this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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Oh my goodness I would kill for foldables to be mainstream
I thought we worked for decades to take moving components out of portable devices as they were the biggest point of failure?
We did. Because of that people are using their phones for too long without replacing them. This makes Samsung and Apple sad, so they make new phones fail sooner.
Gotta love planned obsolescence.
This is also how I feel. However, I don’t want to upgrade mine every year, I want to upgrade every ten years when it actually makes sense.
I feel we can’t both be made happy.
10 year old phones can still game online and take bomb pics. What more do you need?
Same. But there hasn't been an improvement in technology worth a phone upgrade in like 10 years.
Well, that's on the iPhone side, which was lagging significantly behind Android at that time. 2013 was the Galaxy S4, which had LTE (still good today), all the same sensors phones have today, 1080p screen, 4k video recording, 13 megapixel camera, and 802.11ac (5GHz) wifi. It even had a headphone jack, micro SD card reader, and a removable battery, which is better than most phones now.
Drawbacks are that the RAM was low (2GB), the CPU is old, and the version of Android hasn't been updated in a very long time.
The only thing that has really upgraded in the last 10 years for Android phones is that that the RAM, CPU, and camera get incrementally better each year. There hasn't been a new technology or feature that I have cared about or wanted since then. And honestly, I feel like the camera was good enough 10 years ago as well. I couldn't care less if the camera on my current phone was the same as the Galaxy S4 camera.
My point is that it isn't a reason for me to go out and get a new phone every year. Or even when the phones are planned to go obsolete after 2 years. Maybe after 5 or 6 years, but definitely not 2. It's not because of new technology that I want that I get new phones. I get new phones because the phones are designed to completely fall apart after 2 years.
May I ask why? I would be scared 24/7 to break my phone with my fingernails or something because the screens are so fragile.
Be super keen for foldable devices overall. I just can't get past the huge obvious fold in the middle of the screen. It's gotten better but I'm hoping eventually it evolves to the point where it's seamless. Being able to pull out a phone and then unfold it to get a tablet UI would be super handy for articles
I have one so maybe I can elaborate on the benefits
For one, they're really not that fragile. I've dropped my Fold a shitload of times now, and it has 0 issues. That's not to say people don't have issues with them (ala black bar of doom), but they're not as prevalent as you might think, for the usual reason that you're always going to hear more about the fail cases than the people who just buy the phone, and have it work fine.
As for the "why do you want one" - it's basically like having a phone and tablet in one, and all in a form factor that is basically as compact as your typical smart phone (a bit thicker ofc, but still perfectly reasonable to carry every day). When I'm just doing "basic smartphone stuff" like texting, checking emails, etc - I just use the small screen and it works just like any other phone, but when I'm browsing social media, watching TV/Movies, or playing games - it's absolutely awesome. I have an MG-X Pro that i use with mine, and streaming games from my PC feels like playing on a steam deck, it's also an amazing emulation device thanks to the big screen.
I can definitely see why some people wouldn't want one, but personally, I can't see myself ever going back to a "flat" phone
Thanks for the thorough reply!
The bigger screen aspect seems very nice indeed. I just would be too scared to use it like a regular phone. Wouldn’t something that scratches a regular glass display absolutely shred the plastic screen on a foldable?
What I still don’t get at is the normal sized phone when open that closes to a thicker square. This seems kinda gimmicky to me. One doesn’t get the benefit of the tablet sized screen and you have a bulky think in your pocket that you can barely use when not opened.
Not really for a few reasons - Firstly, most scratches on your phone happen by bumping up against stuff in your pocket, or by getting knocked against stuff when you have it set down. In both of those scenarios, your phone will be folded. You only really unfold it when you need the big screen, and then it gets folded back up again when you're done. So it's more secure than a typical phone screen most of the time. The biggest danger there is getting a piece of debris (like a piece of gravel) on the big screen then closing it, but while I've heard about that, I've never actually had it happen (or even have a close call in that regard, since i don't make a habit of using my phone where gravel is flying around lol).
