Adventures in DuoLand
Thank you @JoeS for "inspiring me" to give an early review.
TL&DR - It's a keeper (so long as I survive the 14 day return window).
GENERAL NOTE: This is NOT an iPhone outside and iPad Mini inside. It is another fork of iOS of something in between, and I fear we're in for a sloth-like five year progression to "near iPadOS" quality.
CONS:
No zoom lens.
Slippery without a case.
Disorienting design (where are the buttons; what does what?)
No FaceID.
Pencil support in OneNote SUCKS! (Thank you M$).
Office 365 is a shadow of iPad version, which shadows desktop.
No DEX-like desktop mode.
PROS:
Form factor 1 - LOVE the smaller closed form factor and front display.
Form factor 2 - The internal screen space is to die for.
Reading, videos, and almost all the Apple apps are fantastic.
Email attachments (especially PDF) are a joy to read/review/annotate.
Cameras (other than missing zoom) are as good as my 15 Pro Max.
"Duo" is great name because borrows much of the M$-Panay design for dual screen multi-tasking. This screen is not big enough for more and the screen ratios are the same as the outside screen.
THE ONENOTE FACTOR: Although it can go full screen inside, it is a PITA. You can't change ink colors or thickness - and M$ work-around is to tell you to open your desktop or iPad version, select the ink you want, force OneNote synch, then go back to your Duo and you'll see the new ink color (but to go back to your regular color start over - AND WORSE STILL, if you do keep an iPad and change inks and depth, your Duo ends up wherever you left off on the iPad). And you pretty much lose all other Pencil specific settings you had in the real versions.
SOOOO, using Apple Notes for now with locked Notes for client related matters AND I lose all the interconnectivity of Office.
THE RETURN WINDOW FACTOR: I'm sure you've seen all the noise and hand-wringing about Crackgate and Gapgate. I really feel this is far overblown and mine has been rock solid (knock on wood). Final decision, however, awaits day 13 because if anything develops I obviously need to return and not repair because the wait times for repairs/replacements is nearly as long as the line for becoming a new owner.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I know this looks like more Cons than Pros but that is a misperception. The PROS are far more valuable and fun than the cons, the hardware is beautiful, and makes this device a hard YES. I've always wanted a Galaxy Fold, now with iOS - I FINALLY GOT IT.
If you buy one, you'll need to have or get an Apple Watch because it bypasses Touch ID and opens your Duo nealry as fast as Face ID on my 15 Pro Max.
DO NOT BUY without AppleCare - repairs are OUTRAGEOUS.
Number 1 Priority for Duo 2 - minimum 3X optical zoom.
Number 2 Priority - kick M$ in the A$$ and upgrade Office 365
Number 3 Prioirty - knock the price back by $200-250 per SKU.