Broken Duo 2 Back hacky-fix

I got this Duo 2 from Ebay, on Reddit a user said, Hey, that’s my Duo 2, that Ebay seller must have flipped it.

I snagged it since at $540 with a bad back but front and insides working for the most part.

Worse condition Duo 2’s available for over $600.

No good one’s available for less or any reasonable amount.

None from Microsoft Surface Waranty Replacement, that is for sure.

It arrived on February 13, 2023. I took off the front skin, it was intact glass.

I pulled up the bottom corner of the back, and cracks …. aahhhhh. So many cracks.

I thought about it some, fashioned a metal tape I had on hand to the Duo 2 back shape from my previous skin. Once that was done, satisfied as a good prototype, I knew I could make a better one if I went that direction (in stabilization.)

I went ahead and took the skin completely off the back. The top corner was completely smashed, the area to the right was protruding up. This made the speaker right behind it not work unless pressed just right, so I gave up on doing that.

I have no photo from that procedure. No photo of all the cracks in their glorious naked state. I was forging ahead at full speed to get it stable for my long awaited custom skinning.

I took my Glossy Accents and started a first layer by overlining each crack area and filling in for the most part, then smudging it all over with my finger. Let it dry, made a second layer, filling in the smash to level, and basically just letting it make everything smooother.

That dried, and my last layer was just filling in some grooves and enough Glossy Accents to pull with an old credit card, from top to bottom and side to side to completely level all cracks and bumps created from the cracks and Glossy Accents layers from before.

Once that dried it was so much better. The speaker problem was sealed for all time. Maybe an archeology session will unearth that and make it work someday.

I put my skin on that back, you can feel that popped up part but visually, it’s so hard to even see it, it’s minuscule mostly felt when running a finger from right to left over it.

I’ve had this skin since the end of December. I had it made up right when I sent my Duo 2 in for Replacement. I was promised a device. They lied or something. Who knows. All I know is, I still don’t have a refund though it is supposedly in the works. Who knows when the money will appear. I hope today, or tomorrow, or the next, just nothing long than that. Process approved on Feb. 14th, everything setup properly. Waiting ever since that day.

I’m using this Duo 2 as a companion to my phone, Pixel 7. My original Duo 2 was a phone. It was good as a device, not the best as a phone or camera, but as a Reading device it is my absolute favorite device ever.

When I had to send my Duo 2 in for replacement I was in withdrawl. Got the Pixel 7 from AT&T in January, $10 a month. This was a phone to make and take calls, a camera, a text messages device. It shines as a camera. Very happy for that.

When I got this broken Duo 2, I had my reading device again. Hallelujah!

I think it looks great, I’ll only improve it by adding some gold paint to some areas. To be done sooner than later.