Category: Uncategorized

id=”article-body” class=”row” section=”article-body” data-component=”trackCWV”>

The Surface Duo 2 has new rear cameras, 5G and a new processor, all arriving this fall.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2, announced today at the company’s , looks like it’s addressed a lot of the shortcomings: sometimes sluggish performance, one camera and a lack of 5G. Whether it can compete with the remains to be seen, but the Duo finally has 5G, , a faster processor and even a side display. The Duo 2 starts at $1,499 and is  with an Oct. 5 release date. Here’s what you need to know about Microsoft’s new Android phone and how it aims to compete. Will its ?

for all the ways it’s improved compared to the first Duo, more about all the , the new , , , and . 

Surface Duo 2 design: A new Glance Bar on the hinge

The Duo 2 looks the same, at first. It’s like a folding all-glass Moleskine book, with two separate screens connected by a hinge, as opposed to one continuous bendable display like the and . It folds back into a tent mode and can open up to see both screens at once, or link resmi MenangQQ flip back to use just one screen. Glass covers the front and back panels, just like before.

Get the CNET Windows Report newsletter

Get smarter with the latest Microsoft news, reviews and advice on Windows PCs. Delivered Wednesdays.

A new edge display along the hinge shows notifications now.

Microsoft

The dual 5.8-inch AMOLEDs are a bit larger than the 5.6-inch screens were. They open up to about 8.3 inches of total space, with 1,892×1,344-pixel resolution per display. The glass covering the displays is now Gorilla Glass Victus, which Microsoft promises will be more durable. Also, the displays are now slightly curved in at the hinge, which looks like it means less of a gap between displays and a more continuous look. The displays are 90Hz this time, too.

There’s one big new feature: A Glance Bar strip running down the side of the Duo 2’s hinge that can show battery life and notifications, sort of like edge displays other phones have had. Considering the folded-up Duo 2 doesn’t have an outer screen on the other side, this could be useful for incoming calls. 

The Glance Bar lights up when you’re receiving a phone call, and you can also press the Surface Duo’s side button to see whether you have any notifications. You’ll definitely have to unfold the phone to see any meaningful information. But the Glance Bar seems to deliver exactly what its name implies: a glanceable view of what you might be missing while your phone is closed. 

Now playing:

Watch this:

Surface Duo 2: Microsoft’s two-screen wonder gets another…

5:45

Microsoft beefs up the Surface Duo’s processor and storage

The Duo 2 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor this time, just like the Z Fold 3. The step-up from the last Duo’s Snapdragon 855 chip should help the phone seem more fluid than the original, which felt laggy. The phone runs Android, similar to before, with Microsoft’s own custom apps and some interface touches in the OS that are optimized for these specific displays and the Pen stylus. The storage options range from 128GB to 512GB, and there’s 8GB of RAM on the Duo 2. 

During my brief hands-on with the device, the Surface Duo 2’s performance mostly felt snappy. The software generally kept up with my movements as I switched orientations and shifted between tent mode, the laptop-like position shown below, and one-handed mode. There were a few instances in which there was a slight pause before the software adjusted to the phone’s new position. But we haven’t spent enough time with the Surface Duo 2 to know what its consistent performance is like.

The Surface Duo 2 seems well-positioned as a handheld gaming device, so long as developers continue to optimize their titles for it. One of the first supported games is Gameloft’s Asphalt 9 racing game, which felt smooth and fast on the Surface Duo 2 during my brief time with it. 

You can hold the Surface Duo 2 sideways and dedicate the entire top screen to gameplay, similar to a Nintendo 3DS. The bottom screen becomes a touchscreen controller and displays other useful elements like the game’s map. That certainly seems like a compelling proposition for those who play a lot of mobile games, but it also makes me wonder whether the Surface Duo 2 is still destined to be a niche device. Asphalt 9 is the only native Android game optimized for this experience that Microsoft is talking about today. But more than 50 games on Microsoft’s Xbox GamePass Ultimate streaming service also support similar controls. 

