Android

expensive, and not worth the change from regular phones

I think they'll be remembered a bit like 3D televisions in a few years... an interesting diversion, that ultimately went nowhere.

I bought a Z Fold 2 in 2020 and still use it today. Battery life is great, screens are still great (both outer and inner). I always have a cheap case for it that covers the front screen. I have dropped it twice outside on the concrete ground and the cheap case broke, but NOT the phone, so I just bought another case each time--to me, that's what the cheap case is for. I really like it and will probably get another version at some point, but here are my main takeaways:

• Outer screen is very slim (think almost TV remote-sized). I have gotten used to it but God forbid you hand it to someone else to type on, they always say it's too small

• It's too long for my pockets, but I'm a woman that wears women's clothes, and our pockets are too damn small for anything, so I have to carry it in my purse

• The screen protectors it comes with do start to fray at the edges over time, but I have never had it bubble up at the folding point/crease on the inner screen

• If you are not known for being delicate with your phone, this is not the phone for you. If you work outdoors regularly, have a tendency to drop your phone regularly, etc, don't buy this

• It's expensive

• Not all apps are compatible with the big screen so sometimes you're stuck with the small screen view on the big inner screen

• Having a portable tablet is great! I got rid of my tablet when I bought this phone and have no regrets

• It's great for driving when using Google Maps or whichever driving app you choose. Having the big screen makes it so much easier to see the directions

• Any video looks better on the big screen

• I have used the big screen to view maps I downloaded for hiking

I like the concept but I need durability.

I have not personally used a phone with a folding screen, but I work in customer service and I know our tech team has replaced a lot of them where the screen gets a crease in the middle or comes unlamented.

Honestly though the foldables seem kind of pointless to me. It gives a slightly larger screen that's really of no use unless your phone is the only thing you use to watch movies/game on. It's really more of a status symbol than anything else.

I'm sure someone will eventually come up with a more useful and innovative way of using foldable screen technology, but this is not it.

I went to the Samsung™ store and fondled their latest foldable phones lineup. Even on the demo models, you could clearly see the crease. It will only get worse as you use it. I think there is a market for folding phones but as separate screens, i.e. 2 or more panels side by side. If you gonna have a crease, might as well separate the screens.

I do not have a need for so much real estate on my mobile device. Nor do I want to carry anything thicker than a phone in my pocket. I use my Galaxy S20 Ultra which serves me well on the go and I my laptop if I want to look at something on a larger screen while I am home.

Honestly im considering buying one Just for the gimkick factor alone. I do like phones that have some gimmick. About the actual usefulness of said gimmick. Well i bought note once for the gimmick alone. Have i ever used the pencil. Only for solving nonograms. Nothing more. Folding phones gimmick on the other hand seems to be way better than the note gimkick, particualry the fold series, flips are questionable alghtough arguably they Look more cool. But the durability of both seems sketchy at Best, especialy since my notę 4 is still used in my family by my grandma and it still feels snapy to use.

So would i buy one. Not really. The thing with my old note 4 was that i managed to buy it used for a very reasonable price and im not sure i would touch used folding phone with a 3 feet pole, and a full priced 1000$ phones are a scam as far as i am concerned. If you want fun gimmick i Would honestly recomend rog phone 6 instead ( cool, should be reasonably priced, fun aestethic ) or a hopefully soon to be fairphone 5 (i never thought i would call removable battery a gimmick but here we are in 2023) . But If you swim in money by any means buy a flip or fold,why not.

I'd love one. Preferably the opens-like-a-book style, not the vertical ribbon.

But I don't want to carry around something that costs that much. They're currently priced for someone with way more money.

(Context I uses to repair phones for everyone's favorite insurance company Asurion, so my perspective is more about the physical device and components)

I fucking hate them. Super fragile AND super expensive. Not to mention if you have one and the screen protector get damaged manufacturers warranty only covers 1 replacement. Fixing that inner screen out of pocket is around $600-$700 which at that point is just buying an entirely new note or S-series phone. The only nice thing I can say is that the 4 Gen flips and folds are a bit sturdier than the first generation, so they are improving over time. Maybe by the fold 7 it will be in a place where consumers can buy and repair them for reasonable prices, but right now I always advise people to stay away.

To me they are necessary evil. I currently have Fold4 and use it as a replacement for my laptop since I have to be available 24/7 or close to that. I grew tired of lugging my laptop everywhere, which admittedly is very lightweight but charger, bag, accessories and the rest are not. So I decided to give Fold + bluetooth keyboard a shot at replacing my laptop which worked and I can get away with 85-90% of my work from my phone. Not as comfortable as laptop or desktop, but it'll do.

Biggest downsides are that I can't use my phone (easily) for navigation. One would think with such big screen that would be even easier, but naah. Mounting foldable phone is near impossible. It can be done in a car where you just buy tablet mount and you are good, but I don't drive a car.

For me it's been a game of tradeoffs. I gain some, lose some. At times it's awesome on other times it's annoying. Big screen and pen come very handy when signing documents for work or giving instructions to developers by drawing on screen shots. At the same time it's heavy and bulky. Note series from Samsung was pretty much spot on what I needed, but they turned that into S2x Ultra, which I think would be too big for me, but I might change my opinion.

Everything else am fine with and I can get use to weight and all. Samsung needs to do few things for me to be happy. Pen needs to fit in the phone itself, lugging it around as addon to your phone case is not an option. Make a slim case which grips corners only like they did with S7 Edge series, this would solve all of my mounts and protection problems. Weight loss would be welcome but I can live with that.

