.
Been testing one at work.
Hardware has incredible build quality and engineering. Experience is great but not practical as a phone. Software is still too early in places outside of the general MS/Google apps which is expected.
I hope (and assume) there will be some good comparisons between the Surface Pen and the Samsung S-Pen. The Duo always seemed more competitive with the Note than the Fold, considering they are pushing the productivity angle for it.
From what I've used of it. The Duo feels like the next step in a full PDA device for productivity, university students, general business use would see a massive benefit. However, to use it as a functioning phone you absolutely need to use both a smartwatch and wireless earphones. On the pen functionality I couldn't say too much as some of the pen compatible software was unavailable at the time, it feels like one of the weaker aspects of the device right now. The Note 20 Ultra pen support is far superior but less practical in use.
Does it seem like it would be worth its downsides for entertainment multitasking only? I'm thinking along the lines of Discord + Twitch, game + game guide, Netflix + messaging.
It honestly seems like it's the equivalent of a second monitor in your phone, and a second monitor was the greatest PC hardware purchase I ever made.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Surface Duo first impressions are starting to come out and I'm expecting reviews soon.
Been testing one at work.
Hardware has incredible build quality and engineering. Experience is great but not practical as a phone. Software is still too early in places outside of the general MS/Google apps which is expected.
I hope (and assume) there will be some good comparisons between the Surface Pen and the Samsung S-Pen. The Duo always seemed more competitive with the Note than the Fold, considering they are pushing the productivity angle for it.
From what I've used of it. The Duo feels like the next step in a full PDA device for productivity, university students, general business use would see a massive benefit. However, to use it as a functioning phone you absolutely need to use both a smartwatch and wireless earphones. On the pen functionality I couldn't say too much as some of the pen compatible software was unavailable at the time, it feels like one of the weaker aspects of the device right now. The Note 20 Ultra pen support is far superior but less practical in use.
Does it seem like it would be worth its downsides for entertainment multitasking only? I'm thinking along the lines of Discord + Twitch, game + game guide, Netflix + messaging.
It honestly seems like it's the equivalent of a second monitor in your phone, and a second monitor was the greatest PC hardware purchase I ever made.
Surface Duo first impressions are starting to come out and I'm expecting reviews soon.
Been testing one at work.
Hardware has incredible build quality and engineering. Experience is great but not practical as a phone. Software is still too early in places outside of the general MS/Google apps which is expected.
I hope (and assume) there will be some good comparisons between the Surface Pen and the Samsung S-Pen. The Duo always seemed more competitive with the Note than the Fold, considering they are pushing the productivity angle for it.
From what I've used of it. The Duo feels like the next step in a full PDA device for productivity, university students, general business use would see a massive benefit. However, to use it as a functioning phone you absolutely need to use both a smartwatch and wireless earphones. On the pen functionality I couldn't say too much as some of the pen compatible software was unavailable at the time, it feels like one of the weaker aspects of the device right now. The Note 20 Ultra pen support is far superior but less practical in use.
Does it seem like it would be worth its downsides for entertainment multitasking only? I'm thinking along the lines of Discord + Twitch, game + game guide, Netflix + messaging.
It honestly seems like it's the equivalent of a second monitor in your phone, and a second monitor was the greatest PC hardware purchase I ever made.
In theory, absolutely it's the duo's strength to act as a second monitor and it's most exciting feature when everything runs smoothly. However, while between my last post and today Microsoft has put out a number of software updates addressing some bugs, it's still hit and miss on that front.
If it's the office suite that you want to use for multi tasking then its near perfect for your needs, other apps though can really struggle. Even Youtube and Netflix seem to be having issues I wasn't expecting and i'm fully used to Half baked software over the years. What I do appreciate is that with some apps paired together you can use at the same time without issue which is something the Fold 1 struggled with. However say you are using 2 apps but pull the notification bar down will stop all apps without question making notification bar near useless. Same when trying to type messages on one app might force the keyboard onto the other app or force one app to stretch out over both screens. I've rarely seen android apps behave that odd on scaling its something usually reserved for Symbian devices back in the day.
