Early iPhone Duo reviews are examining how Apple’s first foldable handles everyday tasks ahead of its October 23 launch. Reviewers describe an appealing inner display alongside adjustments involving one-handed use, authentication, and app layouts, providing a practical picture of where the design works well and where it asks users to adapt.

Evaluations published October 21 offer a more substantial picture than brief demonstrations, ahead of initial retail availability on OctobeIn a September 19 hands-on, Android Central’s Harish Jonnalagadda also highlighted the inner display’s coating. Those earlier impressions provide context for the October reviews, but came from a shorter session rather than extended everyday use.r 23. The emerging story combines an appealing inner display with practical questions about handling, applications, and the compromises involved in carrying one device that serves two roles.

The Matte Display Changes the Experience

The inner screen’s finish is becoming one of the most consistent points of interest. Apple’s official announcement describes a nano-textured polymer cover intended to reduce glare and minimize the visibility of the fold.

In his PetaPixel review, Jaron Schneider praises the reduction in reflections and says fingerprints are much less noticeable during normal use. He also acknowledges that people who dislike matte displays may not appreciate this one.

In a September 19 hands-on, Android Central’s Harish Jonnalagadda also highlighted the inner display’s coating. Those earlier impressions provide context for the October reviews, but came from a shorter session rather than extended everyday use.

That gives the comparison with existing foldables a more useful starting point than screen size alone. A larger panel matters less if reflections repeatedly interfere with what someone wants to see. Equally, a finish that one reader finds comfortable may disappoint someone who prefers the appearance of glossy glass.

The relevant difference is therefore partly experiential. Shoppers should examine text, photographs, and dark scenes under several lighting conditions rather than judging the screen from a promotional image.

A Folding Phone Still Has to Work Closed

Schneider’s assessment also exposes a practical tension: he finds the hardware exceptionally well made, yet describes difficulty with one-handed typing and adjusting his grip for Touch ID. His experience favors using both hands.

Those observations should remain attributed to the reviewer. Hand size, preferred grip, and familiarity can produce different reactions to the same device.

Nevertheless, they identify something worth testing before choosing a foldable. The closed phone will still handle quick messages, authentication, and tasks performed while standing or moving. Those interactions deserve as much attention as the impressive moment when the inner screen opens.

A useful demonstration would involve composing a message, reaching frequently used controls, unlocking the device, and then opening it to continue working. Comfort across that sequence reveals more than holding an unfolded phone briefly for a photograph.

Software Makes the Comparison More Complicated

Mark Spoonauer’s October 21 Tom’s Guide review praises the ease of using two applications together, but finds that applications without appropriate optimization can look poor. He also reports that rotating into portrait interrupts the side-by-side layout, which returns when the phone rotates back.

In that specific comparison, he notes that Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 keeps two narrow app windows visible in portrait.

This illustrates why “supports multitasking” is only the beginning of a useful comparison. What happens when the phone rotates, when someone switches tasks, or when an application encounters an unfamiliar shape can determine whether the extra space feels productive.

The Duo’s Split View limitations become more relevant when they interrupt a task already underway. The review describes a change in layout rather than the loss of the app pair, which returns when the device rotates back to landscape.

Buyers should check the applications they rely on most. A polished demonstration using selected software cannot establish that every banking app, editing tool, or work service will make equally effective use of the display.

Battery Testing Adds a Measured Reference Point

Tom’s Guide recorded 13 hours and 20 minutes in its web-browsing battery test, using the larger display, a 5G connection, and brightness set to 150 nits. The publication says it adapted the test to fill the Duo’s screen and ran it alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and iPhone 18 Pro Max.

In that simultaneous comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 lasted 10 hours and 6 minutes, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max reached 17 hours and 31 minutes. The Samsung phone had previously recorded 12 hours and 19 minutes, illustrating why results from different runs need context rather than being treated as fixed rankings.

The result provides a useful reference, rather than a promise about every owner’s day. It also demonstrates why a single competitive headline can oversimplify testing: the method, screen used, and comparison conditions belong alongside the number.

The Strongest Differences Are Practical

These accounts suggest that the Duo’s identity depends on how its screen finish, physical format, and software work together. They also reveal disagreement about whether those benefits outweigh the adjustments. Praise for construction does not automatically resolve concerns about grip or application behavior.

For prospective buyers, the useful question is which compromises fit their routine. Reading comfort, dependable access to work applications, and easy one-handed interactions may carry different weight for different people. The first reviews now provide concrete experiences to investigate, while long-term display and hinge durability still require longer observation.

The post Early iPhone Duo Reviews Highlight Display Strengths and Everyday Trade-Offs appeared first on AppleMagazine.

iPhone Preview brings everyday PDF tasks into one built-in app, from rearranging pages to preparing a smaller attachment. Introduced with iOS 26, it remains available in iOS 27, whose user guide provides the instructions used here.