I use the Fold 4 and I love it. I don't think I could ever go back to using a nonfoldable. I never notice the crease during use unless I run my finger across it. In terms of durability, it's been great. I dropped my phone many times onto concrete and no issues at all. The only problem I have is with the screen protector for the folding screen. Mine is already peeling after around a year of use and it's a pain to get it replaced. You can't really do it yourself and you need to make an appointment at a repair shop to do it. At least it's free.

I've gotten used to holding onto my phones longer and skipping several phone releases at a time (Nexus 6 > Pixel 2 XL > Pixel 6 XL) and I don't really feel like I can continue to do that with a foldable based on the durability questions from the main screen. The prospect of a smaller device in my pocket is the big factor in wanting one and every time a new flip device comes out I find myself doing the same research hoping there is a magic bullet that solves the screen durability or de-lamination issues.

As with a lot of the negatives (including price), they will improve as time goes on,but to a large degree I see foldable as a fun engineering exercise to look at, but mostly pointless for the time being. I especially find it ridiculous when a foldable is 2x as thick as a regular phone and reviewers act like it's magically half the size when you close it. You're sacrificing height for thickness, but the volume is almost the exact same as a regular device.

As someone who loves the large screen of my tablet, I like the idea of a foldable, but they are a long way away from mass adoption.

I am currently using a Galaxy Fold 3.

I'm torn between "I can never go back to a normal phone this is amazing" and "this is fragile and has crap battery and a normal phone would be better".

If the price was max $1k, folding vertically and not a Samsung then I would get it. I got my self a tablet because I read and watch YouTube a lot. I rather have one device than two. So when I saw the new pixel did I get hyped then I saw the price...

I'm skeptical how well the screen holds up at the hinge, so I guess I'm not an early adopter. Show me one a year old that's had the same cheap screen protector on the entire time - if it still looks good I might consider it. Otherwise I don't see a reason to upgrade.

I've owned the Samsung fold2 & 3. Personally to me they are cool phones. However they just aren't made to last, and that's not the only problem. Realistically they are heavier, bulkier and have less specs than the top end smartphones. I found that each time I was holding it, I would rather be holding a normal phone just because my arms would get tired, it felt finicky to be holding such a large screen in public situations. It has its perks when sitting down in a plane, shopping mall, train. But again you could have an even larger screen and more power of you just brought a laptop. What makes me enjoy these products is the fact I've been dreaming about foldables since I was a kid, and that never disappears.

I love the idea of them but not at that price point unfortunately

Like ‘fetch’ they’re never going to happen

As someone who Had a Nintendo DS and 3DS it certainly seems like a cool idea but they also had the problem of the hinges breaking rendering them useless, this is much worse on the folding phones where the display itself bends in half and can literally wear out just from opening and closing, rendering the phone next to useless, the DS handheld gaming systems didn't even have that problem.

For that reason I really don't like them and can't really get behind them. I prefer my devices to last to obsolescence (a ripe old age) and be durable, folding screen phones are not that whatsoever. If I wanted a bigger screen I'd rather just have a bigger phone honestly, or be able to dock it in a laptop like enclosure.

If it doesn't make a neat noise when I flip it open like a Star Trek communicator I'm not interested.

I want to try a flip style foldable. Maybe moto or Samsung's (good moto trade in when🙃). It's been a while since I've seen a phone and go damn, that's eye candy. There'll probably be funky quirks no doubt, but a modern flip phone just looks awesome.

My gf wanted one because the flips fold down small, but if you ever go on eBay, you'll see the screens are pretty shitty still. Maybe we'll get her one in a few years from now when they've had time to really, truly iron out all the kinks.

I tried the Fold3, and had it back under warranty 3 times, until Samsung opted to replace it. They replaced it with a Fold4 (which was nice) in beige (which wasn't nice).

So I sold it and got a Pixel 7 Pro, and I couldn't be happier.

Honestly, foldable screen tech still needs a lot more maturity, IMHO. It was actually a relief to switch back to a phone where my heart didn't miss a beat every time I opened it, or heard the creak/crack sound when closing it. It was honestly pretty stressful, wondering if each day was the day I'd join the long list of people with busted screens through no fault of their own.

Expensive, fragile and rather useless unless you plan to replace your computer and in that case you just made a bad decition. I think it's a very desperate attempt to hype yet another generation of smartphones no one needs with a gimmick becuase sales go down.

I like the idea of them, but I've yet to see it implemented in a way that I feel is necessarily helpful.

I would break it in less than a day in my work environment... Metal dust + anti-cut gloves... RIP the screen at least.

Too breaky

Flip phones have only one advantage - they are smaller in the pocket. Folds have advantage of turning into mini tablets, but huge downsides of battery life in this mode, and thickness in the pocket. Maybe in the future, if they manage to make them even thinner.

They have a certain appeal to them. I'd love to try one out though and see how it appeals to me. Main thing that keeps me from getting one, is that I work in construction. Dust and debris getting inside the screen, then me closing it is just asking for scratches. Would a screen protector even be viable with the crease being in the middle?

Old school flip phones were feasible for situations like mine. But I'm not going back to T9 texting lol.

There could be some interesting designs, but to take advantage of that the UI would need to adapt, I think.

Today I'd rather have user-replaceable batteries and screens.

A big breakable hinge on a delicate piece of electronics that you shove in your pocket.

What could possibly go wrong?

They are terrible, i would never buy one.

Dreaming of Pixel Fold. AOSP Android is the only Android I will buy.

However, announced price of 1.9k eur (or 2500eur in e-shops) is something I would not spend on a freaking phone. Price has to go down...

I'm very interested in the ability to have a large screen when I need it. I am hesitant though. The prices are crazy, which isn't surprising for new tech. I'm also going to wait a bit and let them iron the kinks out before I consider buying one.

I'm also pretty rough on everything I own, so it's going to need to be as tough as a current slate phone before I look at them.