By the time the trip was over, I didn’t want to go back. 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. 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. 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.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
