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iPhone Duo Review: First Generation Fun! — Transcript

by Marques Brownlee · 5,590 words · 1,013 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:03First-generation devices... are always
0:05the most fun to review.
0:07And for the past, like, month,
0:08everyone I talk to has been asking me,
0:10"What do you think of the iPhone Duo? Like, should I
0:13get
0:14a foldable... iPhone??
0:15Is that for me? Who is it even really for??
0:17You've been testing it for the past week, right??
0:19Yeah... So
0:48most new pieces of tech... are
0:50fundamentally like a solid idea at their core.
0:53And then they can be a little bit rough around the edges,
0:56but that'll get better over time.
0:58The iPhone Duo specifically,
1:00as the first folding
1:02iPhone, is...
1:03very
1:05polished... around the edges,
1:07but
1:08kind of rough... in the middle,
1:10if that makes sense. Let me explain.
1:16So
1:17Apple does this annoying thing when they come out with new
1:19products where they kind of
1:20ignore
1:21the rest of the world and pretend the competition just doesn't exist.
1:24So it can be kind of brutal...
1:25listening to them go up on stage and
1:27pretend that they're inventing something and explaining
1:30something we've never seen before.
1:32But the honest truth is, for a lot of people,
1:35they really... actually haven't yet seen this before.
1:38So we know, like
1:39you and I know,
1:40that this
1:41first folding... iPhone
1:42is
1:43years behind, like
1:44eight generations behind...
1:45the first folding phones we saw
1:47back in like 2019.
1:48But for a whole mass of people,
1:50this...
1:51is the first one they've ever really even considered buying.
1:54So it kind of forces them to think very deliberately
1:57about that question
1:59and forming a cohesive,
2:00understandable reason...
2:01why they should spend
2:03$2,000 on this...
2:04So like this animation everyone's been talking about since the
2:07launch between the closed... and...
2:09opened Duo's displays, it's not just good because it's smooth.
2:12I mean,
2:13it is smooth, but... it's good because it's literally...
2:16teaching
2:17first-time
2:18foldable users
2:19what is happening. My
2:20theory, and a lot of people have also shared this,
2:22is I think it was inspired by
2:24this
2:25lenticular sheet, which...
2:26obviously...
2:27is pretty cool!
2:29I could be wrong, but it's nearly the exact same...
2:32visual effect...
2:33When the sheet is
2:34on top of something,
2:35you start to
2:36lift it up and it slowly... diffuses
2:39what's underneath it,
2:40right? So now enter...
2:42iPhone Duo.
2:43When you start
2:44opening it up,
2:45it slowly diffuses
2:46what's... underneath it, and it's
2:48super responsive to the hinge
2:50angle as you open... or
2:52close
2:53more
2:54for realism. Makes sense...
2:55But not only that,
2:56then you get to the open half,
2:57and all of this reflection and this diffusion...
2:59implies that there's more
3:01underneath that.
3:02So it's all designed to help people intuitively understand that they're
3:06opening
3:07to reveal
3:08an extended display. There's a bunch of other super clever,
3:10really well-considered, polished stuff like that...
3:12all around this
3:13phone that I'll get to in a second.
3:16But also then the hardware, it kind of,
3:19it does feel very first-gen.
3:25So this is a very pretty phone.
3:26And even though we've seen folding phones for years,
3:28it's still pretty striking to finally see a folding...
3:31iPhone.
3:32The back glass is
3:33one
3:34piece...
3:35and curves up smoothly onto the camera plateau where the dual cameras sit...
3:37That's nice. And the side rails
3:39are titanium,
3:40very shiny,
3:41very premium... feeling,
3:42also very fingerprinty.
3:44But then yeah, you open it up
3:46and it... feels solid
3:47because the hinge weight...
3:48is actually variable...
3:50So right at the point of opening when you're prying the magnets apart,
3:53it's really sturdy.
3:55Then it smoothly
3:56opens
3:57to like
3:58halfway,
3:59then it slows down again... so it can stop...
4:00at various half-open states for certain apps,
4:02which I'll also get to in a second.
4:05And then the last bit... snaps open.
4:07That's nice.
4:08And then the same thing when you're closing it.
4:10There's some real effort required at first,
4:12and then the reward
4:13is that satisfying
4:14clap shut with the magnets.
