The iPhone Duo was a massive compromise in terms of photographic tech – that's what I thought, that's what everyone thought. So, logically, it follows that my photography was going to suffer.
Perhaps not. As I've been reviewing the iPhone Duo I've found my experience has been a lot more nuanced. In fact it's both delivered extra features that simply make life easier for every day photography, and actually started to push me in ways I wasn't expecting at all.
The second part of that is potentially the most interesting, especially as we live in an age where the analog deliberation of film is seeing a lot of positivity.
First, though, I'll get the bonuses that come in terms of tech out of the way. There are two, I think. The obvious one is the larger screen which can be used to compose photos and videos.
Because the inner screen is matt coated, it is soft, a little like a print preview, which is easy to like, and feels quite natural (even if you know deep down this is just Apple's way of hiding the crease – in fairness it works under most lighting).
The phone can also use its outer display at the same time so if you want your subject can participate in the experience. Despite looking amazing, my wife is prone to concern about her appearance and this has a bit of a negativity snowball; she is nervous about me taking photos, pulls a face, the photo looks bad and so on.
One use of this shared preview is that she can actually see the light and tell me if she's happy or not (also handy for me as she is a better portrait photographer than I).
Apple also have a quirky option for this display too – play cartoons to keep the kids attention – the future of 'Say Cheese!' is now.
Actually if you're enjoying a little street photography the device is a little more discrete when folded, too, than a Pro iPhone (especially those stand out orange or red ones), while the glossy outer preview screen has deep blacks so no complaints there from me.
Anyway you can read about these features in my review. The point here is that they have started to help on specific area of my photography – selfies with the wife – which were sadly lacking.
We can also let the AI decide the best moment to shoot and use the main camera for the selfies, which is, well, okay for now (here's hoping the software updates get better). Again definitely a benefit though.
The deliberation, though – the 'analog era' aspect – comes in small part from the fact that I've simply had to start developing new muscle memory because my phone is no longer essentially the same as it has been for more than a decade.
Work a bit slower and you think. Or I do. A bit.
The other aspect is that I do like to take telephoto photos and videos and now I can't do it without thinking from my phone, I'm going to have to use a camera, or at least another device more often.
For me that'll be a combination of my Sony A7 and A7iii – at least one of which often sits in the enormous backpack I like to keep with me – and a pocket camera. The Insta360 Lune Ultra is a great choice at the moment because of the Ultra Telephoto lens adapter that can give it up to 15x zoom – making up for my loss.
I am the kind of person who doesn't mind carrying a device the size of a DJI Pocket 4P or Insta360 Luna Ultra, so checking the best pocket gimbal cameras guide would be my next step after getting the iPhone Duo, and both can wirelessly transfer content to the phone. I'm still hoping that on-device editing will get the mini-iPad benefit soon too.
Finally, of course, the opportunity to review on-the-go on a decent screen is excellent, and even edit. That isn't something I've done a lot of yet – perhaps I'll want to do more when the Apple Pencil compatibility is fully up and running – but reviewing your work on the go can save time and make you think about your work more than firing off a lot of frames.
Ultimately I'm optimistic that the thought I'm being pushed into making, combined with the power of the A20 (and a bit of faith in app updates) is going to make life a good deal better.
I've already found my thought processes changing. Shooting fewer and better images. I wonder where it'll take me?
