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What is your experience with foldable phones?
Do you own foldable phone? Do you like it? Do you want to change something in it? Will your next phone will be foldable too? Please write a comment.
Do you own foldable phone? Do you like it? Do you want to change something in it? Will your next phone will be foldable too? Please write a comment.
I've had a ZFlip 4 for about 6 months now. It's really nice, but I'm comparing it to a phone I had since 2015 so anything was going to feel nice.
Originally I wasn't going to get a foldable phone, but all the Samsung phones were so large that 90% of the decision was just to have something that comfortably fits in my pocket. And while it does comfortably fit, it's actually quite heavy. Heavier than I expected. (Though some of that might be the protection case. I don't know.)
The protection case is nice, though I had some issue with it not staying on while folding aggressively. So I have to fold the phone carefully or it might slip off. It's stickied on with these sticky strips since I guess conventional cases can't exactly deal with the folding aspect. I don't mind the lack of screen protector though. It's nice to feel like the screen is "protected" when I fold it, and I can toss it into my bag without worrying about the screen getting scratched by my keys or anything.
I don't know if the crease gets worse with time, but when I'm using my phone properly I don't notice it at all. Even with youtube videos horizontally or reading text or anything. It's only when I'm specifically looking for the crease that I actually see it. Or if the light hits it just right.
I'm happy with the purchase but it's without many points of comparison. I'll probably go with a foldable phone again in the future if this one can last me until 2030. We'll see how it holds up long term.
For an anti experience, I don’t get it and it’s not for me.
I have an iPhone, a iPad mini and a MacBook Pro, each of them fills a specific purpose. I’m a power user who codes, draws, sketches, designs, whiteboards, uses Figma, Miro, procreate. To me these are devices to get things done.
I would not ever want my iPhone and iPad mini combined into one clumsy device.
It seems like they are not for getting things done, and more for consuming content.
I’m a big proponent of things doing one thing well especially with tech (I’m not against a leatherman multi-tool, but I don’t want my electronics to be like that).
So to add, if you do have such a device, what do you use it for? What do you like or dislike?
People had cameras, fm radios, mp3 players and desktop computers, all of them filling a specific purpose
Right, but frankly a touch screen smartphone that can do those things is a pretty good UX.
My issue is:
I don't understand from a design perspective how the current foldable screen technology can be a good seamless UX, and in any case:
For me having a folding phone is really good at getting things done, in addition to being really good at consuming content. For getting things done, it is often much faster to unfold the phone and use the extra screen real-estate. Photo editing, or even things like modifying my budget, signing documents, etc., in addition to the obvious media consumption benefits. To me it really is the best of both worlds - it operates exactly like a traditional phone until I could use the benefits of a bigger screen, at which point I also have that option.
What makes you think that a foldable would do something that a tablet can do?
Not challenging you but am legit curious; I had an iPad Air and loved the hardware, but to me it was the OS that held it back, ended up selling it.
Good question.
I think a foldable smartphone and a tablet are broadly comparable.
To me the folding as an affordance is so that as a user I can put the device in my pocket so that I can carry it around with me.
Which is not something I want from my iPad.
And I actively enjoy the mental separation of a phone vs a tablet, being able to pick one up and put the other away is a conscious decision for me.
iPad OS is definitely bad for some things, but if you lean into the main use cases it still shines, it’s not meant really for multi tasking or typed input. Like I said in my other comment the Apple Pencil is a game changer in how to use the iPad, while a stylus is not a new idea the Apple Pencil is good enough and convenient enough to make it highly usable compared to a Wacom tablet plugged into a computer.
I get it. As someone else pointed out though, phones already do a bunch of stuff beyond calling to the point actual calling is no longer a selling point of a phone.
But I do get it. It either needs to do it well, or not at all, and leave the specifics to a specific device. I don't use my phone to play AAA games nor do I want or expect it to, that's why I have a desktop pc.
With that, foldable phones do not seem like they have an added benefit to my use case.
If you don't mind me asking, what was your reason for getting an iPad Mini over the larger iPads (~11", not the 12.9" massive pro one)? I personally use my 2018 pro 11" for note taking and some light artistic work, but I find the mini quite interesting and just want to hear your rationale.
Thanks :)
Good question.
Partly sentimental, I had the original ipad mini when it came out, years ago, and I used to read ebooks on the bus and tram in my hometown while commuting to my first job. I had an internship the following year and the student house I was in was burgled and my ipad mini was taken. So I have fond memories of reading on an ipad mini.
Last year I got the ipad mini 6, with apple pencil 2.