Also, the folded screen has a "permanent" screen protector on it (I use quotes because it does sometimes come unstuck - but it's easy to replace), so you'd have to cut really deep to even get at the actual screen. Again, I can only speak to my own experience, but in my current phone and my last foldable, I never once scratched the center screen, despite daily use. The front screen however I absolutely have scratched, but that's just due to my own carelessness - like I said, i don't baby this thing.
I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure what this means, but I'm going to guess you mean is "When it's closed, it's just a super thick phone with a normal phone screen" - if that's not right, let me know. But yeah you're totally right that it's thicker than a normal phone, but it's not like carrying around a brick or anything, I also have a wallet case on mine, and the size of the fold with a wallet case is less than the size of a "normal phone" + A wallet FWIW. But yeah if you like your phones paper thin, than you're not going to like Foldables, maybe if Samsung ever comes out with that scrollable phone they've been teasing for years now they can make that one thinner.
I guess this varies from person to person, but I use my phone all the time folded, and it works great. The folding screen is too big to operate with one hand comfortably, so when I'm just doing "normal" phone stuff, i generally always stick to the front display, and I've never had any issues using it. I actually prefer the "skinny" form of the screen to your typical wide modern smart phone for a lot of stuff. On my wifes iphone I find that i can't actually reach the whole screen when using it one-handed, while on my phone i can comfortably reach every part of the front screen while one-handing it (part of that ironically is, I think, due to the slightly thicker size.
Now I don't wanna sound like a shill here, so I'll throw in a bit about what i don't like about the phone
Dust: I do a fair bit of woodworking, and I found with my Z Fold 3, that overtime the dust buildup in the hinge caused it to not open all the way. With my Fold 4, I either keep it out of the workshop while I'm working, or put it in a ziplock before going in. So far, I haven't noticed any buildup on my 4 taking this precaution, so I think it's only really an issue in the sorts of extremely dusty cases you get in woodworking and things like that, but still something to keep in mind.
Battery: Definitely my biggest complaint by far, under "normal" use - I can make it through the day no problem, but if I'm going to be doing anything that falls under the umbrella of "heavy use" (which means anything that makes the foldable screen worth using) then battery life drops off pretty quick. Not a huge issue for me, as I work from home, so I keep mine topped up at 85% most of the time anyways, but if you need to be away from chargers a lot, then this isn't going to be a good fit for you.
Ultimately whether it's invaluable or a "gimmick" depends on the person in question. For me, it's the perfect compromise between a smart phone and a tablet for someone who has use-cases for both, but can't justify lugging a tablet around everywhere - sounds like it isn't for you, and that's alright
Sorry for wording my comment so weirdly. I just had to look up some phone’s names, since I‘m kinda put of the loop with the new models.
A Samsung Fold like phone I get. It is, like you said, a phone when folded and a tablet when unfolded. I see that being useful.
A phone in the style of a Samsung Flip I don’t get. That’s what I meant with the normal size when unfolded and small, thick square when folded part. It has a tiny screen when folded that barely seems usable. It seems like you get all the faults and none of the benefits with this design.
Excuse my poor wording again.
Ohh, yeah to be honest I'm totally with you on the Flip lol - I guess it makes sense if you don't use your phone a lot and want something that is very easy to tuck away when not in use.
I'm not even sure they sell a lot of the Flips tbh, I've never seen someone irl with one
I could maybe see it if the whole front of the folded phone was it's one display, so that instead of a phone/tablet hybrid it's a microphone/phone hybrid sort of thing...
Once the crease is gone in the middle…
Once the price drops, I’d love to have a phone that unfolds into a tablet, and can then be docked to a monitor and run a full desktop OS.
All that tech is here with the galaxy flip, but the desktop OS, I’ve read is still lacking.
Yeah I agree they look really cool but the durability and wear-and-tear seem to be pretty subpar. I'm not one of those people who goes and buys smartphones every 1 - 2 years, so if I get a phone I'd quite like for it to last me a while.