Ask Lemmy

you’re not going to care about the type of core, or the screen resolution when you make a phone call...

It's not really a phone anymore. It's a portable pocket computer. Being able to unfold a larger screen makes sense for a portable pocket computer.

No point.

We basically hit the ceiling with phones ten years ago.

There's no way to improve them without a massive shift in technology [think the shift from prop planes to jets]

Now they have to come up with new gimmicks to convince people to upgrade.

It's like 1950's Detroit putting bigger and bigger fins on cars that were basically the same as the 1930's technology.

This is middle tech. It is like walking is to speed walking then running. One fold is proof of concept when we get to 3 or 4 folds that's where the magic happens. People watching a video without headphones out in public on a tiny screen, pretty annoying. We are three folds away from someone unfolding a 32" screen to watch their content anywhere also without headphones.

I don't understand. Do you not see that the screen doubles in size? It's like a 2 in 1 phone/tablet. That's the benefit.

It's a full color tablet that fits in your pocket. That comes with huge quality of life improvements displaying PDFs, e-books, comics, spreadsheets, charts, diagrams, videos, etc. Have you ever tried reading a PDF on a phone screen? It sucks.

I've had a fold for a couple years now, and I use the inner screen constantly. If you don't read as much as I do it's probably just a gimmick, but it's great for me.

My motorola razr 2025 is a flip smart phone, and as a lady, it actually fits in the pockets of all my pants. My old non-flip phone did not fit in my pockets. It is common for ladies pockets (if pants even have them) to be less than 1/2 the size of pockets found in mens pants.

I wish they'd bring back slider phones with physical keyboards. Pre-smartphone days I used to have a phone (I don't remember what it was) that was a full touch screen with a physical home and back button on the front and then you flipped it sideways and the back slid down and there was an entire physical keyboard for easy typing/texting. I'm not interested in a folding smartphone, but if they released a slider with an actual keyboard I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I loved that phone and I loved being able to type on the screen with a digital keyboard for quick stuff or flip the keyboard out and use actual keys when I wanted to type a novel of a text message.

Eh its luxury tech, you dont need one. Whilegenerally phones areborong tech I am pro niche products and trying things

As the owner of a fold6 I can tell you that one of the reasons I got it is that it could replace the occasional tablet use when you need more space eg maps and pictures.

In that, it succeeded quite well. However, everything is now optimized toward the standard phone format so it's nice but not really that important.

Would I buy a phone with a foldable display again? No, because after 22 months with like 1 fold a day the protection already comes off (replacing it is only 20€ if paid but I have to go on a field trip to get it made) and the price for the device is just not worth it.

So next time standard format again.

Novelty.

I think it's probably the bigger screen size and an attempt to boost sales by offering something different because there's not much to really motivate the regular person to buy a new phone unless theirs is just old and needs a refresh. Now that I say that it makes me think there might be a big market someday for refurbished older phones because they don't have fucking AI in everything.

I often switch to my tablet for reading something on a bigger screen

If I wouldn't have a tablet, a folding phone would be able to provide the bigger screen.

Bigger screen, smaller pocket size.

They also break easier so you have to buy more phones.

Well, if you're my friend's kid, the point is to make it super easy to accidentally shatter the screen when you close it.

Fits in my pocket

The functionality of a tablet with the portability of a phone. Seems straightforward and practical to me idk

Easy… I’ll give you the answer in one word…

NOSTALGIA

Us millennials thrive in the world of nostalgia and the market knows that.

Flips are awesome, folds (opens on a vertical joint) are ass

My (adult) son has had a Samsung Fold for several years now and really likes it.

For him, it's basically a phone and tablet combined, and he no longer uses a separate tablet.

It's also good for running two apps side by side, and I see him doing that a lot (you can setup app groups that automatically launch together on each half of the inside screen).

First off, hardly anyone under 50 uses a phone for calling any longer. It’s now a portable computer. I want a device in my pocket with a small footprint most of the time, but when I need a big screen for getting work done, I no longer need to carry around a tablet too. I can just unfold my phone and see a spreadsheet. Or take notes with a stylus. Or make some doodles. Or share a video with my wife or parents more easily that they can actually see.

So, it’s one device that has multiple functions in different forms. It also means I no longer need to have a ~$1200 phone and a ~$900 iPad mini, I can get both in a single $2000 device.

There are some companies making flip phones for the disconnected folks, if your primary need is a phone, go for it. The commodore one actually looks pretty cool.

Fidget toy

I've been a sammy Fold user since 2022, I'llnever go back to a typical phone. I don't use the tablet mode too often, maybe 1-2 times per week, but it's super handy during those situations. For me it's mostly spreadsheets, navigating Canvas (school website), some email. I got just shy of 4 years out of my last one. Previous device died after 1 year... inner screen died, phone still worked of course, but replaced it under insurance. I've been in a chain of trade-ins that offset the cost of each new one device once I got past the initial cost of my first one from back in the day. I bring it up because the high pricetag is a major downside for people, but the high trade-in value is a benefit (my current device was $900 off). It's definitely not for everybody, and definitely not something for the beach lol, but very useful to have a tablet available anytime.

Folding phones work great for selfies, you can use the front screen to compose the shot and and the quality of your rear camera.

I'd say they are slightly better in terms of watching videos. It really depends on the shape of the phone. Most of the time, the full screen is only slightly larger for widescreen content, but the big benefit is that there is a lot of dead space where you can hold the phone, or see captions without obscuring the video.

Folding phones are surprisingly much better for web browsing and reading. Larger views for web pages navigate much more easily, and the double-wide screen gives a lot of eye relief when reading e-books, and you spend less time turning pages, which does add up.

If you use any kind of remote desktop application from your phone, having the wide screen of a folder is a godsend. I do a lot of remote desktop shit on-call, and most of the time I just carry my phone with me instead of a full laptop.

Source : I use a Pixel 9 fold as my daily driver.

less damage. less chances of dropping and shattering or scratching the screen