4:16All that's not even mentioning the IP68 dust and water
4:18resistance rating that this has,
4:20which is pretty elite
4:21for a foldable.
4:22So I mean, you can splash
4:23it, you can
4:24toss it in your bag. I'm really just treating it...
4:26like a regular phone at this point,
4:28minus
4:29I'm never taking it to the beach.
4:31I think it's clear that these things don't like sand.
4:34My prediction, by the way, is that
4:36Zack... bends it slightly?
4:38but doesn't break it.
4:39It's my prediction.
4:41But I'm saying a lot of nice things.
4:43Why do I also say that this
4:45feels... very first-gen,
4:46right? Well,
4:48thick... and heavy,
4:50right? So look at this.
4:51This is the Samsung Z Fold 8...
4:53Same idea, obviously, passport-shaped foldable,
4:55but it's now Samsung's... eighth...
4:57year
4:58doing this,
4:59and say what you want about Samsung, but they've clearly
5:01iterated quite a bit
5:02on this stuff.
5:03So this phone... is significantly thinner...
5:05and like 20-something percent
5:07lighter,
5:08and that stuff makes a...
5:09big difference in daily use.
5:11Also, the sides being flatter, I think,
5:13makes it much easier to pry open than the slick...
5:16rounded titanium sides.
5:18The Duo feels significant and solid,
5:20and that's what you want when you're spending
5:23$2,000+ obviously.
5:24but I'm telling you, after you use this thing
5:26for like a week or two...
5:27you would be happy
5:28if it was 20%... lighter.
5:30And I just keep replaying in my head that Time Magazine interview
5:33quote where John Ternus
5:34recently called
5:35a bunch of the other foldables
5:37"cheap... and crappy."
5:38And maybe this is the hot take, but making...
5:40everything
5:42metal
5:43and
5:44glass
5:45and
5:46heavy
5:47doesn't necessarily
5:48make it
5:49better to use.
5:50Like, it feels good in the hand, but it's like
5:51that,
5:52sometimes works against them.
5:53It's just kind of like the permanent Apple design
5:54default.
5:55And that's great for like a MacBook Pro or an old Mac tower
5:57when you want it to feel... metal
5:58and substantial,
5:59great.
6:00But it sometimes backfires, like Vision Pro.
6:02Vision Pro is
6:03all metal,
6:04super heavy
6:05in a world of... all
6:07plastic VR headsets.
6:08So does the Vision Pro feel
6:09premium and significant to hold? Yes.
6:11Does it kind of, at first glance, make the other plastic ones
6:14feel... cheap and crappy?
6:16Kinda, yeah.
6:17But then when you're wearing it on your face
6:19for a while, do you also... kinda wish
6:21it was lighter? Also, yeah.
6:23And same with over-ear headphones.
6:25Like, most are plastic for a reason... It's lightweight,
6:28you're wearing it on your literal head for a while.
6:31AirPods Max comes along,
6:32very premium,
6:33feels solid, it's metal, very heavy,
6:36maybe a little bit too heavy.
6:37Now you're not wearing an iPhone Duo on your face,
6:39so obviously it's not
6:40as dramatic, but the point still stands.
6:43This reminds me a lot of
6:44the first-generation Pixel Fold,
6:46just a
6:47little
6:48thicker and heavier than you're hoping it was,
6:49but... clearly the right idea.
6:51Other things I've noticed that are just kind of nitpicky but totally real,
6:54uh,
6:55this is a very right-handed phone,
6:56so your thumb naturally rests right on the fingerprint reader/power
6:59button when you hold it this
7:00way.
7:01But then... they kept Camera Control
7:03all the way down near the bottom
7:05right corner.
7:06It's this little cutout, by the way, and it's a little out of the way,
7:08but maybe you're also rotating it into taking a photo or a video,
7:11so it's not bad.
7:12But then that also means there's not quite enough room
7:14for the volume buttons
7:16on that side. So they put them
7:17at the top of the phone.
7:19Again, just
7:20slightly outta the way... And then
7:21in iOS,
7:22so this launches with 27.1 out the box,
7:24you pull down from the right corner for Control Center still.
7:27You pull down from the middle anywhere,
7:29and that's Siri,
7:31which means... all
7:32the way to the left, that top left corner,
7:35is where you pull down
7:36to get notifications.
7:38And even with big hands, that's just...
7:40a little bit of extra hand gymnastics.
