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I have been waiting for this. This is the iPhone Duo. It's Apple's first go at affordable. And people say Apple take their time to do something. In this case, it was 8 years. But when they do it, they do it right. So maybe Apple perfected the fold. But I'm not sure that the iPhone is a great example of that because I think this thing is a little bit of a mess. This video is sponsored by Bury. I've been using the Duo for a few days and it might be the biggest learning curve I've ever had with using a new phone. Going back in history when I first started using the Galaxy Fold or any other fold for that matter, it felt
natural and everything felt like it was in the right place. But you know, Apple, they always want to throw a curveball of some sort. And even with the Duo, they did it with like the volume buttons. They're on the top of the phone. And I mean, call me a traditionalist, but I feel like those buttons should always be on the side. Those volume buttons only make sense when holding this phone in what I'm going to call book mode, which is like portrait mode. But other than that, it's very awkward and clunky. It makes it the most two-handed, one-handed phone that I've ever used. This learning curve even goes over to something like the camera control button. And I know a
lot of people don't like this, but I use it all the time on an iPhone to open the camera. But because of the fold, I feel like I'm always kind of getting my finger in between the gap or I'm pressing the wrong side of the phone. And the camera control button, it feels just a little bit low for me. And Touch ID, I don't ever remember it being this bad or slow. I'm going to see if I can show you the difference between the Duo and the ZFold 8. With the Duo, what you have to do is you have to rest your finger for like a second and then it opens up. But on the ZFold 8, all you have to do is rest your finger for maybe Oh, it's already open. That's how quick it is. Hang on. Let me try you again.
So, all you have to do every time I keep trying to show you this, it keeps unlocking. So, let's see if I can do this quickly on there and open. Unlock. Like, that's not even a second, is it? And you might see in this video that I've got an Apple Watch on. And trust me, I don't usually wear this, but I feel like an Apple Watch is almost a necessity because Face ID is missing on the iPhone to help it unlock quicker. I also think this phone is heavy. There's a 54 g difference between this and the ZFold 8. So, it means that every time I try and onehand it, I honestly feel like I'm just going to drop it and smash it
on the floor. But luckily, I have a case on this. So, if I do drop it, then I think it should be okay. This is where today's video sponsor, Bury, comes in because they sent over the case for the iPhone. The first thing that I like and noticed is that they actually have included hinge protection for the Duo. This is probably the one part of a folding phone that you might be most worried about damaging. So, if you drop it, you know, with this Burpee case, it's protected. With this case, you also get a built-in privacy screen protector. There's Mag Safe support, which is always great. And one of my favorite parts is that there is a hidden kickstand. This is great for when you want to watch content because
you can prop the phone up in two different orientations. So, landscape and portrait, which makes watching anything on this bigger display a lot more convenient. Now, does putting a case on an already heavy folding phone make it heavier? Yeah, it does a little bit, but when you spent that much money on a phone, I think having the extra protection makes a lot of sense. So, if you do want to check out this case, I'll leave a link to Bury in the description below. Something else that weirdly just doesn't feel that natural on the Duo is the software. Like, what is going on here? So far, I think this has made the Duo much harder than it needs to be. There are so many apps right now that don't
take advantage of that cover display or even the tablet display. It's so hit and miss. Some are optimized for the Duo and then they look great. Some are only optimized for iOS 27, so they don't look so great. And then you have some that are not optimized at all and they look awful. I know a few of you might say, "Oh, it's only been a week. Give Apple and the developers a little bit of time to catch up with the Duo." And I kind of get that. But at the moment, even big names like Spotify don't take advantage of the screen. I mean, look at that. You have that big black bar down the side there, and it just looks horrible. And it's not just those third party apps as well. You even have
Apple's first party apps like the Apple Store, which is not optimized. Look at that. I mean, if Apple can't even optimize their apps for their own phone, how can you expect the developers to be doing it as well? And then when the phone's open, this is also a bit of a mess depending what app you're using. It's like a dance of zooming into and flipping around apps for them to still not fit the display. It feels like the most beta final software of a phone that I've seen in a very long time. The ZFold 8 is a good example of apps working properly. On Android at the moment, what they're doing is they're scaling properly for that cover display and that folder display. On the iPhone, there is
just so many different variations of what is optimized and what isn't. And at the moment, it's a little bit of a mess. Something that I think just doesn't work very well is the dock on the right hand side. Like, in theory, this should be really good. When I first saw it on people's hands-on, I was like, duh, this makes sense. Like, it's on the right hand side of the phone. It's where your hand sits, so you should be able to get to everything you need very quickly. and easily. But it's not quite as simple as that. When you're using the Duo, you have to swipe home to get to that dock. You can't swipe it up and swipe it in like you can on almost any other foldable to get to what you want. You