Microsoft’s new Pen magnetically charges and has vibrating haptics.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s Slim Pen 2 works with the Surface Duo 2

Microsoft’s still-stubby new looks interesting: It has vibrating haptics this time, which promise a more tactile feel when writing, and a “Zero-Force inking” feature that will write without needing to press on the display with the Pen tip. The new Pen charges magnetically with the Duo 2 when it’s in a Duo 2 charge case.

Surface Duo 2 gets triple rear cameras

There’s now an external camera on the Duo 2 — three of them, in fact: a f/1.7 12-megapixel telephoto lens, a f/2.4 12MP wide lens, and a third 16MP ultrawide camera, with optical image stabilization. There’s a night mode, portrait mode and HDR, and it can record up to 60 frames per second at 4K plus record slow-mo. It sounds like a complete package, especially considering the last Duo only had one inner camera. The cameras also have a time-of-flight sensor for helping with focus. 

The camera package sounds extremely promising, especially compared to the previous Duo’s lack of rear cameras. The camera app Microsoft has on the Duo 2 also lets one display work as a viewfinder while the other can show previous photos for comparison: This could be really helpful for trying to make a shot better.

The Surface Duo 2’s screens could also come in handy for those who frequently edit photos on their phones after shooting them. The two screens provide some separation between editing controls and the image itself — again giving you a better view without having to obscure parts of the image with your fingers as you tap.

The Duo 2’s inside camera looks similar to the previous model: It’s 12 megapixels. I’m curious about how well it will handle Zoom calls.

The dual-screen design is still largely the same, although the displays are slightly bigger.

Microsoft

5G comes to the Surface Duo, finally (NFC, too)

5G is now included in the Surface Duo, unlike last year’s LTE-equipped Duo. The phone supports mmWave and Sub-6 frequencies and also has Wi-Fi 6. The lack of 5G on last year’s Duo was one of its key missing features for a supposedly premium work phone. Also, onboard NFC (also missing from the original Duo) should help with tap-to-connect everyday uses.

Will Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 finally feel good to use?

The last Surface Duo didn’t win me over with its software nor did it feel easy to multitask on. I love the idea of what it represents, but will Microsoft have the software better polished and optimized this time around? The hardware seems totally refreshed and very much ready to compete with other premium devices. The next part is nailing the execution of it all and showing us why we need a two-screen phone in the first place. 

There’s potential in the Surface Duo 2, especially for gamers, photographers and those who love to watch video or read on their mobile device. But we’ll have to see if Microsoft can deliver that experience without the compromises of its predecessor.

See also

id=”article-body” class=”row” section=”article-body” data-component=”trackCWV”>

Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No.

Sunset Boulevard / Contributor

There have been 26  movies in total over the course of an incredible six decades. , the final one to star  as 007, hits theaters later this year

James Bond has quite a legacy, and while the legendary secret agent franchise has brought us countless thrills, it’s had some dud moments, too. So what’s the best ? Glad you asked. We’ve got answers.

While you’re waiting for No Time to Die, you can satisfy your by revisiting the , from ‘s debut in in 1962 all the way to Craig’s most recent outing, . It’ll be a fun look back, seeing how Eon Productions made the superspy an emblem of the times, an avatar of style and a , with six different actors taking their turn as Bond.

Get the CNET Culture newsletter

Explore movies, games, superheroes and more with CNET Culture. Delivered Tuesdays and Fridays.

See also:

The latest plot twist for the long-running Bond franchise: In May, tech titan , the venerable Hollywood studio that oversees the 007 movies.

If you don’t know where to start with the Bond films, be sure to check out our .

Or you can check out the movie rankings below, from worst to best. It’s based on an , specific to when the movies came out, as compiled by CNET sister site Metacritic. The list accounts for every theatrical release, not just the 24 from Eon Productions but also two noncanonical entries — the 1967 version of Casino Royale, a trippy turn with multiple actors playing Bond (David Niven chief among them), and 1983’s Never Say Never Again, with Connery in his second comeback.

