“I think I’m going to switch back to my other iPhone.”
I’ll admit, I said this multiple times during my five-day vacation with the new iPhone Duo, after encountering frustrations with broken apps, unfamiliar gestures (a return to Touch ID, argh!), and camera concerns that had me lugging around two phones.
By the time the trip was over, I didn’t want to go back.
Image Credits:Cheddar When I first unboxed the Duo, a loaner from Apple, I was genuinely intrigued. I felt a flutter of anticipation as I peeled back the factory seal wrap and booted up the device. In retrospect, this was probably the first signal that Duo was going to ultimately win me over.
As a tech reporter, I’ve received a lot of test devices over the years, so unfortunately, opening a package with a new gadget inside is no longer the thrill it used to be. But sometime in the days leading up to the Duo’s ship date, I found myself actually wanting one – I had started doing the math and comparing upgrade options that would allow me to afford the $2K the phone would cost. I started scrolling TikTok reviews of Duo cases. I hesitated not only because of the price but because moving to the Duo is a major change – especially coming from an iPhone 17 Pro Max. The phones could not be more different.
As I was about to head out on vacation when the Duo arrived, I decided to tote my 17 Pro Max with me too, as something of a safety net. I ended up using the Duo more, and grew comfortable with it over the course of the trip, despite some frustrations.
Image Credits:Cheddar There’s always a psychological switching cost in changing phones, but particularly going from a high-end phone to a more experimental device like the Duo. For someone used to the iPhone’s long-perfected tech and thin rectangular shape, the Duo’s short, squat, and decidedly novel nature was somewhat off-putting at first.
“Where is all that screen real estate I used to have?” I lamented. “Will this thing even fit comfortably in my pocket?”
As it turns out, it does. Front and back pockets, in fact. Even while wearing a case. You can sit down with it in your back pocket, effectively squashing it, and it does not break. (I meant to be more careful, but I forgot to be, repeatedly, as I tend to carry phones in my back pocket when walking around. I sat on the phone countless times. It’s clearly not that fragile.)
I also dropped the phone (by accident!) at least three times. Twice from about table height and once when it got pushed off the side of the bed. It did not fall on soft carpet, but rather on concrete, tile, and wood floors. It didn’t break then either, and the screen didn’t crack. I wouldn’t call these professional drop tests by any means, but it certainly was a relief for someone fairly clumsy with their phone.
Image Credits:Cheddar Of course, I did encounter some frustrations. I had to scroll more to read back through text threads because of the Duo’s small outer screen; unoptimized apps with numerous controls sometimes had key features tucked away in a “more” (three-dot) menu, leading to a hunt to find the option you needed; and, on multiple occasions, the Google Search app just froze.
