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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.
This might be a bias. I’ve had a foldable for two and a bit years now, no issues aside from I hate the camera, but that’s always been a constant
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.
“Glass”
There’s a superthin glass under the layer of plastic, it’s what cracks and breaks and gets all crunchy when you see broken ones with a rainbow in the middle. Jerryrigeverything has great teardown of em for how durable/fragile they really can be.
There is glass. Just very thin.
A 30 micron layer of “some SiO2 but mostly polycarbonate” is not what I’d call glass… But whatever makes Samsung investors sleep better at night, I guess.
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.
I’m assuming dex
The best thing to do when people are victimized by vendors selling junk is to shame them, clearly.
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.
I gifted my mom my Flip 3 when I migrated off (I couldn’t tolerate the cameras on it). She only broke it once early on by dropping it with the screen open, but that’s what the accidental protection is for. Other than that, she uses it daily and it still is going strong.
The plural of “anecdote” is not “data”.
Who said anything about data?
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.
Bigger screen with a constrained form factor. If you don’t need a bigger screen, you’re just not the target, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally useless.
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
I used mine to help put on my license plates in the dark. I get a surprising amount of use out of the ability to fold the screen to point the flashlight wherever
They should put a little WearOS watch screen on the back of a regular-ass smartphone for that.
And help one of the 5 benefits they listed?
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.
Right, but the fold has the benefit of a small form factor that can become a small tablet when desired!
Oh I know! I knew a guy that had one, it was pretty cool! I especially liked that you could fold it so that people you’re taking a picture of can see the camera view same as you.
They fit in a pocket.
I would kill for a smaller sized phone at an affordable price and good/decent spec.
They look super thick though. I can’t imagine that being very comfortable in a pocket.
No thicker than a wallet.
Not really noticeable unless you wear super tight clothing and you get used to the weight.
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.
Yes, it doesn’t. Noone needs one of these, and that’s ok. The 4:3 ratio is irritating, but getting two rows of videos on youtube is soooo nice when just looking for a video.
I am typing this on my pristine Fold 3.
Purchased it on day one and had it for a more than two years by now. The phone is as spotless as the day I got it. I open and close it constantly.
Stop spreading FUD.
I’ve had my fold 3 for over two years and it’s still perfectly fine and I’ve dropped it quite a bit. I even dropped it hard once on asphalt while biking full speed. Tbh I got lucky with that last one, but still, these phones are plenty durable.
Samsung Gameboy PS
I’ll adopt it once it’s reliable enough that it won’t crack along the screen.
It’s so prone to cracking along the fold, though. You should either get the extended warranty or treat the phone as disposable, because it will likely not last more than a couple of years.
extended warranty
All they have to do is say the magic word: “Cosmetic”
Still have my Fold 3 which I got 2 years ago, it’s definitely more fragile so if you’re prone to dropping your phone maybe don’t get it but it’s not as fragile as people make it seem. It’s not for everyone for sure but damn is it convenient and useful.
My roommate drops his Fold almost daily onto hardwood and tile since he got it a year or two ago. It hasn’t broken once. I’m honestly astonished
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I have a fold and I love it. Videos are just ok, but web, notes, images and multitasking are freaking excellent.
the interior screen is almost 4:3, right? you could try watching like. anything made before 1990 whenever, I guess. old ass anime, or something. it’s probably not as big in totality as a regular screen, but it’s got higher pixel density, and it’s portable, so that’s neat. I guess another appeal might be that you could use it more easily as a book or a laptop substitute. I also think probably more support will come after it becomes more market accessible, like if samsung actually releases a 400 to 500 dollar model.
I have the fold 3 and love it for this reason. It’s fantastic for reading articles + manga. The nearly 4:3 display is fantastic for retro games. Additionally, a surprisingly large number of memes are in a 3:4 aspect ratio. Also, the outer display is great for one handed use.
This has been my hesitation with a larger foldable. I love my Moto Razr+, because when folded it’s super pocketable, I can also check notifications at a glance and even respond without opening it. It keeps “doom scrolling” behaviors down because I’d likely need to open it to do anything beyond that.
Would rather have a new Samsung phone that’s tiny
I went s7e - n10+ - s23
The s23 is a nice balance. I don’t have giant hands. I found the note 10+ to be too big. I dropped it all the time
S10e has been better than it should be. I don’t want to find a replacement.
I’m on s22 and it’s well sized!
At last. Price has been the biggest barrier for most people
The current foldable prices seem very artificial. We know how much screen panels cost and it definitely doesn’t double the cost of production. Its kinda weird to think that all these foldables conspired around same price point but it’s not impossible that they are just following one another.
I would guess that this cheaper model won’t have any outer display and maybe the inner display might be LCD instead of OLED. And of course the CPU will be Snapdragon 7 series, which is fine
Apart from that I don’t see where else they could save costs.
I agree that the prices are inflated just because it’s something new and novel.
Thank goodness. I’m sick of having a huge phone.
I think this would be awesome if they used the same aspect ratio paper does, 1 to 1.414, so you could open the phone and have a phone in the same aspect ratio but larger. You know, if we’re going to keep having nonsense screen aspect ratios where you can’t watch any videos without black bars or zoom, you might as well do something fun with it.
Edit: it’s also really stupid that we’ve seen phones go from being folding, to smartphones, to slowly getting larger and taller over the years, to the point where now people are jonesing for this simply so they can have a more compact phone again. I doubt for most usage you’re going to use the inner screen at all, there’s pretty limited potential there in what you’re watching and doing. Watching a video is probably gonna hit you with omega black bars. Only way I see this making any sense is if you have a classic square to real phone clamshell design, GBA style rather than DS style, but that still doesn’t make that much sense to me.
I’ve got a z flip 3 (have had it for 2 years) and really like how compact it is. I don’t often use many of the special flip software features, but it’s quite handy being able to sit the phone upright for video calls/meetings or having it stand up sideways for a stable night photo.
I don’t think I’ll go back to a typical brick phone after this one when it’s time to upgrade. The flip 4 and 5 both look quite decent and this cheaper one would be great as I don’t need a whole lot of extra power.
Good god! That was a long-winded way to say nothing.
Shitty troll is shitty.
I’d love the idea, but graphene os support is my requirement.
Perhaps google will make one at some point too. They already have the big version.
The irony that we have to go to google for a privacy focused phone with graphene os is not lost on me. It still is strange.
looks like a piece of shit why would I want to fold my phone in half
I wonder what adds and software they will try and force on the user.
facebook
I’d rather buy a steam deck
Money needs to be invested in AR glasses tech as then you can have any size screen you want. Foldable is a dead end.