See also: 

It doesn’t, however, include the 1954 version of Casino Royale, a 50-minute TV playhouse production that introduced Ian Fleming’s hero to the world as “Jimmy” Bond, an American secret agent. You can find that on YouTube, if you’re curious. 

Otherwise, we’ve got the whole litany of actors who’ve played Bond in the official franchise — besides Connery and Craig, that’s , , Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.

.subtext-iframemax-width:540px;iframe#subtext_embedwidth:1px;min-width:100%;min-height:256px;James Bond movies ranked, from worst to best

26. A View to a Kill

Keith Hamshere/Getty Images

According to the critical consensus, Roger Moore isn’t just the star of the worst James Bond movie — — he’s the star of the worst James Bond movies, period. When combined and averaged, his 007 films produce a franchise-low Metascore of 53.7.

was Moore’s seventh and final 007 movie. His co-stars included Christopher Walken as gleefully murderous villain Max Zorin and Grace Jones as Bond baddie (and eventual ally) May Day. The plot that Bond has to foil: Zorin’s scheme to destroy Silicon Valley so he can control the market for computer chips.

“The James Bond series has had its bummers, but nothing before in the class of this one,” Pauline Kael wrote for The New Yorker.

Metascore:

25. The Man With the Golden Gun

MGM

As far as critics are concerned, , Moore’s second outing as 007, is another bottom-dweller in the James Bond franchise. “If you enjoyed the early Bond films as much as I did, you’d better skip this one,” Nora Sayre wrote in The New York Times.

, featuring Christopher Lee as the Bond villain and rival marksman Scaramanga and eventual Fantasy Island star Herve Villechaize as his henchman Nick Nack, grossed $97.6 million worldwide, the weakest box-office performance by any of the Roger Moore 007 films.

Metascore:

24. Casino Royale (1967)

LMPC / Getty Images

features a multitude of actors as James Bond. But more 007s do not make things merrier — or better. Variety called this version of Casino Royale “a film of astounding sloppiness” and “an insult to the Bond name.” 

This is one of the two noncanonical, non-Eon films in our rundown. (And for Bond completists — sorry, we’re not including the 1954 television production of Casino Royale, which portrayed our hero as Jimmy Bond, and an American to boot.)

, featuring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Orson Welles, grossed a Bond-worst $41.7 million worldwide.

Metascore:

23. Tomorrow Never Dies

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

The first of the four Pierce Brosnan Bond movies in this list gets credit for giving Michelle Yeoh an early Hollywood showcase — but for little else. According to Salon’s Charles Taylor, “scores zero in suspense, wit or class.”

When averaged, Brosnan’s four James Bond movies post a 57.5 Metascore, the second-lowest among 007 actors who have starred in at least four movies. 

At the box office, , featuring Jonathan Pryce as villain Elliot Carver, grossed $339.5 million worldwide. That’s on par with, but on the low end of, the other films of the Brosnan era.

Metascore:

22. For Your Eyes Only

MGM

Critics are kinder, if still cool, to Roger Moore’s fifth 007 adventure. In the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Roger Ebert wrote that “is a competent James Bond thriller …[b]ut it’s no more than that.”

Aside from its reviews, is a success of the Roger Moore era: It earned an Oscar nomination for its Sheena Easton-crooned title song, and it grossed $195.3 million worldwide — the second-best box office showing for a Moore installment. 

Metascore:

20 (tie). The Spy Who Loved Me

LMPC/Getty Images

Nominated for a franchise-best three Oscars, nonetheless rated mixed reviews from critics. “After the opening sequence,” Newsweek’s Maureen Orth wrote, “much of the action in The Spy Who Loved Me … is somewhat downhill.”

