Sony has finally revealed its mainstream $2,500 Alpha A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera and it looks to have been worth the wait. Borrowing technology from the recent A1 and A7S III models, it offers large improvements over the A7 III introduced well over three years ago. Key features include an all-new 33-megapixel sensor, 4K 10-bit 60 fps video, new AI autofocus tricks and a lot more. 

The A7 IV resembles the A7S III in terms of size and layout, but you can now select between still, video and S&Q (slow and quick) options with a new dedicated dial below the mode dial. Each mode completely changes the settings and control layout of the camera to favor either photo- or video-centric controls. As with the A7S III, the video record button has been moved to a more practical spot on top for vloggers.

It comes with a 3.68-million dot electronic viewfinder (EVF) with a more comfortable 120 Hz refresh rate, up from the 2.36-million dot, 60Hz EVF on the A7 III. For videographers, the A7 IV offers a flip-out 1.03 million dot rear LCD display, making the camera far more usable for vlogging than the A7 III. 

Sony

The 5-axis in-body stabilization delivers 5.5 stops of shake reduction, up slightly from before, but far below the 8 stops promised by Canon's like-priced EOS R6. However, it now offers an "active mode" for movies that helps smooth footsteps. 

In terms of storage, the A7 IV offers two slots, with the top dual slot taking either SDXC UHS II (up to 300 MB/s speeds or CFexpress Type A (up to 800 MB/s), and the bottom slot compatible with SDXC UHS II only. On the A1 and A7S III, by comparison, both slots support both those formats. As for battery life, the A7 IV delivers 610 CIPA shots on a charge, compared to 700 on the A7 III. 

The 33-megapixel backside illuminated (BSI) sensor provides a significant resolution boost over the A7 III's 24.1-megapixel sensor, while still offering good low-light sensitivity, Sony told Engadget. However, it doesn't offer the stacked chip-on-sensor technology of the A1 and A9/A9 II, so it lacks the sensor readout speeds of those models. 

As such, the A7 IV is limited to the same 10 fps shootings speeds as the A7 III, both with the mechanical and electronic shutter — whereas the A1 can shoot at triple that speed. However, the A7 III was limited to around 90 RAW frames at a time, but the A7 IV can shoot an incredible 828 uncompressed RAW+JPEG images in a burst, provided you capture to a CFexpress Type A card.

Powered by the A1's BIONZ R processing engine, it offers the same 759 phase-detect AF points as the A1 with around 94 percent sensor coverage. It also comes with the same AI-powered image tracking that can process spatial information "in real time at high speed," Sony said. That means more tenacious tracking, along with faster and more accurate eye AF for humans, animals and birds.

Perhaps the biggest improvements with the A7 IV are on the video side. Where the A7 III was limited to 4K/30p with 8 bits of color depth, the A7 IV can handle 4K at up to 60 fps with 10 bit, 4:22 All-I capture — putting it on par with Canon's EOS R6 and the Panasonic GH5 II. 4K 30fps is super-sampled using the entire 7K width of the sensor, while 4K/60p uses a 4.6K Super35 1.5X crop. That means there's no pixel binning, so video should be very sharp. 

It supports a number of video file types, including XAVC S All-I at up to 600 Mbps for 4K/60 10-bit, 4:2:2 movies. All of the video modes, except one S&Q setting that requires CFexpress Type A, can be captured to an SD UHS II card. However, unlike the A1 and A7S III, there's no support for 16-bit RAW video capture to an external recorder. RAW video isn't found on the EOS R6 either, but is available on Panasonic's $1,800 GH5s and the $2,000 Nikon Z6 II. 

Video autofocus is improved with faster and more accurate tracking. The A7 IV is also Sony's first camera to support both human and animal/bird eye tracking for video. If the A7 IV's AF works nearly as well as the A7S III, it should be nearly on par with Canon's Dual Pixel AF.

What about overheating, the EOS R6's primary bugbear? With a heat-dissipating body structure, the A7 IV can record 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 video continuously for more than an hour, Sony claims. The R6, meanwhile, is limited to around 40 minutes at 4K/30p before a cooling off period is required.