7:42And while we're at it,
7:43the case situation's also kind of interesting too.
7:45So Apple made two... first-party cases with the...
7:47iPhone Duo. This is the Folio case.
7:49It's $130
7:50and magnetizes to the back and then kind of...
7:53slides to expand
7:54to cover the front.
7:55So it's a one-piece case.
7:57The kickstand is cool,
7:59but it leaves the rails
8:00totally unprotected.
8:01They also made their Silicone Case,
8:03two pieces,
8:04one for the back, one for the front,
8:05but this one leaves the hinge totally exposed.
8:07So then there's third-party cases, and channel sponsor dbrand has their $60
8:11Grip Case.
8:12And
8:13I might be biased,
8:14but I think they've done a better job than Apple,
8:15at least at making something... that's...
8:17actually protective,
8:17'cause they got the back hinge protection piece.
8:19And this
8:21doesn't use
8:22like mechanical parts like most folding cases,
8:23no moving parts, just... one
8:25integrated piece. So
8:26if you're paranoid at all about durability and want
8:28the cleanest looking case
8:29that actually has
8:30hinge protection,
8:32this is probably the best move.
8:33And hey, since they are the channel sponsor,
8:35this whole Duo lineup
8:36with this case
8:38and the Prism screen protector is available at dbrand.com/duo or nationwide
8:41at Best Buy. Now the inside screen...
8:43is the part of the Duo that does not feel first-generation
8:47at all.
8:48They did an incredible job with it. I love it...
8:50This is a 7.6-inch OLED.
8:51It's 120Hz display.
8:52It matches the 3,000 nits
8:54of the outside display.
8:56And this nanotexture finish
8:58is so
8:59good.
9:00Obviously,
9:01it does a great job of hiding the already mostly imperceptible crease,
9:04but it also,
9:05it just feels nice to slide your finger across it.
9:07I did just for fun put it under a microscope to try to see if
9:10I could see the micro lenses that make up the nanotexture,
9:13but
9:14they are... absolutely
9:15tiny.
9:16That
9:17over there... on the right...
9:18is the cutout in the nanotexture for the under-display selfie camera...
9:20You can clearly see the nanotexture does slightly diffuse
9:23the light, so there's a
9:24little bit less sharpness when reading text,
9:26or watching videos,
9:28but at no point did I find that bad.
9:30But speaking of that selfie camera,
9:32yeah,
9:33that is, that is very
9:34first-gen
9:35and it is bad.
9:36The photo quality
9:37is
9:38trash.
9:39It
9:40looks
9:40a... little
9:41better
9:42on like a FaceTime call with video than
9:43just straight up taking pictures with it.
9:44But
9:45yeah, Apple clearly has done the math. Like they've assumed people
9:47won't use this camera very much
9:49and they've accepted the trade-off... of image quality
9:52versus having this
9:53big dramatic
9:54uninterrupted inner display... We'll see if they
9:57also bail on that
9:58in future generations like Samsung did,
10:00or if they stick with it. Now,
10:01other things that are good for a first-generation phone,
10:05the hinge, like I talked about, with the variable weight, excellent.
10:09Battery life, this is another thing...
10:11So we finally actually got the quantity, the size of the battery.
10:14It's about a 4,900 milliamp-hour combined battery split
10:16between the two sides.
10:18And it's really good.
10:20Like, if you use this phone, let's say the normal
10:23ratio is like... 75%...
10:24closed,
10:2525%... big screen open,
10:28this is gonna be an all-day phone
10:30and then some. That 2-nanometer...
10:31A20 Pro chip is doing
10:32a
10:33lot of heavy lifting
10:34and performs great,
10:35but it's also super efficient.
10:37It feels right on par with the 17 Pro I came from,
10:39and... with a ton of high-brightness use,
10:42I'm regularly ending the day with like 30-plus percent left.
10:45Now, if you do decide to do... way more...
10:47big screen use, of course it'll be... a bit more
10:49battery 'cause it's the bigger display,
10:51but honestly not much.
10:53It's a very efficient phone.
10:54And then the cameras on the back,
10:57right on par with the rest of the foldables out there.
10:59So you've got dual cameras back here,
11:01one... standard 48-megapixel
11:03and
11:04one
11:05ultra-wide.
11:06I was trying to find out exactly which
11:0748-megapixel sensor they were able to fit in this Duo since it specifically
11:10needs to be something thinner.