I'd say from what the issue looks like after using it, MS is trying to put a significant overlay on top of Android to make it do what they want but Android is still treating the device as a single screen which is clashing.
I do expect several updates over the next few weeks, in fact Microsoft has indicated to us that we are going to get a patch list running over the next 4 weeks to address some of these issues and we received 4 separate updates in the 2 weeks we got the test unit.
Have you had much experience with WiFi connectivity? I got my Duo on Saturday and have been loving it coming off a decrepit iPhone, and while at work today it has maintained connectivity just fine, at home it was occasionally losing WiFi, and my network would show up as "Disabled". Solved by a reboot, but occasionally happens again. I have Google WiFi so I'm not sure if it has something to do with switching mesh nodes. Never had that happen on the old iPhone and not used to troubleshooting Android yet... since things seem solid at work I'm thinking it is Google Wifi's fault but thought I should touch base with some more experienced Android folks.
My wife and I had non-Apple smart watches already so the "is this notification worth opening the phone for" is moot, but otherwise I could see it being a problem for some.
Just noticed that if I'm playing music then bock the lockscreen bar and notification bar say what speaker it's sending the sound to. I think that's new to 11 but I'm not positive. Still can't thumbs up or down without going into Google Music which is irritating
Have you had much experience with WiFi connectivity? I got my Duo on Saturday and have been loving it coming off a decrepit iPhone, and while at work today it has maintained connectivity just fine, at home it was occasionally losing WiFi, and my network would show up as "Disabled". Solved by a reboot, but occasionally happens again. I have Google WiFi so I'm not sure if it has something to do with switching mesh nodes. Never had that happen on the old iPhone and not used to troubleshooting Android yet... since things seem solid at work I'm thinking it is Google Wifi's fault but thought I should touch base with some more experienced Android folks.
My wife and I had non-Apple smart watches already so the "is this notification worth opening the phone for" is moot, but otherwise I could see it being a problem for some.
The model we have been testing has had some issues with WiFi that have been reported back. Most severe was on boot the device had completely disabled wifi and refused to allow it to be switched on however it was fixed pretty early on. I don't think its Google WiFi but since UK based I couldn't tell you for sure. If I was a betting man I wouldn't put it past MS to have done something similar to the GHz issue that locked a lot of surface devices out for 5Ghz frequency from a patch. We are due a patch this Wednesday to test out if the notes mentions WiFi I'll let you know.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
Just noticed that if I'm playing music then bock the lockscreen bar and notification bar say what speaker it's sending the sound to. I think that's new to 11 but I'm not positive. Still can't thumbs up or down without going into Google Music which is irritating
Yeah, that's new Android 11 functionality. You can also click into that part of the notification and change where the audio is going if you have multiple bluetooth connections paired.
Got my OnePlus 7t yesterday... So far, it's pretty great. Still need to customize and configure it how I like, but it is so responsive compared to my battered Note9.
Have you had much experience with WiFi connectivity? I got my Duo on Saturday and have been loving it coming off a decrepit iPhone, and while at work today it has maintained connectivity just fine, at home it was occasionally losing WiFi, and my network would show up as "Disabled". Solved by a reboot, but occasionally happens again. I have Google WiFi so I'm not sure if it has something to do with switching mesh nodes. Never had that happen on the old iPhone and not used to troubleshooting Android yet... since things seem solid at work I'm thinking it is Google Wifi's fault but thought I should touch base with some more experienced Android folks.
My wife and I had non-Apple smart watches already so the "is this notification worth opening the phone for" is moot, but otherwise I could see it being a problem for some.