Apple’s Preview app can open PDFs directly, reorganize their pages, rotate or crop individual sheets, delete unwanted pages, insert new ones, complete forms, add signatures, protect documents with passwords and export smaller copies for sharing.

It can also scan paper documents directly into a PDF and combine multiple pages into one file.

That makes Preview surprisingly capable for common workflows such as signing a contract, cleaning up a scanned document, reducing an attachment before emailing it or rearranging pages in a report.

Start with the task your document requires. Rearranging pages, adding a signature and preparing an attachment are different from rewriting an existing paragraph or meeting a publisher’s production requirements. Preview’s documented tools cover many routine changes, while more specialized work may require a separate editor.

iPhone Preview Lets You Reorder, Delete and Crop PDF Pages

Page management is particularly useful for scanned documents. A report may contain a sideways sheet, an attachment in the wrong position or an empty page that needs removing before the file is shared.

Open a document in Preview and tap the page count to reveal its thumbnail view.

From there, a page can be moved simply by touching and holding its thumbnail and dragging it above or below another page.

That makes fixing a scanned contract or report straightforward when pages were captured in the wrong order.

To reorganize a document:

Preview > open PDF > tap page count > touch and hold a page thumbnail > drag it into position

The same thumbnail menu can delete a page entirely.

Touch and hold the unwanted thumbnail, then choose Delete Page.

Preview can also insert material into an existing document. The thumbnail menu offers options to add a blank page, import a PDF or image from Files, or scan additional paper pages with the iPhone camera.

That means a form missing one attachment can be repaired without recreating the complete PDF.

Rotation is equally direct.

Open the relevant page, tap the More button and choose Rotate Left or Rotate Right.

Cropping works on a page-by-page basis:

Preview > open PDF > select page > Crop > adjust the blue handles > Crop

This is particularly useful for scanned pages with oversized borders, desk surfaces or other material around the document.

Apple also provides Undo through the More menu, making these edits less intimidating when working on an original file. For documents that cannot easily be replaced, creating a duplicate first remains the safer approach.

Fill Forms, Add Signatures and Lock the Finished PDF

Preview also consolidates several document tasks that iPhone users may already recognize from Markup.

Fillable PDF forms can be completed directly inside the app. Text fields, checkboxes and other supported form elements can be selected and edited without converting the file into another format.

Signatures use Apple’s familiar Markup system.

Open the document’s signature controls and choose Add Signature. When using Markup, tap the Add (+) button first, then select Add Signature. Choose a saved signature or draw a new one with your finger; rotating the iPhone gives you more room.

A saved signature can then be positioned and resized on the document.

For recurring paperwork, that makes Preview useful for forms that arrive through Mail or Files and need to be returned quickly.

Once a document has been completed, Preview can also password-protect it.

To lock a PDF:

Preview > open PDF > Actions menu beside filename > Lock

Enter the same password in the Password and Verify fields, then confirm the change.

Apple automatically enables the password requirement when the file is locked.

This protection prevents someone without the password from opening the PDF normally and helps protect completed work from unauthorized access.

There is an important practical step before doing this: duplicate the document if you want to preserve an unprotected copy.

Preview > Actions menu > Duplicate

A password-protected PDF is only useful if the password itself can be recovered later. Losing it can make the document inaccessible, so the credential should be stored somewhere secure.

Preview Can Compress a PDF Before You Send It

Large PDFs are another problem Preview addresses without requiring a separate compression website.

Open the document, tap the Actions menu beside its filename and choose Export.

When PDF is selected as the output format, iOS 27 offers several options that can reduce file size.

Optimize Images for Screen lowers image resolution for documents intended primarily for display rather than high-quality printing.

Save Images as JPEG can reduce the size of embedded images further by using JPEG compression.

Two other export options serve different purposes. Create Linearized PDF optimizes a document for faster web loading, while Embed Text applies optical character recognition, or OCR, to make image-based content searchable.

Choose those options for loading behavior or searchability, rather than assuming they will produce the smallest attachment. For file-size reduction, the image optimization settings are the relevant controls.

The practical workflow for a smaller email attachment is:

Preview > open PDF > Actions menu > Export > PDF > Optimize Images for Screen > Save

Adding Save Images as JPEG can shrink image-heavy files further when maximum image fidelity is unnecessary.

These image-reduction options can sacrifice detail. Lowering resolution or using JPEG compression may affect small text, fine lines and photographs, so compare the exported copy with the original before sending it.

A document containing mostly text may shrink only modestly. A scan filled with high-resolution photographs can show a much larger reduction.

Preview also exports files into formats including HEIC, JPEG, PNG and TIFF when a PDF needs to become an image instead.

When exporting a PDF to an image format, resolution can be selected manually, giving users additional control over the balance between detail and file size.

Where Preview Still Falls Short of Adobe Acrobat

Reopen the exported file before sending it. Check the page order, orientation, completed fields and signature placement. Zoom in on small text and diagrams, especially if you reduced image resolution. The useful result is a document that remains readable and complete, not simply the smallest file you can create.