, featuring the first of two franchise appearances by Richard Kiel as the villainous Jaws, grossed $185.4 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest box office hits of its release year.   

Metascore:

20 (tie). Live and Let Die

MGM

Roger Moore’s first James Bond movie is, well, another middling effort — at least per the critics. In retrospect, may have suffered by comparison with the just-concluded Sean Connery era.

“[E]ven the art direction — long the Bond films’ real secret weapon — seems to have fallen to a shrunken budget,” the Chicago Reader’s Dave Kehr wrote. “Not much fun.”

At the box office, , co-starring Geoffrey Holder as the voodoo-practicing henchman Baron Samedi and Yaphet Kotto as head bad guy Katanga/Mr. Big, and featuring the hit title song by Paul McCartney’s Wings, was a big step up from the Sean Connery film that preceded it, Diamonds Are Forever. Live and Let Die grossed $161.8 million worldwide.

Metascore:

19. Die Another Day

MGM

The final Pierce Brosnan James Bond film may have introduced the invisible car, but critics think of  as a retread, not an innovator. “Surely it will not be giving things away to tell you there’s absolutely nothing new about the latest episode,” Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post.

Co-starring then-reigning Oscar winner Halle Berry as Bond girl Jinx Johnson, with Monty Python’s John Cleese as Q, and featuring the hit title track by Madonna, grossed more money than any other Pierce Brosnan 007 film: $431.9 million worldwide.

Metascore: 

18. The World Is Not Enough

Keith Hamshere/Sygma/Getty Images

is the third Pierce Brosnan James Bond film. “This keeps one reasonably amused, titillated, and brain-dead for a little over two hours,” Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote in the Chicago Reader.

grossed a solid $361.7 million at the worldwide box office. It co-stars Robert Carlyle as the villain Renard, who feels no pain; Sophie Marceau as the strikingly conflicted Elektra King; and Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist. 

Metascore:

16 (tie). Licence to Kill

MGM

The second — and final — James Bond movie of the Timothy Dalton era gets good marks as an action movie, but not necessarily as a 007 movie. “James Bond might as well be any of a dozen movie cops,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Joe Pollack wrote of .

, featuring Robert Davi as the drug lord villain Sanchez, Carey Lowell as Bond girl Pam Bouvier and a young Benicio del Toro as a henchman, grossed $156.2 million worldwide — a big drop at the box office compared with Dalton’s debut 007 film.

Metascore:

16 (tie). Quantum of Solace

MGM

To date, is the worst-reviewed of the 007 Daniel Craig era. “Quantum of Solace may be explosive with images of fiery infernos,” Film Threat’s Jay Slater wrote, “but it’s convoluted and confusing.” 

On the whole, the Craig-led Bond films boast a Metascore average of 69.8, making his movies the second-best reviewed 007 movies of all time.

On one hand, , co-starring Mathieu Amalric as Bond villain Dominic Greene, is the fourth-biggest-grossing James Bond movie of all time, with $591.7 million in worldwide ticket sales. On the other hand, the film is the lowest-grossing James Bond film starring Daniel Craig. 

Metascore:

15. Diamonds Are Forever

MGM

The lowest-ranked Sean Connery film in this rundown is the Scotsman’s sixth Bond project — and the last one that the iconic star made before taking a 12-year 007 hiatus. According to critics, was evidence of a franchise in need of new blood. 

The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael called the film an “unimaginative Bond picture that is often noisy when it means to be exciting.”

co-stars Charles Gray as arch-villain Blofeld and Jill St. John as Bond girl Tiffany Case, and features Putter Smith and Bruce Glover as the archly menacing Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, respectively. Among the Sean Connery 007 installments, the movie grossed a middling $116 million worldwide.