With most camera lenses, pulling video focus from a foreground to background subject can cause an ugly change in framing. The A7 IV's Focus Breathing Compensation system essentially uses a digital zoom to compensate for that, making the transition smoother. However, since the system needs to track lens elements, it only supports Sony-branded glass — and only the rather expensive G and GM models, at that. 

If you'd rather focus manually, the A7 IV is debuting a new feature called Focus Map. It overlays colors onto a scene showing the parts within, behind and in front of the depth of field (DOF). That's supposed to help you pull focus quickly and in the right direction toward your subject. Related to that is the new "AF Assist" function borrowed from Sony's FX6 cinema camera that allows for manual focus, even during autofocus operation. 

Lastly, Sony has introduced new live streaming and sharing features, though they're not quite up to the level we've seen on other recent cameras. If you use Sony's Imaging Edge mobile app, it will now use Bluetooth to maintain a continuous connection, rather than disconnecting as before. 

It also offers faster transfer speeds with 5GHz WiFi and superspeed USB-C 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps). You can do video and audio streaming over USB-C at up to 1080p 60 or 4K 15p if resolution is a priority over smooth video. That allows for webcam or livestreaming via apps like OBS with digital audio and effects like soft skin. The camera can also record internally while you're live streaming, providing a backup. Unlike Panasonic's GH5 II however, you can't transmit via RTMP to Twitch, YouTube or other services without a phone or laptop. 

The A7 IV is clearly a massive leap forward for Sony's "basic" full-frame mirrorless camera series, putting it on par or ahead of most rivals. The only deterrent is the $2,500 price tag ($2,699 with a 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens), which is $500 more than the A7 III cost at launch. I'd wager, though, that it's going to be just as popular as the original, provided it delivers the promised performance — so stay tuned for our review. The A7 IV is set to arrive by the end of December 2021.

Sony is finally releasing an Uncharted movie after trying to make one for over a decade. If you need more evidence that the film actually exists beyond a snap of Tom Holland in Nathan Drake's classic attire, here's the first trailer.

Even though Holland plays a much younger version of the character (which Mark Wahlberg's Sully jokes about in the opening moments) than in the games, the enjoyable-enough trailer incudes some of the most memorable moments from Drake's globe-trotting adventures. There isn't a bit where he clambers up a train carriage that's dangling over a cliff, but there's the cargo plane set piece from Uncharted 3 and a ship trapped inside a cave, just like in Uncharted 4. The clip includes some underground exploration too.

The film's set to arrive in theaters on February 11th, following several delays. Attempts to make an Uncharted movie stopped and started over the years, with directors including David O. Russell, Seth Gordon and Shawn Levy being attached at certain points before Zombieland and Venom helmer Ruben Fleischer saw the film through. The project had been in development for so long that, for a while, Wahlberg looked set to play Drake, rather than the character's mentor.

Some viewers might be coming to the franchise with fresh eyes (maybe because they need more Tom Holland in their lives), and they might want to play the games to see what all the fuss is about. Sony Pictures included a handy reminder at the end of the trailer about a remastered bundle of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy that's coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in early 2022.

In case the trailer doesn't quite match up to what you might have expected, or Holland doesn't seem like the right person for the gig in your opinion, it's worth checking out this short fan film from a few years back in which Nathan Fillion plays the rogueish treasure hunter. It's a blast.

Facebook's Oversight Board has issued a rebuke to the company in a new quarterly report, claiming it was not "fully forthcoming" about its XCheck program for VIP users. The documents shows the limits of the board's power over Facebook, but also its ability to potentially apply public pressure. 

"When Facebook referred the case related to former US President Trump to the Board, it did not mention the cross-check system," according to the report. "Given that the referral included a specific policy question about account-level enforcement for political leaders, many of whom the Board believes were covered by cross-check, this omission is not acceptable."