It's a great form factor for me because:
it's notebook sized so I can take it with me on holiday to read with
it doesn't feel unwieldy in economy flight seats
and it's small enough to bring to coffee meetings with clients without filling up half of the table in a cafe with a slab of glass.
I'm a fully remote worker so portability is important to me, and I figured more important than the larger screen real estate.
I had a full size ipad as well and didn't like the size for reading on and just generally holding, but If I did maybe 30% more Figma/Procreate I would appreciate the screen size, the apple pencil really changes the use case for ipad entirely.
On the mini, size and pencil support is good enough, and I use goodnotes with the zoom writing feature for note taking, and in most of my apps I zoom-in quite a lot when drawing so writing and drawing on the smaller screen doesn't feel like I'm losing anything.
Yeah a foldable is genuinely the worst of both worlds. It's too chunky and too fragile for a phone I want to carry around constantly, and has a bad ratio and is too small and lacks the dedicated battery I can safely use to be my more fragile at-home media consumption device.
Plus: They could more than just buying both devices separately.
Like the idea, tech isn't there yet. I just left a best buy looking at other things and saw the same issue I always see. The foldable looks neat, but there's this ugly as hell crease in the middle, and all I can think of is "oh my god what a miserable point of failure".
I always case my phones (not that i've found one i'm in love with), and just the idea of these sitting in my pocket picking up lint and dust and grit fills me with dread. I refuse to be the kind of person buying a phone every year because it makes no damn sense, and it looks like these only work if that's your goal.
For reference i'm currently on an Apple SE, had an LG before that. I think if the tech can get there i'll consider it, but not while they cost 800+.
Foldable phones feel like early stage 3D TVs. It wasn't that 3D itself was a bad idea, the tech just wasn't there, and then it ended up being impossible/infeasible to get it there. I guess we will find out if it's possible to make a folding phone that's actually good.
I just can't see how they could make it as durable as a non folding phone though.
Tbh I’m not sure it’s a good choice for someone who goes 6 years between new phones. But for someone who upgrades every 2-3? It’s probably fine. And if the phone fails any sooner than that, it should be under warranty.
The reality (wasteful though it may be) is that most people buy new phones on a regular basis, which means it just needs to be “good enough”. It’s definitely a trade off between cool feature vs. long term reliability, but that’s hardly new in the world of technology.
I've owned more flip phones than slab phones in my life. I've come to realise that I strongly dislike the slab phone design: it's boring and bulky. That's why my current phone is a smartphone built in to a flip phone form factor.
I like the fact that I don't have to put a case on my phone to protect it: it is its own case. And, I've been carrying this flip phone around for years, without it picking up lint and dust and grit. Admittedly, foldables are built slightly differently to flip phones, but I don't see that dust is the biggest problem with this form factor.
Absolutely true and this is something I’d consider, but I assumed given the conversation so far more people are talking about the foldables.
I loved my old flip phone before the advent of smart phones but it was also bullet proof and cheap enough to replace even if it wasn’t
Of course people are talking about foldables. But foldable phones and flip phones have one thing in common: they fold in half, thus creating an internal space for collecting the lint and dust and grit you're worried about. So, the experiences with flip phones can be extended to foldable phones. If dust wasn't a problem with flip phones, why would it be a problem with foldable phones?
Flip phones didn't have screens with the hardness of cold butter that would scratch if a grain of sand got sadwiched in the clamshell.
Because the touch screen extends over the fold? Its a vastly more sensitive and complex piece of technology vs just a normal hinge.
I have had a z fold, fold 3, and pixel fold. I love the extra space and can't ever go back to a tiny toy phone. Regular phones feel like an iPod touch or something now.
Thanks for the answer. Is there some nuances that you should keep in mind while using foldable phone against standard brick one? Do you miss screen protection? (Most of my phones has screen protector because scratches appears practically always).
In what situations do you find the extra space indispensable?
I'm in IT, in a 'jack of all trades' support/admin role. I'm often under a conference table working on wiring and am now able to fulfill a license request or easily navigate an admin panel without a laptop or returning to my desk. It's quite a time saver. Beyond that even things like reddit or movies are night and day better.
My wife and I play mobile boardgames a lot and it's really nice.to have the extra space and not need to lug around a tablet.
My ex got one. I told her not to. It quickly got the Samsung line down the middle and in her words "The camera sucks." (We're both photographers but she wasn't comparing it to her Canon)
She traded it for a regular S22 within a year.
But, hey, everyone wanted to talk to her about it, so if you're into conversations with strangers it's great.
I think the cameras stopped being significantly worse than their non-fold competition since the Z fold 4, did she happen to be using a Z fold 3?
