Yesterday I picked up my iPhone Duo at Apple Fifth Avenue, and it was a joy to use. Sure, the phone isn’t perfect, but after my first day of use, I’m looking forward to driving it daily, even if it has a few quirks.
When talking about the iPhone Duo, most people talk about the under-screen FaceTime camera, Touch ID, and app support as compromises. Of course, these are features that make it a lesser experience than a regular iPhone, but personally, I don’t find them spoiling the experience at all.
Last year, Apple impressed many with the iPhone Air. It was incredibly thin, and certainly a marvel of engineering to fit everything into this form factor. You felt it though: the speaker quality was poor, you only had one rear camera, and the battery life was lacking compared to any other iPhone. It was by no means unusable, but compromises had to be made.
iPhone Duo feels like a complete experience
To me, the iPhone Duo doesn’t really feel like it’s giving up anything that really matters. Touch ID is a learning curve, but it doesn’t feel like a struggle. The under-screen FaceTime camera is worse than not under-screen, but in good lighting it looks perfectly fine, especially on video calls.
As for app support, I think the whole situation was overkill. Many early reviewers were quick to point out the fact that many apps aren’t yet updated for the iPhone Duo, while ignoring the fact that they had the phone very early and most developers were planning their releases for when consumers would start getting devices, not the reviewers. Over the past few days, many more apps have been updated for the iPhone Duo.
The exterior screen also seems like something worth using, and not just an afterthought. It’s a smaller screen, and you definitely read less on it than on a larger screen. For me, though, the screen feels rather refreshing to use. The keyboard is still full width, you just don’t need to take in as much background context at once. We feel more focused.
That said, there are two things I really felt about the iPhone Duo that I would like to see improved. Fortunately, these are mostly software improvements.
Software suggestions
During the first day of using my iPhone Duo, I noticed two slightly strange things about the device. For one thing, iOS still only allows you to backswipe from the left edge of the device. This seems to conflict a bit with the navigation elements being on the right side of the device.
When I received my iPhone Duo, I naturally found myself trying to backswipe from the right edge a few times. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t let you do this. It’s certainly not a make-it-or-break-it for the phone, and I’ve gotten used to reaching for the left edge of the device, but given that this form factor is otherwise incredibly accessible, I think it would be an interesting adjustment.
Another thing I’d like to see improved is unlocking with Apple Watch. The feature itself works great and makes losing Face ID less painful. That said, this means that if you give your device to someone else, they can simply unlock it. I think having basic camera-based facial recognition in combination with unlocking with Apple Watch would be a nice improvement.
Conclude
Beyond that, I’m incredibly happy with the iPhone Duo and look forward to using the device more over time and sharing my experience with you all. Anecdotally, I’ve never had so many people stop me in public and ask me questions about my iPhone, so the Duo seems to be getting people excited in a way I haven’t seen in ages. It’s a fun phone.
One last thing to note: Apple’s official folio case for the iPhone Duo doesn’t seem like an interesting product. At $129, the kickstand doesn’t feel very sturdy, and the front flap creates an awkward situation when taking photos using the exterior screen. You can’t flip it to the back, as that would cover the camera, so you just need to let it float. I wouldn’t buy it and would instead wait for 3rd party solutions to fill the gap.
Have you bought an iPhone Duo or are you still waiting for future iterations? Let us know in the comments.
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