can only sit four icons in the dock, even when the phone is open. You can't add anything else to it. I think that this is a good idea that's not executed very well. But it does move me on to one of my favorite parts of foldables and the biggest positive of having one, which is multitasking. to look at the ZFold 8 for a second. I can have three apps open at once and a floating window and pretty much anything that I need to do I can get done on one screen. The problem is though that it can get a little bit too much, a little messy. So, I tend to only have two apps open at once, which is exactly what the Duo can do. So, I have no complaints here. And I actually really like having two separate
home screens side by side. This is great. It just lacks a little bit of something. And you can't resize those windows either. It's 50/50. You can only multitask in landscape. And there's no saving two apps that you have open as an app pair, which you can do on almost any other foldable. And it's also another good example of Apple just not taking advantage of that bigger display for multitasking. When you're inside Gmail or even Apple's own mail app, when you click a link, it takes you into a whole new Safari window. On any other foldable that I use, it splits the screen to keep you inside that email. And I just think that is the way you need to do it. I know we're talking first gen
foldable here from Apple, but foldables, they're not new. I mean, even Apple have had the iPad to show them how to do multitasking, but they're not really bringing it over to the iPhone Duo. And I think sometimes you just need to look at what Android do and say, you know what, we're just going to copy that because that is the right way to do it. And I think when you're spending $2,000 on a phone, you need to make sure you get the best software experience on day one. So far, I think I've been a little bit too doom and gloom on the Duo because there are things I think that this does way better than some Android folds. One of the things is the lack of reflections and the lack of shine on that display. I
mean, that is something just to hurt Marvel at. This is so good. It's very good at hiding that crease, which is definitely still there in certain angle. And secondly, it removes any of those reflections when watching movies. Yes, it definitely makes the colors a little bit dimmer, but I would rather have that than fight with a reflection on a plane or something. And this is Apple doing something right. I'm not sure why no one else has done this on a fold before. I mean, I'm sure we're going to see it come to other folds fairly soon, but I mean, this is something I've got to give props to Apple for because it's actually like a genius idea. I'm also so glad that Apple went down the route of hiding
that inner selfie camera. It makes the camera look like absolute trash. But that uninterrupted matte panel thrives from it and it looks better than almost any other foldable that I've used. And Samsung, I really think you dropped the ball getting rid of this one. Like you had it in your hand and you let it go. There's even more credit to give to Apple as well because the Duo is in a handful of folding phones that has an IP68 rating. Although the dust, I would be careful with that because I've seen Zach's videos and this can get a lot of sand in the hinge. Battery life as well on this is surprisingly good. I know the battery is a little bit bigger than the one on the ZFold 8. And I wouldn't say
it's dramatically better than the battery on the ZFold 8 either. And I've not pushed this in any meaningful way yet. I mean, next week is the first week I'm going to travel and take this thing with me. But I mean, every single day, I don't think I've seen it hit 20% yet, so it's pretty solid. I suppose the question is because Apple waited so long to join the folding family, did they perfect it? And I don't think so. The software, as I'm recording this, is very hit and miss. The hardware, I mean, that's a learning curve in itself. The phone is heavy. And I've seen some reports online of the display having a few problems, just like the original Galaxy Fold. I also think that Apple are letting themselves down just a little bit with its cameras. And
I don't mean quality cuz I'm recording this on the Duo and it actually doesn't look too bad at all. and you get the cameras you expect, a wide and an ultra wide, even though I think you should always have a telephoto as the second camera, but that's a whole other issue. But I mean, in the photos app, you can't take raw photos at the moment. And you also can't do log video recording. Do I use any of those that often on my ZFold 8? No, I don't. But I like that they're there. And I think that when you charge $2,000 for a foldable that's arguably running the best processor you can get in a phone, is it the bare minimum to have RAW and have log video recording? I think so. I feel like I've praised the
iPhone for what it's good at. And Apple have done some very Apple things. You get Apple Pencil support. There's standby mode, which I really like. And the opening animation is something that just doesn't get old. And the phone, it kind of feels like nothing that I've ever used before. But I still can't figure out whether that's in a good way or a bad way. And I am very open to the Duo being my folding phone of choice. My main phone is always going to be an Android. So it makes sense for my folding phone to be an Apple folding phone. But at the moment, I think that they just need to sort out their software and their bugs because it still is a little messy. And this might sound
like I'm talking with my Android headon, but I honestly think that Samsung is the king of the Wfold right now. Everything seems more polished. It's easier to use and just all round I think a better foldable. Even though Apple waited eight years to release their first fold, I still think they need to do better. Like a pun on do but for duo. You know what? You know what I'm talking about. But let me know in the comments if you bought an iPhone or what you just think of it cuz I'm so curious to what other Android fans think of Apple's first go at a folding phone. I think it's kind of good but also not kind of good at the same time. We'll have a chat in the comments. Before you head off, if you
can subscribe to the channel, then I would massively appreciate it. Thank you very much. And if you do that, then I will see you in the next one. See you later. This is like the heaviest the heaviest folding phone on earth compared to this one. You can kind of like this is floating away. This is so heavy. It's very heavy is what I'm trying to say.