The Oversight Board, sometimes called Facebook's "Supreme Court," started issuing important rulings earlier this year. One of its first major rulings was that the ban of ex-President Donald Trump was "appropriate," though it said an indefinite suspension was outside of Facebook's power.

In the Board’s view, the team within Facebook tasked with providing information has not been fully forthcoming on cross-check. On some occasions, Facebook failed to provide relevant information to the Board, while in other instances, the information it did provide was incomplete.

Last month, the board asked Facebook to explain its controversial rules for VIPs, saying that the information was key to its Trump decision. Facebook originally told the board that the XCheck program only applied to a "small number of decisions," but later admitted that statement was misleading. The board also said that Facebook provided "no meaningful transparency" on how it determines which accounts should be included in XCheck. 

An investigative report last month from the Wall Street Journal, with information coming from a whistleblower later revealed to be former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, showed that the program has actually enabled millions of high-profile users to skirt its rules.

The report also addressed the board's own performance and whether Facebook is following its recommendations. It said it took on average 74 days to decide and implement each case, and only handled a fraction that came up. In total, it has taken on 20 important cases "covering topics from hate speech to COVID-19 misinformation" and ruled on 17 of them, overturning Facebook's decisions eight times. It made 52 recommendations to Facebook, which has not agreed to implement all of them. 

Facebook is facing a major fallout in Washington over the Frances Haugen document leak. Earlier this year, it promised to "fully implement" the Oversight Board's recommendations and explain the rationale, standards and review process of its VIP program. 

According to the new report, however, Facebook is not following its own plan so far. The board, meanwhile, has been criticized for allowing Facebook to duck blame for key decisions, while having no authority to force Facebook to comply with its own decisions. 

However, the board said that today it accepted a request from Facebook to review the XCheck program and make recommendations. Facebook is apparently looking for guidance on how to ensure fairness and objectivity, govern the program and make recommendations on how it can be changed. As part of that, the Oversight Board plans to issue a call for public comments "which we will launch in the coming days."

Have you ever just missed a big moment during a live Twitch stream? You might not have to in the future. The Vergereports Twitch is launching a month-long test that includes a "Rewind the Stream" button for live channels. Tap it and you'll jump two minutes back in the broadcast, with options to scrub through the entire stream history and play at different speeds. It's akin to playing an on-demand video, just with the choice to leap back to a live view.

The test also includes a "Remind Me" button (to alert you ahead of an upcoming stream) and "Watch Trailer" (for channels with intro videos). Twitch stressed that the test would "inform future features only," and that the buttons would vanish after the test. About a quarter of viewers should see the rewind test.

There are potential safety issues. Just Chatting streamers (that is, real-world cameras) are concerned this poses a safety risk. People might have a better chance of spotting and clipping an unintentional terms-of-service violation (say, a prankster in the background) or doxxing a streamer who inadvertently reveals sensitive info. This isn't the definitive implementation of the rewind button, though, and that's assuming it isn't scrapped. We wouldn't be surprised if Twitch let streamers restrict the rewind feature to certain viewers, or even disable it entirely.

Apple's tiny Bluetooth trackers are already fairly affordable, but Woot's latest one-day sale makes them even cheaper. You can get an AirTag from the online retailer for $26 today only, which is 10 percent off its normal price. Woot knocked the price of a four-pack down to $95 earlier this month, and while this price for one AirTag isn't as cheap as that, it remains the best discount we've seen on a single pack. Just make sure to familiarize yourself with Woot's return policy before picking one up.

AirTags are the trackers to get if you live within the Apple ecosystem. They pair just as quickly to iOS device as AirPods do and those with newer iPhones can use Precision Finding to see when they're close to their lost items. From the Find My app, you can force the AirTag to play a chime to better direct you to your things, and if the item isn't anywhere near you, the app can show you its last known location. With Lost Mode enabled, you'll get an alert when Apple's network of devices detects the location of the AirTag in question, and you can choose to share your phone number and message — just in case someone else finds your stuff.