The model we have been testing has had some issues with WiFi that have been reported back. Most severe was on boot the device had completely disabled wifi and refused to allow it to be switched on however it was fixed pretty early on. I don't think its Google WiFi but since UK based I couldn't tell you for sure. If I was a betting man I wouldn't put it past MS to have done something similar to the GHz issue that locked a lot of surface devices out for 5Ghz frequency from a patch. We are due a patch this Wednesday to test out if the notes mentions WiFi I'll let you know.
Awesome, thanks! My wife discovered a bug with video recording where actively shooting a video didn't stop the device from going to sleep... that one made me laugh a little because it seems like a single line of code fix for the camera team.
If LG could have got the device $100 cheaper I think it would have sold really, really well. I think it will still do enough for a second model.
It's one of those things that, for me anyway, looks ridiculous at first glance until you actually think about it for a second and realize that it's actually kind of nice to have something that you can hold in portrait but view in landscape. I'm just not sure how well they will be able to get over that initial first impression, especially in light of comparable devices like the Duo and Fold.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
So I take a picture on my Google pixel 3 xl. How do I downsize it? Ie I take a picture and want to post it on the forums , through my phone how do I get it down to forum standards?
So I take a picture on my Google pixel 3 xl. How do I downsize it? Ie I take a picture and want to post it on the forums , through my phone how do I get it down to forum standards?
I just use Imgbb.com, it should resize it automatically to something small enough for the forum
LOL maybe put that in spoilers so people can choose whether it takes up their entire screen. =P
Cute kid, though!
Is it that big? On my phone so it's just kind of there on my phone. Spoiled it anyways. Just resized it at that site jay mentioned and thought I was good.
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
LOL maybe put that in spoilers so people can choose whether it takes up their entire screen. =P
Cute kid, though!
Is it that big? On my phone so it's just kind of there on my phone. Spoiled it anyways. Just resized it at that site jay mentioned and thought I was good.
No worries! It was probably scaled down in storage size but not in dimension. It's currently set to 1,850px × 1,621px (scaled to 1,190px × 1,043px)
I have the same problem where I can't tell how big something is, so I just default to dumping all my images/links in spoilers just to be safe.
@RickRude I use imgur when posting to the forums, it'll give you a bunch of different sizes for the image you can link (and turn into clickable images to link to the larger/uncompressed file if you want).
I think the forums will show you an image that fits your screen so if you're on the phone an uncompressed image will look appropriate, but if you're on a desktop/laptop it'll fill your screen.
@RickRude I use imgur when posting to the forums, it'll give you a bunch of different sizes for the image you can link (and turn into clickable images to link to the larger/uncompressed file if you want).
I think the forums will show you an image that fits your screen so if you're on the phone an uncompressed image will look appropriate, but if you're on a desktop/laptop it'll fill your screen.
@emp123 if I go that route do I want the app or just use the website? I liked how simple imgbb was, need to look at the options the website actually had
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
Pre-reviews are coming in for the LG Wing and everyone seems to be agreeing that it is really interesting and unique, and potentially more useful than any other dual-screen device, but the big question is one of software support.
Any clue what dimensions I should use on the forums? Then again I don't use the feature a lot and could probably just spoil images and rely on that. But even then, I don't want my spoiled images to be huge.
RickRude I use imgur when posting to the forums, it'll give you a bunch of different sizes for the image you can link (and turn into clickable images to link to the larger/uncompressed file if you want).
I think the forums will show you an image that fits your screen so if you're on the phone an uncompressed image will look appropriate, but if you're on a desktop/laptop it'll fill your screen.
emp123 if I go that route do I want the app or just use the website? I liked how simple imgbb was, need to look at the options the website actually had
To be honest I've never uploaded through the app, just did a quick check though and I think you need to go to the website to get the different sizes. Annoyingly even if you go to the mobile website you'll need to request the desktop version to get the ability to create links to smaller image versions.
Simple and effective, can do single images or batches, and turns out a good quality image with good compression. For forum posting I'll resize to 720p for most stuff, but larger or smaller depending, and the app's output files are plenty small enough for the forum. (Also, yes, spoiler tags are your friend!)