11:12And you'd think naturally they'd take from something like the...
11:15iPhone Air
11:16because it's so thin,
11:17but the literature
11:18actually seems to point more
11:19towards using the same camera
11:20as the... iPhone 17e,
11:21which is not like some insult where it's like incapable of taking great photos.
11:25It is capable of taking really good photos,
11:28but it does mean that...
11:29as lighting conditions deteriorate,
11:32this smaller sensor,
11:34it does have to crank up the ISO earlier...
11:36and get noisier earlier... than...
11:38those bigger Pro cameras.
11:39But I have taken a lot of photos and videos over the course
11:42of the past week and a half,
11:44and
11:45almost none of them have surprised me... Like,
11:47it's a solid camera, it's an okay camera most of the time.
11:50The ultra-wide
11:52is like... baseline
11:53useful to have, but it's not gonna take incredible...
11:56corner-to-corner sharp photos.
11:58And then not having a zoom
11:59does mean that shots past about 4x...
12:01are just dramatically
12:02worse than the Pro phone, which has an actual zoom.
12:06Side by side with a 17e
12:07and an 18 Pro... in weaker lighting,
12:10it's definitely closer... to the 17e...
12:12in terms of sharpness
12:13and noise.
12:14But guess what? I also shot the entire...
12:16Tesla Roadster reaction video
12:18on the... iPhone
12:19Duo,
12:20believe it or not,
12:21and there were almost no comments about it...
12:23Now,
12:24that doesn't mean... nobody noticed,
12:26and
12:27certainly
12:28I noticed as I was
12:29editing
12:30what very much... looks like...
12:31iPhone footage,
12:32but
12:33the Duo,
12:34despite having a Pro chip,
12:35doesn't have any of the Pro camera features.
12:36There's no ProRes,
12:38there's no log,
12:39it's just good old-fashioned 4K 30,
12:42and it generally
12:43looks fine. It's outdoors,
12:44of course the footage is usable.
12:46This is not the
12:47iPhone you would choose if you are
12:48the
12:49iPhone
12:50filmmaker who...
12:51wants the absolute best possible pro tools and image quality,
12:54which is a little hard to swallow at first because this is the most expensive,
12:57therefore most premium
12:59iPhone,
13:00but yeah,
13:01it's not targeted at that group of people.
13:02It is much more like the productivity entertainment...
13:04iPhone...
13:05that happens to have good enough cameras, and it's good enough cameras
13:09that are on
13:10par
13:11with other foldables
13:12that are a tier below
13:13the slab-style flagships. Also, like other foldables,
13:15it gains the ability to turn
13:17on the rear display for the camera.
13:19So with this button up here,
13:21you can fire up
13:22the preview,
13:22which just shows the people you're taking pictures of
13:25the exact framing that you're using.
13:27I think I'll call this one
13:28spouse mode.
13:29So when your spouse
13:30asks you to take a picture of them, they don't have to ask 5 or 6 times.
13:33They can just give you the instructions to get it perfect the first time.
13:37Spouse mode. And then there's
13:39Kid Cue,
13:40which plays colorful Snoopy-themed animations on the back,
13:43which should ideally get little kids to kind of look in the general
13:46direction of the phone when you're taking a picture of them.
13:49Cool.
13:50Kid mode... But
13:51if you flip the phone around,
13:52you'll see they've also
13:53added this... slide-to-open camera control...
13:55You slide that,
13:56and it not only gives you the preview, but it gives you
13:59all the controls
14:00to take the highest quality possible selfie
14:03with the main
14:04camera on the back.
14:05And it also disables the back display to reduce accidental touches.
14:09Wow. Self-portrait mode.
14:11They did it. Nice...
14:12Bottom line is the hardware is
14:14fun. It is really fun.
14:15What's not fun though, right now... is the apps.
14:22So the app situation on the... iPhone Duo...
14:24is its
14:25biggest downside right now.
14:26Like,
14:27right now,
14:28as I
14:29release
14:30this video,
14:30at launch. See,
14:31the idea of the
14:32iPhone Duo,
14:33while it's closed,
14:34is it's basically a normal... iPhone...
14:35on the left-hand side, but
14:36anything that would typically be
14:37at the very top... or the bottom
14:38is moved over to the right...
14:40where it's reachable with your
14:41right thumb.