One of my friends has a z flip and I’m pretty enamored with it. Unfortunately, I am fairly stuck in the iPhone ecosystem by now, but certainly I’d love if Apple explored that form factor. I don’t care as much as the z fold form factor, but I understand why it’s desirable to other people.
So if I was still using Android phones I’d absolutely get z flip and I’m hoping Apple joins the trend sooner or later.
I also have a friend who has a foldable Samsung. He mentions that while it's bulky, he loves the wide screen. He was working as an IT field tech for an MSP for a couple years, so he liked having the wider screen to occasionally work from his phone. Of course, he always had his company-issued laptop. So it's not like he was ever far from a full-on computer. Though I don't think he pays/has access to hotspoting. Maybe that's the reason he would use his phone.
For me, it's interesting tech, but I have yet to see the use case, personally. And like you, I'm also deep in the iPhone/Apple ecosystem. I'm on my 4th iPhone in over a decade, plus I have an Apple Watch, AirPro Pros, AirTags, and a super old MBP. But if Apple were to engage in foldable screens, and provide interesting use cases, I could be convinced.
I bought one, dropped it too many times and after a few months the inner screen has large marks on it. Don't buy if you're clumsy.
I had a Samsung Z Flip 3. Compact nature was great for pocket and using Google wallet. You get used to the crease in the middle. Battery was smaller then the phone I was coming from and battery life was garbage. Discovered I still hate Samsung bloat and software.
Hopefully someone besides Samsung and Motorola will come along and make a good flip phone. I want one but current options aren't my cup of tea.
Love the idea of a flip phone, they just
I'm on a Galaxy fold 3. In summary, the tech isn't there yet. I came from large phones (nexus 6, note 9) and thought of be using the larger screen more. Turns out that the act of opening it up alone is a hindrance to using it. I'm currently typing this on the outer screen, which is what I use probably 90% of the time. Currently I have micro fractures that look like scratches on the inside screen. The inner screen is awesome (in the right light) but it will eventually crack down the middle. I'd give I 3-5 more years before buying another folding phone. My next phone will most likely be the largest regular slab phone available.
I recently got a Z Fold 5 and I'm loving it so far. The large screen is just incredibly useful for browsing the internet, watching videos and messaging. The smaller front screen is really handy when you just want to quickly make a call and you can use it one-handed easily. For video the aspect ratio is somewhat of an issue because most content is 16:9 these days but for everything else it's really practical.
I've got a zfold4 I've had for about 8 months. love the hell out of it, when I'm at home I just keep it unfolded which is super nice for typing things, reading, watching etc. The outer screen is thinner than other phones but I only really use that in public when I'm checking an email or replying to a text. The fold in the middle doesn't really bother me and when I'm engrossed in something on the screen I don't really see it. The best use for the bigger screen imo is running two apps at once. When I'm writing something in one app and referencing back to another it is insanely useful and you can resize either app pretty much however you want, have em side-by-side or on top of each other too.
My biggest concern was about the screen breaking/debris getting in the hinge but it hasn't been a problem yet and there's kind of a gap when you fold the main screen so a grain of sand isn't going to crack it unless you're super unlucky somehow.
I've just got a light case around the outside - there were ones that include a stylus or a stand but the extra bulk wasn't worth it to me. I'm not a photographer but the camera quality is pretty good to me, maybe not as good as my old Pixel but I can barely tell the difference. Battery life is decent, some few apps require you to restart them if you unfold or fold the phone (I think the only one I've come across is a banking app).
For me it's totally worth it and I think the technology advance enough to where it's worth investing in if you think it's gonna be specifically useful to you.
A friend of mine has a folding Samsung and I would never get one just because of the fold on the screen. It’s quite visible and distracting IMO.
My wife has one and you can only notice the fold looking at it off axis. Looking directly you don't see the fold. You don't notice the dithered pixels over the front-facing camera either.
I had a first gen Microsoft Surface Duo until one of the screens failed and a screen replacement cost more than I bought the phone for. Brand new, on sale.
I wouldn't necessarily read that to fuel confirmation bias about durability concerns of the concept of foldables, mind you. Microsoft hardware is... esoteric, at the best of times. The Surface Duo was no exception, because you couldn't put a full case on it and it was high gloss backing it would never stay where I put it down at and eventually it flung itself straight into water, which is probably what eventually killed it.
Anyways, Microsoft's inanity aside, I found that there was actually a lot to like about it as a phone for a single device for everything user, having spreadsheets and emails open simultaneously, videos and IM chats side by side, it was actually sometimes even nicer than a desktop while I was researching things to have the two screens side by side for comparing things.