First impressions this looks and feels much better than the original. The fact apps can now transfer both ways from open screen to the smaller closed screen and back seamlessly is such a massive improvement.
Also despite the extra weight, the distribution feels better so it feels lighter. Still heavier than most phones but less brick like than the original.
Firefox on Android is saving images and files to /Downloads/Downloads for some reason and I can't get to them. When I use file explorer or whatever the folder doesn't exist. I also can't find a way to change the download location. Can anyone help?
Just starting using the finger print thing to unlock my phone. How did I live without this ?
It's a pretty great feature--well, unless you have a in-screen scanner, and it's kind of slow as a lot of them still are. Side or back scanners seemingly got perfected a few years back. I decided against an LG G8X (and its second screen) for not much more to go with an LG G8 with a flawless back-mounted scanner and a higher resolution screen.
It's kind of sad that all fingerprint scanners seem to be going into screens, but at least they're getting better.
So few days in and the Z Fold 2 really does feel like what I expected a foldable to become. Nothing else has put a smile on for me than having my banking app, my credit card app and a calculator on the same screen at the same time. I have saved so much hassle.
Watching Netflix and Youtube was an incredible experience on the fold 1 and this just improves on it in every single way.
Mystic bronze colour is just pink no matter how well the promotional shots make it look. I really need to avoid promo shots.
The small screen reminds me of the iPhone 5 design. So narrow and compact. Makes it great for reading through tweets and messages quickly but I've managed to do all what ive usually done with my phone in the past on it easily with no issues.
Biggest issues now just seems to be app compatibility for the continuity between screens for a small number of apps and some apps not optimised for the larger screen format. I expect the next major android revision to have some focus on foldable tech. So it will be interesting to see what can become and maybe see even more refinement with the Fold 3.
(Edit)* Theres actually Samsung UI App system that allows for you to customise how individual apps will open on the large screen, how the apps handoff between both screens work etc. This has improved and fixed a lot of general issues but does have some stuff like instagram stories still being chopped off. It also calls out bullshit on reviewers who claimed some apps just don't run at all properly (Lightroom, Instagram) when this sort out the problems and is an official tool that was available to review units.
Camera is basic (Think S20+) for a high end device but still excellent, even if its only a minor improvement on the Note 10+ 5G.
Battery is surprisingly good. when using the large screen for long periods the battery will drain quick. But for the majority of general time you are using the smaller screen.
Interesting points, there is now no option to disable 5G without disabling 4G too. Which must be the chipset having 5G integral in the main chip rather than a separate modern chip that last years 5G handsets had.
what phone? It's not doing that on my galaxy S8, just going in the proper downloads folder.
Pixel 4a Firefox version 81.1.1. There's nowhere to change the download location in the settings. I believe it happened on my Pixel 2 as well when I updated to 81.1.1
So the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G are announced and the shift in focus is now on the mid range phones. Just like Samsung with the FE, we have a new battleground for the high price, mid range devices. With Samsung pushing for an all out impressive spec sheet, and Google using its services and 'trimming the fat' to make a cleaner device.
The lineup now has a good flow to it but feels like the shift from the 4a 5G to the 5 doesn't match the £100 price difference. I like the new strategy, but feel they still need to have a top of the range handset even if it was a loss leader device to help push the phones further (Still trim the fat with the useless features, but push some higher tier components to really show what the software can be capable of). There's also the issue that 4XL owners will look at these devices as a downgrade overall.
Ziggymon on
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
So the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G are announced and the shift in focus is now on the mid range phones. Just like Samsung with the FE, we have a new battleground for the high price, mid range devices. With Samsung pushing for an all out impressive spec sheet, and Google using its services and 'trimming the fat' to make a cleaner device.
