The majority of smartphones have looked the same, rocking the same designs with big/bigger displays, for quite some time now. For anyone who doesn't watch the smartphone market all that frequently, it's certainly possible to mix up one smartphone from another. It's a design that's worked for a long time, and it's probably not really going anywhere anytime soon, either.
But that doesn't mean we can't let some companies explore, right?
Samsung is doing just that. And so is Huawei and Motorola and others. The return of the flip phone is here, after all. Motorola did the right thing and brought back that iconic RAZR design (for better or worse), and Samsung just announced the Galaxy Z Flip. These handsets are an early adopter's dream come true, especially if they like being on the bleeding edge of design change.
Phones do all look the same these days, even when you include the handsets with flip out cameras and the teardrop bezels. It's not necessarily a bad thing, of course, but you can't blame folks for wanting something different. For wanting to see companies experiment, even if the results right now are less-than-stellar -- especially compared to the run-of-the-mill flagships out there -- and expensive.
And Microsoft is experimenting, too, which is exciting. The company has the Surface Duo on the way, which isn't a foldable phone, but rather a handset with two distinct displays that can fold closed into a smaller form factor. A recent video shows off the handset in the wild and it does look pretty exciting.
There are rumors that the phone's specs won't be anything to brag about, though. Which makes sense considering many of the other experimental phones out there suffer from the same thing. A lot of attention has been placed on the Surface Duo's camera, for instance, and speculation that it's not going to be great. That it won't come anywhere close to what Apple or Samsung or Google have brought to the table in their flagships.
Which is why I find myself firmly on the fence with this one. I'm still the type of person who loves the idea of a good sci-fi idea coming to life in a real world device, and the Duo (and foldable phones in general) definitely fall into that category. In theory I'd love to use something like the Surface Duo every day, but, honestly, I'm not sure that it's something I'd actually buy even if given the opportunity.
That's now, anyway. If these wild concept phones, which turn into real devices for consumers to buy, really do catch on I probably won't have much of a choice in the matter. There is plenty of speculation (usually based on patent applications) that Apple is going to jump on the foldable phone train at some point in the (near) future. I guess the only hope by then is that the kinks have been worked out for not only Apple, but also Samsung, Motorola, Google, and whoever else follows along.
But, I'm mostly curious about the Surface Duo from Microsoft and what you think of that particular handset. Are you skipping all these other foldable phones in favor of Microsoft's idea? If so, what about the Surface Duo has your attention? Let me know!