14:42So on the home screen, for example,
14:44there's a normal grid of apps
14:45on the left,
14:46but the
14:47dock from the bottom
14:48moves over to the right,
14:49and the time and the battery and cell signal,
14:50all that stuff,
14:52is also over to the right in this clever little glyph.
14:54Makes sense. You open one of Apple's
14:57own
14:58apps... and that theme continues.
14:59The main content is on the left,
15:00and then the buttons that used to be on the bottom or the top...
15:04are over to the right where they're reachable.
15:06So this is a brilliant concept. It's cool.
15:08It's sort of the blueprint for an optimized app.
15:10The problem is
15:11most
15:12apps, at least most of the ones I use right now,
15:15are not optimized yet,
15:16which
15:17means... they look like
15:18this. Just a regular app
15:19with the buttons still at the top and the bottom,
15:22and then a black bar
15:23down the right-hand side where the buttons are supposed to be.
15:27So Spotify looks like this,
15:29Google Maps,
15:30Waze,
15:31Discord, and Twitter are all like this...
15:33Google Calendar is like this...
15:35Like tons and tons of apps, big apps,
15:37most of them... are currently like this.
15:39And then when you open up the phone,
15:41they're mostly still
15:43just small,
15:44unoptimized iPhone apps in the...
15:45middle of this huge screen,
15:46which
15:47is hilarious... Even if you turn it vertical, still
15:49very small.
15:50Very reminiscent of the old...
15:52iPad days where you could just hit the 2x button and it just made it bigger.
15:56So
15:57some apps... are slightly more responsive,
15:59like they'll partially kind of stretch out across this inner display,
16:02but...
16:03they're still clearly not optimized for Duo yet.
16:05Like Spotify kind of stretches things,
16:07Flighty... kind of stretches things, but
16:10the general experience... has been...
16:12flipping between a whole bunch
16:14of not
16:15optimized apps that look... pretty terrible on the Duo right now.
16:18I think
16:19in about... six months,
16:20once developers get a bunch of these and start developing
16:22the Duo-specific versions of their apps, 'cause this isn't just an...
16:25iPad app, it's a
16:26Duo app that they have to make, then...
16:29things will start feeling
16:31way better.
16:32And this is one of Apple's biggest strengths,
16:33to be fair,
16:34like just dragging developers along for stuff like this.
16:37So I think most of the big
16:38ones... will...
16:39come along
16:40for the ride eventually, but... not all of them will.
16:41Not all of them are gonna make it.
16:43Like,
16:44I know now
16:46that I will have to officially abandon Arc Mobile
16:48as my browser of choice 'cause they're done
16:50developing that for mobile. Like, the gym
16:53app that I use every day, that's probably not gonna get updated.
16:56So stuff like that. But I really can't wait.
16:58Like,
16:59I'm constantly checking the software updates I have available in the App Store
17:02'cause I can't wait for the updated Duo versions of these apps...
17:05Shout-out to Instagram, just got the update today
17:07as I'm filming this.
17:08And also Carrot Weather, my weather app of choice, they did it.
17:11They've got all their stuff together... Closed screen,
17:13buttons are on the right-hand side now,
17:16and then open it up...
17:17and they've got the two columns,
17:19buttons are still reachable on the right.
17:21Hopefully more
17:22get on this page soon.
17:23And I'll also mention,
17:24this has been kind of a buggy phone to test. I've had a couple
17:27of things like freeze up on me,
17:29not like full
17:30catastrophic restart the whole phone
17:32freezes, but a couple weird bugs, especially in that continuity animation.
17:35You know, obviously,
17:36okay, it's designed to be pretty quick.
17:38Like, you just open it,
17:40close it,
17:41that's sort of it. But if you slow
17:42it
17:43way... down...
17:44or even stop
17:45halfway
17:46and then try to interact with the display,
17:48it can get kind of confused,
17:49mainly because there's so many different
17:51possible states
17:53that it could be in that it's trying to figure it out.
17:55Like the hinge angle
17:56and the orientation, like should it be StandBy mode,
17:59should it be... between the apps
18:00on the right or the left?
18:01It can be a little weird...
18:02But that's also me kind of trying to break it.
18:04My biggest
18:06software gripe with this whole phone though is actually not a bug,
18:08it's an intentional feature.
18:10So you know how I said earlier, this
18:11is the first...