The lineup now has a good flow to it but feels like the shift from the 4a 5G to the 5 doesn't match the £100 price difference. I like the new strategy, but feel they still need to have a top of the range handset even if it was a loss leader device to help push the phones further (Still trim the fat with the useless features, but push some higher tier components to really show what the software can be capable of). There's also the issue that 4XL owners will look at these devices as a downgrade overall.
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Does it seem like it would be worth its downsides for entertainment multitasking only? I'm thinking along the lines of Discord + Twitch, game + game guide, Netflix + messaging.
It honestly seems like it's the equivalent of a second monitor in your phone, and a second monitor was the greatest PC hardware purchase I ever made.
Allow me to introduce you to the LG Wing .
In theory, absolutely it's the duo's strength to act as a second monitor and it's most exciting feature when everything runs smoothly. However, while between my last post and today Microsoft has put out a number of software updates addressing some bugs, it's still hit and miss on that front.
If it's the office suite that you want to use for multi tasking then its near perfect for your needs, other apps though can really struggle. Even Youtube and Netflix seem to be having issues I wasn't expecting and i'm fully used to Half baked software over the years. What I do appreciate is that with some apps paired together you can use at the same time without issue which is something the Fold 1 struggled with. However say you are using 2 apps but pull the notification bar down will stop all apps without question making notification bar near useless. Same when trying to type messages on one app might force the keyboard onto the other app or force one app to stretch out over both screens. I've rarely seen android apps behave that odd on scaling its something usually reserved for Symbian devices back in the day.
I'd say from what the issue looks like after using it, MS is trying to put a significant overlay on top of Android to make it do what they want but Android is still treating the device as a single screen which is clashing.
I do expect several updates over the next few weeks, in fact Microsoft has indicated to us that we are going to get a patch list running over the next 4 weeks to address some of these issues and we received 4 separate updates in the 2 weeks we got the test unit.
My wife and I had non-Apple smart watches already so the "is this notification worth opening the phone for" is moot, but otherwise I could see it being a problem for some.
The model we have been testing has had some issues with WiFi that have been reported back. Most severe was on boot the device had completely disabled wifi and refused to allow it to be switched on however it was fixed pretty early on. I don't think its Google WiFi but since UK based I couldn't tell you for sure. If I was a betting man I wouldn't put it past MS to have done something similar to the GHz issue that locked a lot of surface devices out for 5Ghz frequency from a patch. We are due a patch this Wednesday to test out if the notes mentions WiFi I'll let you know.
Yeah, that's new Android 11 functionality. You can also click into that part of the notification and change where the audio is going if you have multiple bluetooth connections paired.
Awesome, thanks! My wife discovered a bug with video recording where actively shooting a video didn't stop the device from going to sleep... that one made me laugh a little because it seems like a single line of code fix for the camera team.
If LG could have got the device $100 cheaper I think it would have sold really, really well. I think it will still do enough for a second model.
It's one of those things that, for me anyway, looks ridiculous at first glance until you actually think about it for a second and realize that it's actually kind of nice to have something that you can hold in portrait but view in landscape. I'm just not sure how well they will be able to get over that initial first impression, especially in light of comparable devices like the Duo and Fold.
Pricing hasn't been released yet.
Some of the early leaks of the device that were accurate have it at $1000.
I just use Imgbb.com, it should resize it automatically to something small enough for the forum
https://ibb.co/V2tzTtD
Edit @Local H Jay that worked thank you!
Cute kid, though!
Is it that big? On my phone so it's just kind of there on my phone. Spoiled it anyways. Just resized it at that site jay mentioned and thought I was good.
No worries! It was probably scaled down in storage size but not in dimension. It's currently set to 1,850px × 1,621px (scaled to 1,190px × 1,043px)
I have the same problem where I can't tell how big something is, so I just default to dumping all my images/links in spoilers just to be safe.
I think the forums will show you an image that fits your screen so if you're on the phone an uncompressed image will look appropriate, but if you're on a desktop/laptop it'll fill your screen.