It was also buggy as hell, and not only because of app support.
Sometimes it was like pulling teeth to get it to do what I wanted to do.
But that's all software that could be ironed out.
Still though, even as close to a sensible experience a folding into a larger device phone got, I'll never buy another folding phone.
By the end of it, I just felt like the very concept was itself a beta test, placeholding for something that may never actually be real: Rollable phones.
The use as a single screen phone really did suffer for multiple reasons, and I just could not imagine ever paying a premium for a mobile device with variable screen sizes unless I could dictate the actual size of the screen myself.
Going forward, I just get equipment that is sized for the tasks I want to do instead of struggling with an all in one that always had a little bit of awkwardness about it no matter what I was doing.
For all the niceties it offered, I do not miss anything about it compared to just having a phone AND a tablet or laptop.
I do not have experiences with them, however the idea is really appealing - the Pixel fold or the Samsung Z Fold may be my next phone.
But as many others have said I’d like to research the durability of these phones before committing; having said that, the Samsung phones are on their 5th iteration and there isn’t a big hubbub about durability issues (think the Note 9) so I take that as a good sign.
I might consider one, but not until the tech is proven. The mis-launch that Samsung had gives me some pause. I want to see how long they last over a couple of phone generations before trying something like that out myself. Until then, Samsung S-series services my purposes just fine.
My parents each have a Flip 3. On both phones, the screen protector that comes with the phone has bubbled up about 2 cms on each side of the crease. I've heard that Samsung offers one free screen protector replacement, but they don't want to send their phones away to get it fixed.
Currently on the s23 ultra. Was on the iphone pro max 13 before and the s22 ultra before that
Planning on jumping ship to the zflip 6 if the improve the outer screen with better tech to conserve battery better.
It really depends on your use case. I realized that my s23 ultra is really overpowered and I don't really need that much when all I do is social media, youtube, txt, calls, and some light games.
Moreover, imo the quality of the photo all of the flagships take are seriously negligible to the average person. Even more so after uploading it to instagram. The bigger difference in quality comes from the outer vs inner camera imo and that's where the zflip shines. I like to take a lot of selfies with my friends so I use my inner camera a lot which drastically reduces the quality. Even more so, if I'm in a restaurant with not the best lightning conditions. I figured since you can take selfies with the outer camera of the zflip (zflip outer camera > inner camera of other flagships), and I'm content with the quality of the zflip outer camera vs outer camera of other flagships, the zflip makes a lot of sense for me. Not to mention I'd be able to use the outer screen for a lot of minor things that might prevent me from otherwise doomscrolling on a typical slab phone.
Again, it depends on your use case :)
My friend has the newest Samsung flip whatever it is. Was on a hands free stand in his car. It fell off of that and fell maybe a foot down and doesn't open flush anymore.
Make them durable like before smartphones and I would be all in. I miss being able to angrily slam a phone shut, try that with the last half dozen phones I've had they are just gonna snap.
Technically, any phone can be a foldable phone if you believe in yourself enough.
I had the Duo and the Duo 2. While not really foldable, as in it has a screen which is flexible and bends in the middle, it is the same in that it has one posture which is half the screen real estate of the device when it is opened. Both are dual screen devices and should be used as dual screen devices.
I now have a Z Fold 4 and a Pixel Fold, but will likely be selling my Pixel Fold. While I do appreciate the additional screen space of the Pixel Fold and compared with the Z Fold 4, the cover screen is gorgeous, it isn't a device which matches the workflow of using dual screens. It takes a lot of work to put to apps side by side in a way which was just the default standard way to do things on the Duo and Duo 2.
Writing content on the keyboard, like I'm doing right now, the Duo and Duo 2 are still ahead of the offerings from Google and Samsung. You can span the keyboard across both sides of the screen, but that's only useful if you tap to type. If you use gesture typing, you are forced to waste 1/4 or 1/6 of the screen when you dock to one side or struggle with the floating keyboard blocking your view.
Ideal would be a Pixel Fold sized folding device which has the same sort of multitasking software management of the Duo's. Default to launching on one side of the folding screen and provide a quick way to toggle to spanned. Do the same with the keyboard, so that in one handed mode it only occupies the space it needs on one half of the screen.
It may sound like I'm being harshly critical of the foldables. Without a doubt, these devices are better than the glass slab devices we had before. My only complaint is that they can be better and the Microsoft devices actually show how that was possible. The Pixel Fold hardware with the Surface Duo software would be ideal. In the meanwhile I'll keep with what I have, realizing that we're being held back from the full potential of such a device platform.