Aside from the fact that AirTags will only work with Apple devices — sorry Android fans — the biggest problem with them is their lack of a keyring hole. So unless you plan on sticking the tracker in the folds of a wallet or a backpack pocket, you'll need an AirTag holder to hook it onto your keys and other items. Thankfully, you don't need to drop more than the price of the tracker itself on one of Apple's own cases; there are plenty of solid, affordable third-party AirTag cases out there right now. Also, while an AirTag's battery should last for a year, it's wise to keep a couple of extra watch batteries on hand for when you inevitably need to replace it. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Spotify might have a much wider video podcast selection in the near future. In July last year, it debuted the video podcast format for select originals, but now it's opening up access to the option to more people who want to launch their own. Creators can now apply to have their video podcasts published on the streaming platform via Anchor, which is Spotify's podcast creation tool. 

The company says it's rolling out video podcasts on a rolling basis with a number of key creators, including existing podcasters who are expanding into video and video creators who want to reach a new audience. It's putting approved applicants in a waitlist, however, and giving them the power to make their videos available on the platform at a later date. Those who do get approved can upload episodes through their Anchor account, which will automatically be published on Spotify.

Since not all video creators will be signing $100 million deals with the company like Joe Rogan did, Spotify is giving them a way to earn from their shows. Creators in select markets will be able to monetize their podcasts through subscriptions, allowing them to share exclusive content with subscribers or to only make their shows available to paying customers altogether. 

Facebook Messenger's augmented reality effects are no longer limited to individuals. The social media company has introduced a Group Effects feature that, as the name implies, enables AR effects for everyone in a video call. Some of the 70-plus effects are just for giggles (such as giving everyone a beard), but others are shared experiences like games. You can compete to build a hamburger, if you're so inclined.

The feature is available today in both regular Messenger calls and Messenger Rooms, and should be "coming soon" to Instagram. If you have the option, you can tap the smiley icon in a group call to pick Group Effects.

The addition could help Facebook compete against Snapchat and others that have had AR games for a while. It might help Facebook shift its focus to the metaverse, for that matter. If nothing else, it's an acknowledgment that group video chat is still important even as the pandemic (hopefully) winds down. Shared AR may help you keep in touch with distant friends more effectively than basic face-to-face chats.

NVIDIA has unveiled its next-generation cloud gaming platform called GeForce Now RTX 3080 with "desktop-class latency" and 1440p gaming at up to 120 fps on PC or Mac. The service is powered by a new gaming supercomputer called the GeForce Now SuperPod and costs double the price of the current Priority tier.

The SuperPod is "the most powerful gaming supercomputer ever built," according to NVIDIA, delivering 39,200 TFLOPS, 11,477, 760 CUDA Cores and 8,960 CPU Cores. NVIDIA said it will provide an experience equivalent to 35 TFLOPs, or triple the Xbox Series X, roughly equal to a PC with an 8-core CPU, 28GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and a PCI-GEN4 SSD. 

NVIDIA

As such, you'll see 1440p gaming at up to 120fps on a Mac or PC, and even 4K HDR on a shield, though NVIDIA didn't mention the refresh rate for the latter. It'll also support 120 fps on mobile, "supporting next-gen 120Hz displays," the company said. By comparison, the GeForce Now Priority tier is limited to 1080p at 60 fps, with adaptive VSync available in the latest update.

It's also promising a "click-to-pixel" latency down to 56 milliseconds, thanks to tricks like adaptive sync that reduces buffering, supposedly beating other services and even local, dedicated PCs. However, that's based on a 15 millisecond round trip delay (RTD) to the GeForce Now data center, something that obviously depends on your internet provider and where you're located. 

NVIDIA's claims aside, it's clearly a speed upgrade over the current GeForce Priority tier, whether you're on a mobile device or PC. There's a price to pay for that speed, though. The GeForce Now premium tier started at $50 per year and recently doubled to $100, which is already a pretty big ask. But the RTX 3080 tier is $100 for six months (around double the price) "in limited quantities," with Founders and priority early access starting today. If it lives up to the claims, it's cheaper than buying a new PC, in any case. 

