Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB Specifications, Tests and Review

Design of Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB has dimensions of 145.2 mm × 92.1 mm × 11 mm and weight of 284 g.

The screen size reaches 5.8" inches. With a large display, phone offers a great experience for watching videos, playing games and reading. The best phones today are 6.5'' or more. They have the advantage of a large display area that allows you to see more content than with conventional display sizes. Owing to OLED technology, the display offers a true representation of colours, especially black. The resulting contrast is significantly higher and colours appear more vivid. OLED technology is now part of most smartphones, while LCD displays are becoming a thing of the past in mobile phones. OLED displays also have lower power consumption compared to LCD technology.

Display Resolution of Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB is 1344 x 1892 pixels. A higher display resolution is a prerequisite for a sharper image. The standard for mid-range phones today is a Full HD resolution of 1920 × 1080 px. Cheaper phones, which usually have a smaller diagonal, have an HD resolution of 1280 × 720 px. Smaller resolutions can only be found in older models. Best phones, on the other hand, have a 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160 px. If you want a perfect picture, focus on pixel density in addition to resolution. This number indicates how sharp the image will be. Best phones today have a display fineness of 450 ppi or higher, but the today´s average is around 350-400 ppi. That should be enough for you to enjoy a fine and sharp image. This model has a pixel density of 401 ppi.

The refresh rate is 90 Hz. This value indicates how many times per second display shows new information. Previously, 60 Hz was considered the standard, but today the average frequency for mid-range phones is more like 90 Hz. Modern phones now reach frequencies of around 120 Hz and above. Higher frequencies mean a better user experience when browsing the internet and especially when playing games.

The processor type of the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB is Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G. The number of processor cores is 8. It is a number of cores that plays an important role in evaluating the performance of phone as it is responsible for computing operations. Smartphones already commonly have a core count of around 4 to 8. Multi-core processors can perform better and reduce the processing time of a request to a minimum, which is reflected in the responsiveness of the phone, e.g. in the speed of opening applications.

The phone is provided with an internal memory of 256 GB. Internal storage capacity is often a key parameter, as it determines how many files, photos, apps and more your phone can store. Best phones like this one have 256 GB to 1 TB of memory, which is already enough for even the most demanding geeks who use the phone to create videos, take high-resolution photos and play more demanding games. The downside is that with most phones, you'll have to pay extra for that kind of storage capacity. Fortunately, manufacturers nowadays think of all users and therefore offer phone models with different memory sizes so that everyone can choose what suits them.

Operating memory significantly affects the performance of the entire phone. Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB has an operating memory of LPDDR5 SDRAM - 8 GB. Phones with less than 4 GB of RAM are better suited for undemanding users who use phone more for basic needs and some essential applications only. But if you are a heavy user, reach for at least 6 to 8 GB of RAM, which is the standard today, or 12 GB for the really demanding ones.

The rear camera of the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB is equipped with 3 lenses. A larger number of lenses usually results in better quality photo, as each lens is designed differently: usually as a macro lens, telephoto lens or wide-angle lens. Macro lens is used for great close-ups, telephoto lens is designed for capturing objects in the distance as it often has an optical zoom, and wide-angle lens will take great landscape photos where you need a larger field of view. A high resolution lens alone does not necessarily mean high quality photos. The main lens in this has a resolution of 12 Megapixel. However, if you are looking for perfect photos, in addition to resolution, don't forget to focus on at other parameters such as lens aperture or pixel size. Pixel size is typically around 0.8-1.8 μm in better mobile phones. The higher the value, the better the quality of the resulting photo should be. In the case of main lens, the pixel size reaches 1.4 μm. Luminance is one of the main factors determining the quality of a photograph. Commonly today, this value ranges between F/1.8 and F/2.2. However, best photomobiles have an aperture of up to F/1.2. Value indicates how much light passes through the sensor and the lower it is, the better the quality of the photos. Main lens here is equipped with F/1.7.

Digital zoom in this case offers zooming up to 10x. Of course, the higher the lens value, the more distant object can be zoomed in. Nonetheless, the disadvantage of digital zoom is that the quality and sharpness of photo deteriorates when using it. An undeniable advantage is the optical image stabilisation, which makes image significantly more stable without any loss in quality. Cheaper phone models are equipped with electronic stabilisation, which has a negative effect on the resulting image quality.

Second camera
The second lens of rear camera is designed as Telephoto lens. The resolution reaches size of 12 Megapixel. Pixel size in this case is 1 μm. Furthermore, aperture of second lens reaches size of F/2.4.

Third camera
Lens number three represents the Ultra wide-angle lens. The lens achieves a field of view of up to 110 degree(s). The resolution of third lens is then 16 Megapixel. The pixel size that significantly affects quality of photo is 1 μm. Finally, the lens also features a lens aperture of F/2.2.

Front camera
The front camera of phone Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB has one lens. This number of lenses is standard on most smartphones nowadays. The resolution of main lens reaches 12 Megapixel. Again, it should be noted that resolution is not the only factor affecting the quality of the front camera photo. The pixel size itself is 1 μm. The aperture of main lens is F/2.0.

The battery size of Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB is 4449 mAh. Nevertheless, battery capacity is not the only factor that affects the phone's battery life. For example - the size of the display, the performance of the processor, the use of data functions and, of course, the intensity of use of phone in general all have a significant impact on battery life. Standard for most smartphones today is a battery capacity of around 4500 to 5000 mAH. Phones with this battery size usually guarantee a phone life of at least 1 day. Older or cheaper smartphone models can then reach battery capacities typically around 2500 mAH and below. With this capacity, you may find that if you use your phone heavily, you may need to recharge your phone during the day. The battery life when making calls is, like standby time, a figure that tells us how long the phone will last on a single charge when making continuous calls. For the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB it is 1680 minutes.

Microsoft Surface Duo 2 256 GB supports 5G. 4G connectivity is still common today, although the latest phones already have 5G connectivity. 3G connectivity is now more of a thing of past and can only be found on older models. The phone's operating system is Android 11.

The NFC function will please all fans of contactless mobile payments. In addition, you can also use function in the context of connectivity, for example, to unlock doors or load menus in restaurants. Bluetooth 5.1 makes it easy to connect your phone to other wireless devices such as headphones, speakers, TV or tablet and more.