It\u2019s hard to argue against. It really is a different phone. Its new form factor lets you actually use it in meaningfully different ways. The Duo can act like a vintage Hasselblad<\/a> with a waist-level viewfinder. It can be a book-shaped e-reader. And with this week\u2019s iOS 27.2 update<\/a> officially adding that Apple Pencil support, it can also be a notebook.<\/p>\n Notebooks are nice and help you express creativity. Phones are bad attention-stealing machines, or something.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the USB-C Apple Pencil, to be specific, so there\u2019s no pressure sensitivity. You do still get the ability to \u201cscribble\u201d handwriting that\u2019s automatically turned into text in apps like Messages or Safari, as you can on the iPad. But even with the basic stylus, there\u2019s a lot of fun to be had doodling and writing notes out by hand. I asked for some Pencil-friendly app suggestions and downloaded a handful. I used the native Notes app to scribble down some article ideas. I set my five-year-old loose on a blank note, to his delight (the phone survived the encounter, too). But having the stylus in my hand led me on an unexpected side quest: turning the whole phone into a notebook.<\/p>\n Why not? It\u2019s notebook-shaped. Notebooks are nice and help you express creativity. Phones are bad attention-stealing machines, or something. Maybe I could cajole the Duo into being something less distracting, more input-friendly. I put together a minimalist home and lockscreen designed around this theory. I won\u2019t lie, it\u2019s pretty nice. But I don\u2019t think I curated my way out of the new-notebook trap, even if it was a fun exercise.<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t many apps ready to take advantage of the new stylus support. Notes, unsurprisingly, is where the Pencil is at its best. When you use the Pencil for handwriting in the app, you can enable the auto-refine handwriting feature that neatens up your writing while still keeping its unique characteristics intact. This has been available on the iPad since 2024<\/a>, and it\u2019s particularly useful on the Duo\u2019s comparatively small screens.<\/p>\n It occasionally gets tripped up by some of my scrawl that it either doesn\u2019t know what to do with or misinterprets \u2014 it kept insisting on turning a \u201cu\u201d into an \u201co\u201d in one instance. And it works after a small delay when you pause your writing, which I can see being distracting if I really want to get into a flow state. But it\u2019s a nice middle ground between my untidy scribbles and full handwriting-to-text conversion and very handy for something like a grocery list.<\/p>\n The Notes app also has a big homescreen widget that kind of turned the phone into a notebook, but wasn\u2019t nice to look at. After some more digging<\/a>, I found almost exactly what I\u2019d been looking for: TypeDraw<\/a>.<\/p>\n Writing on the Duo\u2019s inner screen is pretty delightful.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a $4.99 one-time purchase, and it\u2019s optimized for the Duo. When you launch the app, it turns the cover screen into the front of your notebook. To flip to a page, you can either swipe on the cover screen or open the whole phone. It\u2019s a delight.<\/p>\n TypeDraw isn\u2019t really for power note-takers the way other apps like Bear are<\/a>. You can\u2019t add tags or links between notes, and you\u2019re limited to one notebook. But it automatically creates a table of contents at the beginning based on the headings of your notes, so you can skip right to the section you\u2019re looking for. Plus, if you drag your finger along the \u201celastic\u201d on the cover, it\u2019ll stretch and snap back, complete with satisfying haptics. I have zero regrets about the five bucks I spent on this app.<\/p>\n Using the Apple Pencil with the Duo gave me one more reason to love the matte finish<\/a> on the inner screen. There\u2019s just a bit of resistance moving the pencil across the display that feels more satisfying than the lifeless plastic-on-glass effect of writing on the cover screen. It\u2019s not going to feel like using a Remarkable tablet or anything, but it\u2019s nice.<\/p>\n The Pencil has one other neat trick \u2014 it can stick to the Duo\u2019s hinge magnetically when the phone is closed. The pencil is longer than the phone, so it\u2019s an awkward fit, but it\u2019s been a handy way to carry both around the house as I relocate throughout the day.<\/p>\n I was only, like, 60 percent serious when I set out to turn the Duo into a notebook, but I actually liked the idea the more I got into it. Reimagining my homescreen around creating rather than consuming feels like a worthwhile cause, and I\u2019m planning to live with it for a while to see if it inspires any changes in my phone habits. To that end, I also set up a shortcut to launch TypeDraw whenever I open the inner screen.<\/p>\n This is my new new minimalist homescreen.<\/p>\n But I think the most useful part of this exercise was examining, once again, how much stuff I really need on my homescreen. I can get most things done with a Spotlight Search or a tap in the Control Center. Siri is much more helpful now too, and it\u2019s always lurking nearby to help out. The grid of apps I\u2019m so used to is mostly for emotional support at this point. I didn\u2019t need a folding phone to learn that, but it helped.<\/p>\n Above all, the new-notebook effect proved to be just as strong as always. The shiny new thing eventually fades into the background. You certainly don\u2019t need a $2,000 phone to reevaluate your homescreen. You can \u2014 and I will continue to \u2014 just carry a little notebook around with your regular phone. A fun new gadget is delightful, don\u2019t get me wrong. But don\u2019t hang all your hopes and dreams for a new you on one of them.<\/p>\n Photography by Allison Johnson \/ The Verge<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Allison JohnsonClose Allison Johnson<\/p>\n Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All by Allison Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n AppleClose<\/p>\n Apple<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Apple<\/a><\/p>\n GadgetsClose<\/p>\n Gadgets<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n See All Gadgets<\/a><\/p>\n iPhoneClose<\/p>\n iPhone<\/p>\n Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.<\/p>\n FollowFollow<\/p>\n![\"Writing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/DSC04365_processed.jpg\"\/)
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