18:12foldable phone that a lot of people have seen,
18:14and so there's a lot of
18:16thoughtful... consideration
18:17and polish
18:18with the software
18:20to accommodate for that.
18:21Well, this phone also doesn't have Face ID.
18:23We knew this,
18:24not enough Z-axis space, not thick enough, so fine.
18:26They've done what all the other foldables have done,
18:28which is add a fingerprint reader... on the power button.
18:31Great. But they've programmed in
18:34a massive, not massive, but a delay
18:36on that fingerprint reader. Now,
18:38if you've been using phones with fingerprint readers for a while,
18:40you've already known,
18:41like you've developed this behavior where...
18:43if you just wanna check the lock screen real quick,
18:45then
18:46using your registered finger
18:47is actually
18:48too fast.
18:50Like it just unlocks right away and skips the lock screen.
18:51So... to check your lock screen
18:52notifications,
18:54you instead just tap with a different finger so it doesn't unlock,
18:57and then you can... read
18:58whatever... And then when you do wanna unlock,
19:01then
19:02use the correct finger again
19:03and it opens up.
19:04With... iPhone
19:05Duo,
19:06Apple built in
19:08a delay
19:09with
19:10every single unlock.
19:11So you can tap with your registered finger,
19:13it pauses... on the lock screen
19:14for a beat,
19:16and then if you keep holding,
19:17then it unlocks... It's
19:19technically smart, like it's giving... people a chance to
19:22check to see their notifications real
19:24quick before it goes and unlocks it. And if they wanna
19:27deliberately hold it longer, it'll unlock, but
19:30I just,
19:31as someone who's used to the instant unlocks from Face ID,
19:33I was like,
19:34I need to find a way to turn this off,
19:36and I did not find that. Like,
19:37it just makes the fingerprint reader feel slow...
19:39when it's not slow.
19:41Like,
19:41this new behavior I taught myself with the Duo is you can speed it up by
19:44waking it, then swiping up,
19:45then touching the fingerprint reader, and it unlocks basically
19:48instantly.
19:49It's really fast.
19:50I just wish I didn't have to do
19:52all of that
19:53every single time.
19:54I really think Face ID is gonna be the number one thing people miss
19:57coming from other... iPhones.
19:58Not the zoom cameras,
19:59not the thinner and lighter form factors.
20:02I think it's Face ID.
20:06So most new products, like I've said, have this
20:08good idea somewhere at the core, and then
20:10they can be a little bit rough around the edges,
20:12and that
20:13will get
20:14patched up and better over time. iPhone Duo,
20:17as I've mentioned,
20:18is... very
20:19polished around the edges.
20:20All these sleek animations and all this stuff.
20:23But it is a little bit rougher... at the core,
20:25like just being a
20:26little thicker and heavier and
20:27having a bunch of apps not look good.
20:29But there are going to be people who this phone is really good for because this
20:32phone is really good at a few things,
20:35and I've seen... those flashes of greatness
20:37with it with my week and a half of using it.
20:39The obvious one is... two
20:40apps... side by side.
20:41Why would you do that?
20:43Well, there's actually tons of good reasons to.
20:45You just have to remember that you can
20:47do it,
20:48and then you'll just start doing it more.
20:50Like... YouTube open on one side
20:52and
20:53note-taking open on the other side,
20:54very useful.
20:55Or maybe just replace YouTube with something else like a
20:57video call or anything really.
20:59Also copying and pasting
21:01like an
21:02email confirmation code from one side into a login portal on the other side,
21:06also extremely clutch, and just replace
21:08whatever copying and pasting you wanna be doing.
21:11If you have two apps open side by side
21:12and then tap on the divider in the middle, it locks them together in a pair and
21:16visually looks like a book.
21:18And so it sort of intuitively makes sense anytime you open one,
21:21they both open up together.
21:22And then you can unpair it the same way.
21:24And then the back and forth with all the different windows...
21:27is super intuitive...
21:28You can go home on one side, not the other.
21:30Then you can swipe between
21:31recent
21:33apps... on one side, but not the other.
21:34It's all super clean.
21:36You can't do a third window...
21:37and you can't do... anything...
21:38other than
21:40two apps side by side, half screen,
21:41but— That's, of course, still better than a regular
21:44iPhone. I also had to try, just for the memes,
21:47to scroll Instagram Reels
21:49and
21:50TikTok
21:51at the same time.
