Foldable smartphones have reached their fifth major generation, as heralded by Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Fold 5...
For me it's definitely the durability concerns. I've valued my phone's water and dust resistance since getting an ip67 phone years and years ago. My brother had a flip and a grain of sand in his pocket got under the display; when he closed the phone the display died. And they expect me to pay more for the privilege.
The crease is still far too noticable for me. That and the outrageous price that some of these things close when they eventually make it to the shelves with the "Australia tax" applied to it.
Nothing is. I’m currently writing this post on one. I will consider that weight is a big issue, one I wish was spoken of more than the plethora of reporters and journalists upset that Instagram, famously known for not having an iPad app, also doesn’t have foldable support. I really like my Pixel Fold regardless.
I took the dive, got one and it’s awesome. I browse Lemmy 95% of the time on my outer screen. I went with Motorola Razor+ because I’m not the biggest Samsung fan and I totally impulse bought it. Unless it’s something that demands I open my phone, I don’t really, and that was what got me to get it. Without the outside screen I probably wouldn’t have gotten it, but totally glad I did.
What is the benefit? What improvement does it offer? What is the point of introducing a weakness and simultaneous single point failure in exchange for a phone with a smaller, less durable screen, has a fatter form factor, and makes it more difficult to use to do all the things I actually use my phone for?
Flip phones existed as a way to easily answer and end calls. They went away when touch screens became a more convenient and versatile means of using a device. Nobody talks on the phone anymore. I don’t even have my phone app on my home screen.
Coincidentally, I’ve been looking at these as I’m due a new phone soon.
The flip 5 style has no value apart from gimmick as far as I can see. It goes in your pocket in a smaller height which might be of use to some people but that’s about it. Same volume of phone, same size of screen.
The Fold 5 style makes a lot more sense to me. You get a phone the same size as a normal one (roughly) but then a screen twice sized normal (roughly). I’m sure not everyone is interested in that, but there’s definitely a practical value there for some.
I actually had a z fold 3. I absolutely loved it! Battery life was great for my usage and the extra screen space was wonderful. You don’t notice the crease when your actually using it. You only notice it when your actually looking for it.
What stopped me from getting the next one was because on my device I saw what I assumed were hair line cracks that were developing at the crease. At first I thought it was scratches but eventually more showed up. As a former technician I knew my screen was going to fail soon. The unfortunate part was I had the phone financed through my carrier and these started to develop well before my upgrade period. It made it just a little over a year when this started to happen. This prompted me to pay it off the rest of the way and trade it in for a more conventional phone.
Again I loved it. But I think it’s too soon for me to fully commit to foldables. At least I actually tried it.
I totally get you on that second point, though I feel different on it. I feel regardless of phone type I would use it the same amount but I would like to have a Z fold when they're better to merge tablet and phone into one. I'm absolutely one for durability though.
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