Every person I’ve known who has owned a foldable has had it eventually break because of the fold. We try to keep moving mechanical parts out of tech for a reason. I’ve never had a smartphone ‘suddenly break’ like a printer or car.
Other than the novelty of it, I don’t see the attraction of folding devices. Other than folding it doesn’t do anything that my non-folding smartphone doesn’t.
They look super thick though. I can’t imagine that being very comfortable in a pocket.
Ever try to stuff a modern phone into a small purse?
Form factor has been a complaint since the HTC EVO.
Yes, it’s why I got an iphone 12 mini. Super small! I don’t know how people deal with the huge ones that are practically a small tablet.
Main camera selfies look amazing, multitasking with apps are usable, works as a kickstand, can easily fit in a clutch, big screen for videos, etc
They should put a little WearOS watch screen on the back of a regular-ass smartphone for that.
Not sure about the flip phone shown in image but my Fold4 was bought in attempt to replace my laptop which I have to lug around with me constantly due to work. So far it’s able to do around 85% of my work, which is good enough. Definitely not a phone for everyone, but for what I use it, it does the job pretty well. There are downsides of course, but benefits as well. Bigger screen does come handy but not as often, unless used as laptop with bluetooth keyboard and similar. I have used it on few occasions as sketchpad, because I have a pen and a huge screen.
The glass “runs out” of flexs.
I’ve had 2 for a year each and no major issues. Now that this one is just out of warranty and working towards year 2 guess I’ll see. I love the sheer size of the screen so much.
Whilst i might be biased, my samsung fold 3 has been fine for 2 years. My mum and step dad have had the flip 2 and 4, a colleague at work has a gold 4 and two colleagues at qork have a fold 5 each.
No issues at all.
I would argue that you have also formed a bias based on people you know who perhaps dont take care of their insanely expensive phones.
Although saying that, I’ve dropped mine multiple times, onto wood flooring, ceramic tiles, and tarmac (i practically threw it onto the tarmac when something scared me). Amd all it auffered was a few scratches and dents on the edges. Both screens are absolutely fine.
My Fold4 still looks new, and it’s been a year now since I bought it. I use mine both as phone and a laptop replacement… Sure inner screen is more fragile but also more protected when closed. You do have to set your expectations right. Definitely not a phone for people who don’t take care of their own devices. But at the same time, device doesn’t break by opening and closing it.
How do you use it as a laptop replacement? What tasks are you doing on it that would otherwise be done on a laptop? I feel like its too small, it would only replace phone tasks for me.