21:52And technically you can do it, but it actually does...
21:54kind of bug out a little sometimes 'cause it wants to
21:58only play the audio from
21:59one,
22:00and then it kind of gets weird.
22:01I'm gonna turn the volume on.
22:03It might get crazy,
22:05but
22:06this is—
22:07Hey Benny
22:08the TikTok audio.
22:09Inversion...
22:10But then it switches back.
22:11You see how it switched back to the Instagram?
22:12if you really start to look at it. I mean it is kinda cool...
22:14That's kind of cool... I mean if you just look at the progress
22:16So you, you can't hear... And then back to TikTok.
22:17both at once, and maybe that's a good thing.
22:20Um,
22:21but you can,
22:22you can—
22:23this could, this could be you, but don't, don't do that.
22:25But the other thing it's actually really good at,
22:28better than a lot of other foldables,
22:30is
22:31the halfway open state.
22:32Because this hinge... is so sturdy
22:34in the middle,
22:35that it's probably the best foldable at just being
22:37partially open,
22:38and they've planned around that.
22:40So if you're typing, but then like sort of partially close it,
22:42the keyboard splits in half to avoid you having to touch...
22:45the middle. There's also
22:46apps that let you type or control
22:48on one half of the screen while you have content playing
22:51on the other half. We've seen that before.
22:53But then
22:54this is the first
22:55iPhone that
22:56automatically enters StandBy mode,
22:57even when it's not connected to power,
23:00when you just put it up in like a tent formation.
23:02So when it's vertical,
23:03it'll just show two
23:04different
23:05customizable screensavers and when it's in horizontal,
23:08it'll show one
23:09big screensaver, like your clock... or weather...
23:11or calendar or whatever you want... It's
23:13really nice... And the phone has
23:14more than enough battery to sort of just sit on a desk all
23:17day showing notifications...
23:18and not have any issues.
23:20And there is, of course, the sort of awesome...
23:22underglow alarm clock.
23:24And then I just have to say, it does
23:26the continuity thing
23:27incredibly well.
23:28Like the speed that it goes from open to closed,
23:30and closed to open
23:32and picks up exactly where you left off.
23:34Like, you could be in the middle of writing an
23:36email
23:37with an attachment, this whole big thing, and you realize, you know,
23:39I
23:40want to do a little more multitasking to get this done.
23:41You just
23:42open the phone
23:43and keep it going... Just picks up right where you left off.
23:46You could be in the middle of reading something,
23:49open the phone... mid-scroll,
23:51and it finishes that scroll
23:53and keeps going.
23:54It's so good.
23:55And then the matte inner display, I can't say enough nice things about it.
23:58It is... the hardware highlight
24:00of the Duo...
24:01It's nice to read things on, it's nice to watch videos on,
24:03it...
24:04really blocks reflections super well, and it's nice to hold it vertically
24:07like an... iPad mini.
24:08Matter of fact,
24:09this is the orientation that the volume buttons on the side
24:11make more sense, and I find myself holding it like this,
24:14reading stuff
24:15more than any other foldable I've used.
24:17But most of all... the polish...
24:18I keep talking about at the edges, it's just,
24:21it helps people to understand what is happening
24:24on the phone.
24:25So the opening and closing animation, like I talked about,
24:27the...
24:28two apps next to each other animation that I also talked about,
24:30also the new Dynamic Island animation
24:32since it's over here
24:33on the side now. Did you catch that?
24:36Also, the inner display selfie camera, when you close the camera app,
24:40just shrinks up the pixels...
24:41to hide the camera... That is so clean.
24:43The condensed battery, time,
24:44and signal strength indicator over in the corner has become very easy to read,
24:48and I've gotten used to it.
24:49The dots at the bottom
24:51are your cell signal strength...
24:52It's all very well put together,
24:54and it's not a coincidence
24:55that the camera viewfinder fills up
24:57the whole display perfectly with no black bars
25:00because the camera sensor
25:02is the
25:03same
25:04aspect ratio
25:05as the outer screen,
25:06which is...
25:07also the same aspect ratio as the inner screen
25:08rotated 90 degrees.
25:09So it
25:10always fills up your display... Such a nice touch.
25:15Man,
25:16I told you there's a lot with these...
25:18first-generation devices. So, okay,
25:20I
25:21know that a lot of people,
25:22when they see that there are chapters in this video and
25:24there's a conclusion chapter,
25:25they're gonna skip right to this part of the video,
25:27in which case,
25:28hi. Shame on you for skipping.
