I'm sceptical. With all the added complexity of a foldable, the specs are probably gonna be below average to absymal. I'd love to be proven wrong tho.
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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Dunno man samsung's mid range phones are exceptionally good.
Is that before or after you remove all the extra crap that Samsung shovel on it?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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They fit in a pocket.
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.
I would kill for a smaller sized phone at an affordable price and good/decent spec.
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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.
Every single person who I’ve known or seen with a foldable Samsung has a prominent fold (enough to lift the top layer of the screen) or crack.
The tech just isn’t there yet.
That's not a screen layer, that's the screen protector. You can remove it. It's just some plastic
Samsung advise not to remove the screen protector, ironically because doing so can damage the screen.
Instead they suggest you have them do it, first one is free
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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.
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Have been using the flip 3 for a couple years.
I love the small design. Is it a Gimmick? Yeah probably. Do I like that Gimmick? Absolutely. It would he difficult to go back to a big ass phone. Routinely carry it at work by the ring on the case. Removes my need for a watch since I can easily reply or answer when it's closed, control media, etc.
Love to see more unique smart phone options. The phones were too samey for too long. This budget option could help that innovation even more.
I had to jump back to a standard phone after both my flip4 hinges died on me, it was hard but I'm pretty much used to it, haven't tried to fold it in half in a week, so that's good.
I was looking at the bigger foldables and came to the reality I don't need it. Ended up getting a RAZR+. I'll never be able to go back to a full size phone now because of the size. I've just gotten used to using the outer screen and hope this size keeps getting better.
Same here. I don't understand why everyone in this thread is talking about cracks and creases after it was fixed in the generations following the first.
Samsung Gameboy PS
I'll adopt it once it's reliable enough that it won't crack along the screen.
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.
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Love to see more foldable options!
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