In a few short years, the cost of 5G access has dropped dramatically. What used to be a feature you could only find on premium devices like the Samsung S10 5G has made its way to phones as affordable as the $449 Pixel 5a. But we haven’t seen that trend play out the same way in the tablet space. For the most part, you still either have to pay a premium or forgo the feature altogether. Enter the TCL Tab Pro 5G, a new $400 tablet that’s exclusive to Verizon and comes with n260 and n261 mmWave support.

Outside of the fact it can connect to a 5G network, the most intriguing aspect of the Tab Pro 5G is that it comes with an 8,000mAh battery. With TCL’s On-the-Go reverse charging, you can use the tablet as an impromptu power bank for your other devices. Powering the Tab Pro 5G alone, TCL claims you can expect about 17 hours of mixed-use battery life. Using the included 18W power adapter, it takes about four hours to charge the device to full.

TCL

Otherwise, the Tab Pro 5G is about what you would expect when it comes to a $400 tablet. Internally, it features a Qualcomm 480 5G chip, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. You can add up to 1TB of additional space through a micro SD card. The 10.36-inch 1,200 x 2,000 resolution display is limited to 60Hz but includes TCL’s NXTVISION technology, which allows it to convert an SDR video into an HDR one. For taking photos, it comes with a 13-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel selfie shooter.

The Tab Pro 5G is available to buy today from Verizon. If you purchase online, you can save $100 on the tablet through the carrier’s Buy More, Save More Promo — but that means also buying an eligible Android phone.

Microsoft isn’t giving up on its dual-screen dreams. The company is back this year with a new Surface Duo that looks like it might fix some of the original’s flaws. Instead of a finicky and low-quality camera, the Duo 2 packs a triple-sensor system on its rear, in addition to a selfie shooter inside. The device also has a narrower overall footprint, faster-refreshing screens and some updated software. There’s also support for Microsoft’s Slim Pen 2, which should make drawing and taking notes a more intuitive experience.

But despite having addressed many of the previous generation’s issues and adding some useful features, the Duo 2 remains a frustrating device. And at $1,500, it’s still a pricey product with a niche, limited appeal.

Hardware and design changes

By now, you’re probably familiar with the Duo’s proposition. The second generation features a pair of 5.8-inch screens connected by a hinge. It’s also running Android 11 this year, with some tweaks to improve multi-display use. Combined, the two panels offer an 8.3-inch canvas, which is slightly bigger than before. You can flip one screen all the way around to use the Duo 2 in a phone-like single-screen state, use one side as a stand to prop up the other half or have both displays facing you like a book or tablet.

Like the original, this thing is an attractive piece of hardware with an impressively thin profile and a sleek silhouette. The Duo 2 is a bit heavier than its predecessor, and even heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and I’d chalk most of that gain up to its camera module. Despite the chunky protrusion on the back of the right screen, though, the Duo 2 is evenly weighted and felt balanced when open.

David Imel for Engadget

My main concern when I first saw the camera bump was that two sides would no longer lay flush against each other when opened all the way up. But the bump was surprisingly unobtrusive, and while I didn’t mind using the Duo 2 as a single-screen device, it’s still a bit too wide to replace my phone, especially for one-handed use. Though the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is heavy and its screen is a little too narrow and cramped, it still offers a better experience in this mode.

When the panels are back-to-back, the system will keep the last screen you used active, while the other shows a message saying you can double tap it to switch over. It’s basically two phones sandwiching a camera and you can use one side at a time. You’ll notice odd aspect ratio issues here and there, thanks to the uncommon 1,892 x 1,344 resolution, but for the most part apps expand to cover the whole screen nicely if you enable the automatic span setting. It even worked with the notoriously finicky Instagram, except… photo captions would overflow into the edges and get eaten up, and Stories still had blank space flanking them. 

I did appreciate the 90Hz refresh rate when scrolling through my social feeds. The AMOLED panels are lovely, delivering crisp and colorful image and video quality. I do wish they got a bit brighter, though, since they’re about 200 nits dimmer than the iPhone 13 series.

