I took two iPhones on vacation. The Duo won me over.

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“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

“我想我还是换回我原来的 iPhone 吧。”我承认，在带着新款 iPhone Duo 度过五天假期的过程中，我多次说过这句话。因为遇到了应用崩溃、手势不习惯（回归了 Touch ID，啊！），以及对摄像头的担忧，我不得不随身带着两部手机。但当假期结束时，我却不想换回去了。图片来源：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

当我第一次拆开苹果公司借给我的 Duo 时，我确实感到非常好奇。当我撕开工厂密封条并启动设备时，心中泛起了一丝期待。回想起来，这可能就是 Duo 最终会征服我的第一个信号。作为一名科技记者，多年来我收到过很多测试设备，所以遗憾的是，拆开装有新小工具的包装已不再像过去那样令人兴奋。但在 Duo 发货前的几天里，我发现自己真的很想要一台——我开始计算并比较升级方案，看看如何才能负担得起这台手机 2000 美元的售价。我开始在 TikTok 上刷 Duo 手机壳的评论。我犹豫不决，不仅是因为价格，还因为从 iPhone 17 Pro Max 换到 Duo 是一个巨大的改变。这两款手机截然不同。由于 Duo 到货时我正准备去度假，我决定把 17 Pro Max 也带上，作为一种安全保障。最终，尽管遇到了一些挫折，但在整个旅程中，我更多地使用了 Duo，并逐渐适应了它。图片来源：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

更换手机总会产生心理上的转换成本，尤其是从高端手机换到像 Duo 这样更具实验性的设备时。对于习惯了 iPhone 长期完善的技术和纤薄矩形外观的人来说，Duo 短小、粗壮且极其新颖的特性起初让人有些不适应。“我以前拥有的那些屏幕空间去哪了？”我感叹道。“这东西放进兜里舒服吗？”事实证明，它完全没问题。无论是前兜还是后兜，甚至戴着手机壳都可以。你可以把它放在后兜里坐下，实际上是在挤压它，但它并没有损坏。（我本想小心一点，但总是忘记，因为我习惯走路时把手机放在后兜里。我无数次坐在手机上。它显然没那么脆弱。）我还（不小心！）至少摔了三次手机。两次是从桌子高度摔落，还有一次是从床边被推下去。它摔的不是软地毯，而是水泥地、瓷砖和木地板。它也没有损坏，屏幕也没有裂开。我绝不会称这些为专业的跌落测试，但对于一个用手机比较笨拙的人来说，这确实让人松了一口气。图片来源：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. Though not Apple’s fault, the latter turned out to be my biggest annoyance software-wise, given that Search is one of my go-to apps especially when traveling. On vacation, I open the app repeatedly to look up points of interest, restaurant reviews, distances between towns, weather, and more. But Google’s app would just stop working, and tapping its back button did nothing. This seemed to be a problem specific to the Search app’s AI Mode, which these days you’re often dropped into without actually requesting it. (Even more reason to be annoyed by AI Search!) The workaround has been to force-close the app, so the next time you open it, your returned to the home screen with the search box. (It amazes me that, in a time when Google is facing a search decline because of AI, it wouldn’t have prioritized making its Search app functional on Apple’s latest device!) In addition, many of the early reviews pointed out how many apps were not updated or redesigned for Duo at launch, which meant they had a telltale black bar on the side, cramping the limited screen real estate when the phone is closed even further. This is true, but personally speaking, I didn’t think it was a dealbreaker for making a switch to the Duo. Image Credits:Pinterest screenshot

当然，我确实遇到了一些挫折。由于 Duo 的外屏较小，我不得不滚动更多次才能阅读短信；一些未优化的应用程序将关键功能隐藏在“更多”（三个点）菜单中，导致我需要费力寻找所需选项；而且，Google Search 应用程序多次出现死机。虽然这不是苹果的错，但后者成了我在软件方面最大的烦恼，因为搜索是我最常用的应用程序之一，尤其是在旅行时。度假期间，我反复打开该应用程序查找景点、餐厅评论、城镇间距离、天气等信息。但谷歌的应用程序经常停止工作，点击返回按钮也毫无反应。这似乎是搜索应用程序 AI 模式特有的问题，而如今你经常会在未经请求的情况下被自动带入该模式。（这更让我对 AI 搜索感到恼火！）目前的解决方法是强制关闭应用程序，这样下次打开时，它会回到带有搜索框的主屏幕。（令我惊讶的是，在谷歌因 AI 而面临搜索业务下滑的时期，它竟然没有优先考虑让其搜索应用程序在苹果的最新设备上正常运行！）此外，许多早期评论指出，发布时许多应用程序没有针对 Duo 进行更新或重新设计，这意味着它们在侧面有明显的黑条，在手机合上时进一步挤占了有限的屏幕空间。这是事实，但就我个人而言，我认为这并不是换用 Duo 的决定性障碍。图片来源：Pinterest 截图

For one thing, companies have been pushing out their Duo-optimized updates fairly quickly. Those that have not – and there are still more than a few! – continue to be usable. They’re just kind of … ugly. Google Maps was not Duo-optimized during the trip, yet I had no problem using it for driving directions, local search and discovery, route planning, and the like. If anything, the black-barred apps felt more like an aesthetic issue than a functional problem, even though they’re smaller than usual when the Duo is folded. I expect all the major apps will eventually update. As for the older apps that never do? Well, it’s probably time to move on from apps no longer being maintained, I’d say, particularly in an era when older software is being exploited left and right by AI-enabled hacking tools. However, I will agree with the other reviewers who complained about the lack of Face ID. This is the Duo’s biggest drawback – not the screen, not the camera, not the lack of an Action button for launching your preferred AI assistant. It’s Touch ID. Image Credits:Apple

首先，各公司推出 Duo 优化更新的速度相当快。那些尚未更新的——仍然有不少！——依然可以使用。它们只是有点……丑。在旅行期间，谷歌地图虽然没有针对 Duo 进行优化，但我使用它进行驾驶导航、本地搜索和发现、路线规划等操作时没有任何问题。如果说有什么影响的话，带黑条的应用程序更多是美观问题，而不是功能问题，尽管它们在 Duo 折叠时比平时更小。我预计所有主流应用程序最终都会更新。至于那些永远不会更新的旧应用程序呢？嗯，我想是时候放弃那些不再维护的应用程序了，尤其是在旧软件被 AI 驱动的黑客工具到处利用的时代。不过，我同意其他评论者的观点，他们抱怨缺乏 Face ID。这是 Duo 最大的缺点——不是屏幕，不是摄像头，也不是缺少用于启动首选 AI 助手的操作按钮。而是 Touch ID。图片来源：Apple

It is much easier to look at your phone than to fiddle around with finger presses. While I easily avoided the need to use Touch ID to unlock the device – I am almost always wearing an Apple Watch, which serves as an alternative authentication method – I often stumbled when it came to using apps and Apple Pay. Tap-and-pay is one of the areas where it’s immediately obvious how much smoother Face ID has made everyday tasks. Returning to Touch ID at the time of payment was cumbersome, given that you’re

看一眼手机比摆弄手指按压要容易得多。虽然我很容易避免使用 Touch ID 来解锁设备——我几乎总是戴着 Apple Watch，它可以作为一种替代的身份验证方法——但在使用应用程序和 Apple Pay 时，我经常会遇到麻烦。点击支付是 Face ID 让日常任务变得更加顺畅的领域之一，这一点显而易见。在支付时回到 Touch ID 是很麻烦的，因为你……