@emp123 if I go that route do I want the app or just use the website? I liked how simple imgbb was, need to look at the options the website actually had
Edit and I have no problems using spoiler tags, just wondering what's appropriate
Edit 2 I plan on editing and spoiling or even removing the picture, just curious if it's still huge.
the reason is that phone resolutions are just as large as monitor resolutions, it's just that the screens are denser.
To be honest I've never uploaded through the app, just did a quick check though and I think you need to go to the website to get the different sizes. Annoyingly even if you go to the mobile website you'll need to request the desktop version to get the ability to create links to smaller image versions.
EDIT: This is Imgur's large thumbnail:
Simple and effective, can do single images or batches, and turns out a good quality image with good compression. For forum posting I'll resize to 720p for most stuff, but larger or smaller depending, and the app's output files are plenty small enough for the forum. (Also, yes, spoiler tags are your friend!)
Steam | XBL
you can use the app "snapseed", it's a free app made by gooogle:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.niksoftware.snapseed
In "settings", you can set your desired image size, then you can just open an image and click on "export", and it's resized.
the setting stays, too, so it's super easy for the following images
First impressions this looks and feels much better than the original. The fact apps can now transfer both ways from open screen to the smaller closed screen and back seamlessly is such a massive improvement.
Also despite the extra weight, the distribution feels better so it feels lighter. Still heavier than most phones but less brick like than the original.
If its anything like my GFs Z Flip, the folding screen can be battered against all sorts and still work absolutely fine.
It's a pretty great feature--well, unless you have a in-screen scanner, and it's kind of slow as a lot of them still are. Side or back scanners seemingly got perfected a few years back. I decided against an LG G8X (and its second screen) for not much more to go with an LG G8 with a flawless back-mounted scanner and a higher resolution screen.
It's kind of sad that all fingerprint scanners seem to be going into screens, but at least they're getting better.
Watching Netflix and Youtube was an incredible experience on the fold 1 and this just improves on it in every single way.
Mystic bronze colour is just pink no matter how well the promotional shots make it look. I really need to avoid promo shots.
The small screen reminds me of the iPhone 5 design. So narrow and compact. Makes it great for reading through tweets and messages quickly but I've managed to do all what ive usually done with my phone in the past on it easily with no issues.
Biggest issues now just seems to be app compatibility for the continuity between screens for a small number of apps and some apps not optimised for the larger screen format. I expect the next major android revision to have some focus on foldable tech. So it will be interesting to see what can become and maybe see even more refinement with the Fold 3.
(Edit)* Theres actually Samsung UI App system that allows for you to customise how individual apps will open on the large screen, how the apps handoff between both screens work etc. This has improved and fixed a lot of general issues but does have some stuff like instagram stories still being chopped off. It also calls out bullshit on reviewers who claimed some apps just don't run at all properly (Lightroom, Instagram) when this sort out the problems and is an official tool that was available to review units.
Camera is basic (Think S20+) for a high end device but still excellent, even if its only a minor improvement on the Note 10+ 5G.
Battery is surprisingly good. when using the large screen for long periods the battery will drain quick. But for the majority of general time you are using the smaller screen.
Interesting points, there is now no option to disable 5G without disabling 4G too. Which must be the chipset having 5G integral in the main chip rather than a separate modern chip that last years 5G handsets had.
Pixel 4a Firefox version 81.1.1. There's nowhere to change the download location in the settings. I believe it happened on my Pixel 2 as well when I updated to 81.1.1
The lineup now has a good flow to it but feels like the shift from the 4a 5G to the 5 doesn't match the £100 price difference. I like the new strategy, but feel they still need to have a top of the range handset even if it was a loss leader device to help push the phones further (Still trim the fat with the useless features, but push some higher tier components to really show what the software can be capable of). There's also the issue that 4XL owners will look at these devices as a downgrade overall.
100% here.