As someone with an iPad taking up space, being used only in the rare instance I want to have a device to write on... folding phones appeal to me greatly, being able to become a tablet only when necessary. Michael Fisher (Mr. Mobile) has done a great job in convincing me that the technology and durability is far beyond what you'd expect. Nonetheless, they're still not baked enough for me to consider them.
Thanks, Im not sure why, but your comment reminds me that physical keybords fall out of fashion. Heh, will be pretty cool if someone create foldable phone with pysical keybord..
I'm all for the return of physical keyboards. Still can't match the pace I had on my BlackBerry.
I've been using the Pixel Fold quite happily since release, upgrading from a Pixel 4 XL. I'd say about 90% of my usage is with the outer, closed screen. It's a great size.
Typically when I unfold the phone, I'm reading something on Libby, watching YouTube, or playing a game. The versatility of the larger screen has been great though. I can comfortably work on spreadsheets which is something I've dreaded doing in the past on regular phones. Maps and calendar are much richer experiences with the larger screen.
Overall I'm content with the versatility of a foldable device. The one current major downside is compatibility. A majority of apps aren't designed to support the larger displays so you often end up with a bunch of blank screen and a normal sized app. Google has a lot of room to improve their APIs for developers and provide more tooling to make it easier to build flexible layouts.
For context, I’ve used the first four versions of the Galaxy Fold phones. I bought the first one after it was widely released. I ended up returning it after a week because the inner screen had a terrible issue with jelly scrolling (the inner screen is mounted sideways, so the left side would refresh slightly faster than the right, making the screen look awful when scrolling content).
I bought the Fold 2, 3 and 4 on launch day and the move to a 120 Hz inner screen fixed the issue. The larger outer screen was great too. I absolutely loved the Fold 2-4.
I absolutely loved having the big screen with me all the time. I was able to switch from an iPhone and an iPad to just a Galaxy Fold. It was fantastic watching movies and TV shows on it.
But I switched back to the iPhone because the battery life wasn’t quite up to snuff. The battery has gotten better over time, but that inner screen drains the battery quickly.
The other big issue for me is Samsung’s implementation of Android. I think their skin and UI is fine, but they load up all of their phones with Samsung versions of popular apps, so you end up with two different versions of everything pre-installed. There’s the Samsung clock app and the Google clock app; the Samsung App Store and Google Play; etc.
And that’s not even getting into the discussions about Google and privacy.
The second Apple makes a foldable with decent battery life, I will gladly pay whatever the stupid, exorbitant price is and buy it on day one.
I have a flip5, since release (so 2months ish)
I love it. I had a note 10+ before, but it developed a screen problem. I loved my note, but found it frustrating that I had lots of clothes it didn't fit properly in the pocket of, and that in almost all my trousers I had to remove it from my pocket to climb stairs because it'd sit so high up in my pocket it impaired the bending of my leg.
The flip5 is the opposite, it fits in all my pockets, I can sit down and climb stairs without having to take my phone out of my pocket first.
I don't massively notice the crease (or, more precisely, I don't find it annoying). I occasionally still try to get the s-pen out and am disappointed. I initially found the bezel around the edge the most annoying part and found it hard to type, but I've gotten used to it now.
I've also not managed to drop it once, whereas with my note I dropped it 2-3 times a week. I guess I find the shape much easier to carry, and probably carry it in my hands less because of the improved pocket fitting.
Oh man, mine wasn't great.
I bought the Microsoft Surface Duo. Now, MS makes great surface tablets and surface books, so it follows that their phones would be decent too. This wasn't a single screen that folds in the middle like most phones, this was two separate screens hinged together.
It was designed for productivity, like having two monitors on your desk. It folded totally around to use as a single screen too. The idea was solid but.. the execution was terrible. TONS of software bugs, the screens not behaving properly, the CPU spiking and overheating randomly when the phone wasn't even being used, and, believe it or not the fingerprint reader on the side fell off! the phone got so hot that the ball solder joints came loose on it. The camera was atrocious, even by 2014 standards.
When it worked it was pretty great. Made a perfect Nintendo DS emulator, and I could turn it in portrait mode to have the entire bottom half as a keyboard and an ssh connection in the top half. Reading books was nice since you got the book effect with the two seperate screens. But it wasn't worth all of the trouble.
Fortunatly, when I went to make an insurance claim on it the company didn't have anything comprable to replace it with, so they gave me a full refund of the MSRP price! I was able to pay off the remaining balance, pay off the deductable, and still have enough to get a Pixel 7a.
They have a Duo 2 that's supposed to be better, but I'm not going to try it.