When closed, the Duo 2 is basically useless since, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 3, it doesn’t have an “external” screen. If you want to read your notifications while the device is laying on a table, you’ll need to leave it open or with one display facing out.

David Imel for Engadget

But Microsoft tries to offer you at least barebones notifications while the Duo 2 is closed via the new Glance Bar. The inside edges of the screens are curved slightly so you can see a little bit of the display through the hinge. When the Glance Bar is enabled, you can see the clock and other system info on this tiny sliver, and it’ll light up in different colors when you have incoming calls or messages. It actually drew my attention to the fact that the Duo 2 didn’t charge overnight by glowing red to indicate the battery was low.

While the Glance Bar is somewhat helpful, it’s also super tiny, which means you need to have Superman’s eyesight to see the clock from more than, say, a few inches away, which basically defeats the purpose. Plus, the Glance Bar works with just first-party apps for now, which means you’ll only get alerted to text messages and phone calls. Oh, and Teams calls, in case you’re that wired into Microsoft’s ecosystem.

The best uses for the Duo 2’s dual-screens

You can also use the Duo 2 in a few other modes (or “postures” as Microsoft calls them), thanks to the hinge, which is sturdy and smooth. It’s easy to open without too much force, yet strong enough to prop up one screen without it budging. Perhaps the best way to use the Duo 2 is in Book and Tent modes, the latter of which is wonderful for playing games while seated at a desk. It’s also handy for keeping an eye on Twitter or a YouTube live chat while working on my laptop.

David Imel for Engadget

Then, when you’re ready to turn your attention to something more intensive, switch over to Book mode and hold the Duo 2 up with both displays facing you. This can be very immersive on any device, and I had a similar feeling with the Z Fold 3. It’s not ideal for idle doomscrolling while you watch TV or firing off a quick reply to your group chats, though. When you have both screens on they basically demand you be actively engaged — whether it’s reading a book, or building a shopping list on one side while looking at recipes on the other.

The Duo 2 is satisfying in this mode if you’re holding it vertically. Flip to landscape orientation and the entire UI just struggles to keep up, especially if you’re using swipe-based navigation instead of choosing the older Android home screen, with back and recent buttons. In general, the Duo 2 feels a little clumsy when held horizontally.

Software quirks remain

I want to commend Microsoft for all the work it’s done to improve the Duo 2’s software. Compared to the hot mess of last year’s model, the system feels a little more cohesive. Part of that has to do with better support for multi-screen devices in Android 11. But quirks still remain and they’re still too numerous for me to list individually, so I’m just going to give you a few examples.

Like I said before, the UI doesn’t know what to do with the swipe-based navigation and in landscape mode, the typical swipe up to go home gesture doesn’t work. Instead, you’ll have to swipe in from the right to either go home or see all apps. To go back, you can only swipe from the left — bad news for anyone who preferred it the other way.

David Imel for Engadget

Also, trying to type in this mode is still a pain — you’ll lose more than two thirds of the screen to the keyboard (and a weird row of empty space at the bottom), so good luck trying to see what you composed.

Even in Book mode there are annoying quirks. There’s a pervasive touch input issue that other reviewers noted on the original Duo and it explains why I felt the Duo 2 is sluggish and finicky. Throughout the system, whether it’s trying to switch lenses in the camera or open the settings menu in a game, the system sometimes just doesn’t register a tap. I’d need to jab at it repeatedly for something to happen.

There are other issues too, but they happen inconsistently enough that I felt like the Duo 2 was gaslighting me. For example, the Microsoft Start app would randomly launch on the left screen when I had an app on the right. I promise you this wasn’t because I accidentally swiped over to the left to see the Start feed; This is a ghost app that appears on its own. There’s also that Instagram caption overflow problem I mentioned earlier that seemed to go away, but would reappear now and then.