Keep the original under a different filename so you can produce another version if needed. A copy prepared for email may not be the best version for printing or archiving. Names such as “Application — Original” and “Application — Email Copy” help distinguish the files when they appear together in Recents.

If the task involves changing existing document text or satisfying a specific submission requirement, confirm that your chosen tool supports it before proceeding. For routine page organization, form completion and sharing, a checked Preview export may be all you need.

The post iPhone Preview Can Lock, Compress and Reorder PDFs Without Adobe appeared first on AppleMagazine.

Editing an iPhone voice recording starts with deciding what you want to change—and protecting the version you might need later. A pause before a presentation, an interruption halfway through a memo, and an incorrect sentence call for different editing choices.

For this walkthrough, imagine a short narration introducing a workshop. It starts with silence, includes an unnecessary aside, and gives the wrong day. The aim is to produce a clear final recording while keeping the untouched take available for comparison.

The steps below follow Apple’s Voice Memos instructions for iOS 27. If your iPhone runs another version, menu labels or the editing layout may differ.

Duplicate the Recording Before Editing

In Voice Memos, select your recording, open the ellipsis menu, and choose Duplicate. Apple’s duplication instructions explain that the copy appears below the original. Tap its name to rename it.

Use descriptive names such as “Workshop — Original” and “Workshop — Edit 01.” Open the working copy before making changes.

Duplicating first is especially helpful when you are learning the controls or deciding between several versions. It gives you a reference you can return to without needing to remember every cut. For an interview or lecture, preserving that reference also helps you check whether a shortened passage still represents what the speaker meant.

Listen Before Choosing an Editing Tool

AppleMagazine’s guide to recording and transcribing audio on iPhone covers capturing spoken material. Once you have a recording, listen through it before deciding what to remove.

Our example narration reads:

“Welcome to the workshop. Let me start that sentence again. The session takes place on Thursday at ten. Please bring your notebook.”

Suppose the correct day is Friday. There are three separate jobs: shorten the silence around the narration, remove the unnecessary aside, and correct the schedule.

Write down those changes before touching the waveform. This simple checklist helps prevent a common editing mistake: concentrating on one awkward moment and overlooking an incorrect detail elsewhere.

Trim Unwanted Audio From the Ends

Select the working recording, open the ellipsis menu, and tap the trimming icon. Pinch outward to zoom in, then move the yellow handles around the audio you want to keep. Tap Play to preview the selection before choosing Trim, then tap Apply.

In our example, the useful selection begins just before “Welcome” and ends after “notebook.” Leave a little breathing room at both ends. Cutting exactly against the first or final sound can make a voiceover feel abrupt.

Listen for complete words rather than choosing boundaries solely by the waveform’s appearance. A quiet consonant may be harder to spot than a loud vowel, but losing it can make the opening sound clipped.

Delete an Interruption Within the Recording

In the same trimming view, position the yellow handles around the unwanted passage and choose Delete, then apply the change. Apple’s editing guide distinguishes this from trimming: deleting removes the selected passage; trimming keeps it.

For the workshop narration, select “Let me start that sentence again.” Listen across the resulting join, paying attention to the rhythm between the introduction and the schedule.

A shorter recording is not automatically a better recording. Keep natural pauses that help listeners follow the message. When editing someone else’s speech, check that removing a hesitation or aside does not change the meaning or make separate thoughts sound like one statement.

Replace an Incorrect Spoken Line

Open the ellipsis menu and choose Edit Recording. Move the playhead to the correction’s starting point, tap Replace, and speak. Tap Pause when finished and preview the result. Replacement records over existing audio from that position.

For our example, rehearse “The session takes place on Friday at ten” before recording it. Aim for a similar pace and keep the iPhone at a consistent distance from your mouth. A noticeably different room sound or speaking volume can make the correction more distracting than the original mistake.

Start playback a few seconds before the correction and continue beyond it. That makes changes in tone, background noise and sentence rhythm easier to notice than listening to the replacement alone. If the transition sounds unnatural, rerecording the full sentence may produce a cleaner result than replacing only the day.

Check the sentence afterward, too. Do not assume a replacement of a different length will leave the following words intact. If the correction sounds cramped, consider recording a longer continuous passage on another working copy.

Save and Check the Finished Version

When finishing an edit, tap Done. Choose Save Recording to update the working copy, or Save as New Recording to create a separate edited version while preserving the recording you opened. Because this walkthrough starts with a duplicate, the untouched original remains separate—as long as you have been editing the copy.

Listen to the finished narration from beginning to end. Confirm the correct day, complete opening and closing words, and comfortable transitions around each edit. Comparing it with the untouched take can reveal a missing phrase that is easy to overlook when replaying only a few seconds.

Before sharing, give the finished version a clear name and verify that you have selected it. Keeping an identifiable original alongside a checked final recording makes future corrections easier—and lets you edit with confidence rather than treating every cut as your only chance.

The post How to Edit an iPhone Voice Recording Without Losing the Original appeared first on AppleMagazine.