Can dual-screens be better than one? The answer is yes, but Microsoft has some work to do before Surface Duo is ready for the masses.

To suggest Microsoft's Surface Duo is audacious would be an understatement. The costly $1,400 device delivers a new vision in mobile computing, now six years in the making. It is as much scientific experiment as science fiction — a radical rethinking of what phones could be in a technophilic world focused on data instead of voice calls.

This first-gen release is an important milestone for Microsoft, and the theory behind Surface Duo is mostly solid; that's the good news. But most people should also hold off on getting one until its software can mature.