Metascore:

13 (tie). Spectre

MGM

, the most recently released James Bond movie, is “filled with big sets, big stunts, and what ought to be big moments,” Matt Zoller Seitz noted for RogerEbert.com, “but few of them land.”

co-stars Christoph Waltz in a new take on the old reliable Bond villain Blofeld, with Ralph Fiennes taking over as M, and like Skyfall, delves deeper into Bond’s origin story. It grossed a whopping $879.6 million worldwide, the second-biggest take for the franchise.

Metascore:

13 (tie). The Living Daylights

Keith Hamshere/Getty Images

This 1987 Timothy Dalton entry, the first of his two turns as James Bond, wins points from critics for not being a Roger Moore entry. “After the fizzle of the later Roger Moore Bonds,” Empire’s Kim Newman wrote, ” brings in a new 007 … who manages the Connery trick of seeming suave and tough at the same time.”

outgrossed its predecessor, Roger Moore’s A View to a Kill, by nearly $40 million, for a worldwide box office total of $191.2 million.

Metascore:

11 (tie). On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

This 1969 film, which marks , is a pretty good 007 entry, per critics. While the New Yorker’s Pauline Kael found its star “quite a dull fellow,” she called the movie “exciting.”

broke new ground: It featured a James Bond wedding, with Diana Rigg as 007’s feisty but ill-fated bride, Tracy di Vincenzo. At the box office, though, the film fell flat with an $82 million worldwide gross.

Metascore:

11 (tie). You Only Live Twice

Express Newspapers/Getty Images

marks Sean Connery’s fifth outing as James Bond. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert saw signs of wear: “Connery labors mightily,” Ebert wrote.

For a Sean Connery James Bond movie,  grossed a so-so $111.6 million worldwide. The film is nonetheless influential: Its cat-petting iteration of Blofeld (played by Donald Pleasence), complete with villain’s hideaway in a volcano, inspired the Austin Powers franchise’s Dr. Evil.  

Metascore:

10. Octopussy

MGM

According to critics, is Roger Moore’s second-best James Bond movie. “It soars, all right, but it does it on automatic pilot,” wrote Jay Scott for Toronto’s Globe and Mail.

, co-starring Maud Adams in her second franchise outing (after The Man with the Golden Gun), as the titular character, grossed a solid $187.5 million worldwide.

Metascore:

9. Thunderball

LMPC/Getty Images

According to critics, is a lesser Sean Connery 007 entry, but a worthy entry overall. “[It] still effortlessly plies the glory Bond years, concluding with a stunning underwater battle,” wrote Empire’s Kim Newman.

is the top-grossing Sean Connery 007 movie of the 1960s and 1970s: It took in $141.2 million in worldwide ticket sales. It also provided the template for Connery’s final James Bond outing nearly two decades later, Never Say Never Again.

Metascore:

8. GoldenEye

MGM

The is the best Pierce Brosnan Bond movie, per critics. “New Bond man Brosnan can’t be faulted for much,” Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post. “In this new venture, he’s appropriately handsome, British-accented and suave.”

featured Sean Bean as a double-0 agent turned bad guy, Famke Janssen as Bond girl Xenia Onatopp and Judi Dench in her first turn as Bond boss M. It grossed a then-huge $356.4 million worldwide. Pent-up demand may have helped: The 1995 film was the first James Bond movie since Timothy Dalton’s License to Kill, released six years prior.

Metascore:

7. Moonraker

MGM

Released in 1979, two years after Star Wars changed just about everything in Hollywood, the sees 007 sent to outer space. Critics non-ironically cheered. “Moonraker is a satisfying blend of familiar ingredients,”  wrote The Washington Post’s Gary Arnold.

, co-starring Lois Chiles as astronaut Holly Goodhead (yes, really), is the ninth-biggest-grossing James Bond movie of all time, with $210.3 million in worldwide ticket sales. 

Overall, Moonraker is the best-reviewed Bond movie of the Moore era. 

Metascore:

6. Never Say Never Again

Sheila Penn/Getty Images

The top-grossing Sean Connery Bond movie, this 1983 film is also one of the better-reviewed Bond movies. 

marked Connery’s final 007 appearance and, from a critical standpoint, seems to have benefited from having been released during the reviled tail end of the Roger Moore era. 