25:31Watch the rest of the video.
25:32There's so much other good stuff in there...
25:34But okay, fine, I get it. Your finger is
25:36hovering over the order button
25:38and you just... need someone to tell you
25:40if it's good or not... Just someone
25:42please tell us if we should buy this thing
25:44or not. Okay, first of all,
25:47I do think that by the time you actually
25:50get your Duo,
25:51if you're just now gonna order,
25:53in a couple weeks and months,
25:54there should be way more apps optimized for the Duo,
25:56so that's nice. But yeah, the idea
25:58is really simple in concept, right?
26:00It's $2,000 to get
26:01an
26:02iPad mini that can fit in your pocket...
26:04120Hz iPad mini
26:05OLED fits in your pocket.
26:07Have you ever wanted that? They made it!
26:09They did it! Great!
26:11This is the first generation.
26:12It's made for you.
26:14But also, yeah, it is
26:16polished
26:18but
26:19rough. Am I making any sense?
26:21There's gonna be a lot of attention... on
26:23this
26:24phone... because
26:25it's a new... iPhone,
26:26and people with other... iPhones are always
26:27curious
26:28if they should be getting... the newest
26:30iPhone.
26:31And for most of those people,
26:33the answer... is probably actually no.
26:34Like,
26:35if you're just a regular person who doesn't do much more than
26:37texting... and social media...
26:39on their phone,
26:40some occasional web browsing here and there,
26:42eh,
26:43probably no.
26:44If you are the...
26:45iPhone filmmaker who wants the absolute best cameras to go shoot their next thing,
26:48no. If you're the type of person who
26:52breaks your phone every like nine months 'cause you drop it all the time,
26:55yep,
26:56probably no. But if the $2,000
26:57or
26:58the difference between 35 and 55 bucks
27:00a month
27:01doesn't mean much to you
27:02and you just
27:03kind of like the idea and wanna jump in, I think
27:06after... the learning curve
27:08and getting used to not having Face ID,
27:10this is a really fun
27:12phone
27:13to use... And...
27:14it's really just 'cause that
27:15polish,
27:16that polish around the edges goes a long
27:17way towards the fun factor.
27:19So... the awesome animations,
27:21the incredible hinge,
27:23the... wonderful
27:24inside display,
27:25like all
27:26of that
27:27is just really nice.
27:28And it hides a little bit of the rough core,
27:29like it will feel a little heavy sometimes,
27:31and not all your favorite apps will be updated right out the box,
27:34but
27:35it is fun.
27:36Apple can't completely engineer their way around
27:38the compromises of this form factor,
27:40like
27:41the slightly worse battery
27:42and the slightly worse speakers
27:44and the slightly worse cameras.
27:46Like, that's just physics.
27:48But what they have done... is...
27:49an admirable job... with their...
27:51first generation.
27:53Now I'm just gonna have to cross my fingers that a second generation...
27:56actually listens to some of that core feedback,
27:58'cause that... could be...
27:59an amazing phone.
28:00If you are picking up this first-gen Duo though,
28:02it's also a good time to pick up some extras while you wait for it to arrive...
28:06And so of course I have some recommendations...
28:08from channel sponsor Ridge.
28:09So first of all, their power bank... It's a 5-in-1,
28:1210,000 milliamp hours,
28:13MagSafe,
28:14built-in cables,
28:15an Apple Watch charging pad,
28:17and it works as a hub while plugged in.
28:19It'll work with your new phone
28:20or your old one. And then second, their tracker card.
28:23It's the size of a credit card, so it slips right into your wallet,
28:25and it works with both Apple Find My
28:27and Google Find Hub.
28:28The battery lasts up to 10 months per charge,
28:30and it charges wirelessly.
28:31Ridge's Friends and Family Sale
28:33is on now, and... you know,
28:34I consider y'all friends and family,
28:36so...
28:37you can get three power banks for the price
28:39of
28:40two...
28:41It'll work with your new phone like the iPhone Duo...
28:42or
28:4318 Pro... or any phone with USB Type-C...
28:44or Lightning cables...
28:46Head over to ridge.com/mkbhd to check out that deal...
28:48before it's gone for good. Thanks for watching.
28:52Catch you guys in the next one. Peace.

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