Camera performance

The camera was one of the most frustrating parts of the original Duo, and I was hopeful that the second generation would be vastly improved. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. To be clear, the hardware is better. You get a triple camera system with a 12-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel telephoto lens and a 16-megapixel wide option with a 110-degree field of view. The selfie camera also got an upgrade, going from 11-megapixels to 12.

Photos taken by the Duo 2 are better. In general, pictures were rich and bright, with sharp details, though the camera struggled in low light. There’s a weird cast in some of the photos where the camera seemed to white balance the same scene differently in back-to-back shots, but that’s a minor issue that other phones face too. More disappointing is the front camera, which delivered noisy, pale shots of my friends and I, and has a tendency to overexpose everything.

The biggest problem is that the Duo 2’s camera app still sucks. I thought that with a dedicated rear and front camera setup, the system would no longer have to guess what screen you wanted to use as a viewfinder. But instead of letting users decide which cameras they want to use at any time, Microsoft limits when you can use the rear cameras. If you unfold the Duo 2 so that the screens are more than 180 degrees away from each other, Microsoft disables the triple-sensor module and you’re stuck with the selfie option. Presumably, this is to prevent you from accidentally capturing the back of the device, but it just takes away user control. Why should Microsoft lock you out of the superior camera option on the Duo 2 just because the screens are open a little more than 180 degrees?

David Imel for Engadget

The UI is also supposed to allow you to use the spare screen as a photo viewer, so you can see your shots right after snapping them, but this didn’t happen consistently. And in a 10-minute photo shoot, the app crashed at least three times, showing a generic error message. To top it all off, the camera fails to keep up with rapid-fire shooting, sometimes taking a few seconds to snap a picture and save it to your gallery (I suspect this delay has more to do with the UI trying to pull up the image on the other screen than an actual processor issue). Throw in the touch input lag I mentioned earlier and the entire camera experience is a disaster. It’s as if Microsoft never bothered to test the camera at all.

Performance and battery life

Beyond the software quirks, the Duo 2’s high-end Snapdragon 888 chipset actually seemed to struggle at times. When I played a few rounds of Airplane Chefs in one-screen mode, the device ran hot and then completely stalled, leaving me unable to serve food to impatient passengers. This doesn’t just occur when I have the two screens flipped all the way around, either. On the whole, the area under the camera module tends to get warm. But when the Duo 2’s sides are stuck back to back, it seems to keep the heat from dissipating quickly enough.

Then there’s the countless number of times apps have just died on me. I handed the Duo 2 off to a friend with OneNote on the right screen, so they could try the keyboard. It refused to pull up the keyboard and shortly after stopped registering any touches. We closed and opened the device and the app still wasn’t working. Only a force quit revived OneNote. Oh and sometimes when I was using just one screen in landscape mode, a screenshot would capture the home screen instead of the app I was using on it.

David Imel for Engadget

The one thing I’m impressed with is that the Duo 2’s battery life isn’t any worse than before — which is a very low bar. This year’s model clocked 10 hours and 16 minutes with our video rundown test playing on one screen and the Android home page on the other. The original Duo came in at 10 hours and 32 minutes, and considering the faster screens, that seems fair. For what it’s worth, the Fold 3, which has a 120Hz panel, lasted 14 hours and 3 minutes.

Wrap-up

I could go on about all the little ways the Duo 2 struggles, but that would take forever. Some of them are minor and just require a little adjusting, while others, like the camera app, are downright unforgivable. Things Microsoft introduced to improve the experience, like the triple rear cameras and Glance bar, are only slight improvements. I appreciate the faster screens, but at this price they’re almost a given. I haven’t been able to test the Slim Pen 2, but it’s worth noting you’ll have to pay an extra $130 for it.

Like the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the Duo 2 is suffering a sort of identity crisis. Neither device works well as a phone replacement, but at least Samsung’s foldable has reliable software and good cameras. Despite the improvements, the Duo 2 is still a kind of gimmicky device that’s costly to boot and only people with $1,500 to burn and who really need a dual-screen phone should buy it.

Photos by David Imel (@DurvidImel)