“It is good to see Connery’s grave stylishness in this role again,” Time’s Richard Schickel wrote. “It makes Bond’s cynicism and opportunism seem the product of genuine worldliness (and world weariness) as opposed to Roger Moore’s mere twirpishness.”

Despite the presence of Connery, who first embodied Bond on the big screen, this movie wasn’t from Eon Productions, making it the second of the two non-canonical films in our list.

Metascore:

5. Dr. No

Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images

, released in 1962 (though it didn’t arrive in the United States until 1963), is one of the best James Bond movies, per critics. “Sean Connery excellently puts over a cool, fearless, on-the-ball, fictional Secret Service guy,” Variety praised.

, featuring Ursula Andress as original Bond girl Honey Ryder (yes, really), was one of 1963’s Top 10 box-office hits. It grossed $59.6 million worldwide.

Metascore:

4. Casino Royale

MGM

The first Daniel Craig James Bond movie, blew away critics with its new take on the spy saga. “[Craig’s] Bond is at least the equal of the best ones before him, and beats all of them in sheer intensity,” The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern raved.

The opening minutes of the film reveal how Bond earned his double-0 rating, and for fans of the Ian Fleming novels, it manages to both stay true to the 1953 book and adapt that story for login MenangQQ audiences a half-century later.

The 2006 film grossed a then-franchise-best $594.4 million worldwide. 

Metascore:

3. Skyfall

MGM

The top-grossing James Bond movie to date, with a worldwide take of more than $1.1 billion, this 2012 film is, according to critics, the best Daniel Craig 007 movie — and that’s not all.  

” is one of the best Bonds in the 50-year history of moviedom’s most successful franchise,” James Adams wrote in Toronto’s Globe and Mail.

The film won the series’ first two Oscars since 1964’s Goldfinger; it claimed statuettes for sound editing and for Adele’s title song. 

Metascore:

2. From Russia With Love

LMPC via Getty Images

The second James Bond movie is, per the critical consensus, the second-best James Bond movie ever. The New Yorker’s fabled Pauline Kael praised : “Exciting, handsomely staged, and campy.”

, featuring Lotte Lenya as Bond baddie Rosa Klebb and Robert Shaw as the SPECTRE assassin gunning for Bond, grossed $78.9 million worldwide, a take that represented significant growth over Dr. No, and firmly established 007 as a franchise to watch.

Metascore:

1. Goldfinger

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Here it is: This 1964 Sean Connery entry is, per the critical consensus, the best James Bond movie. It had all the elements we’ve come to expect: the megalomaniac villain with an outrageous and murderous scheme, the henchman with a quirky method for killing (Oddjob and his hat), big set pieces with extravagant action, Bond in a dinner jacket.

“Larger than life, faintly ridiculous, completely cool, Goldfinger is the quintessential James Bond movie,” Empire’s Ian Freer wrote.

The film grossed a then-franchise-best $124.9 million worldwide, and won the franchise’s first Oscar (for sound effects). 

Metascore:

James Bond movies in chronological order

In the official Bond canon — the films made by Eon Productions — there are 25 films, including the upcoming No Time to Die. Because of licensing issues, there were two other, non-canonical movies: the 1967 version of Casino Royale, and Sean Connery’s final outing, 1983’s Never Say Never Again.

Sean Connery (1962) (1963) (1964) (1965) (1967)David Niven, among others

(1967)

George Lazenby (1969)Sean Connery, first comeback

(1971) Roger Moore (1973) (1974) (1977) (1979) (1981)Sean Connery, second comeback

(1983)

Roger Moore, still on his run

(1983) (1985)Timothy Dalton (1987) (1989)Pierce Brosnan (1995) (1997) (1999) (2002)Daniel Craig (2006) (2008) (2012) (2015) (2021)