I haven’t met anyone yet who does and I haven’t read any good endorsements about foldable phones but I keep seeing advertisement for foldable phones.
Thanks
I posted this a while ago, so I’ll paste it here from my old comment.
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 am cavalier and am outdoors a lot, but this is a great list and I appreciate it.
I’ll take it all into consideration, thanks
-
My wife and I both used Z Flip 4 for over a year. Mine isn’t my daily anymore but it’s still fine. Wife’s inner screen died on hers just after the warranty expired. I guess that’s mixed results. 😄
Honestly I’ve thought about going back to mine once or twice since my Pixel 8 Pro had some issues (now mostly resolved).
I’ve been using a z fold3 since it came out. I’ve had to replace the screen once (under warranty) and replace the stock screen protectors but I still love it and plan to get another foldable whenever it kicks the bucket.
My friend just switched over to the Android side and got a moto razr flip (the one with the smaller front screen) and he says he fucking loves it and it was one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
I can’t imagine a phone being the best decision someone makes … but cool
I have the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. I absolutely adore this phone. It’s thick, but I watch a lot of shows on my phone and having a tablet sized screen to watch them on without having to carry a separate device is amazing. They’re not for everyone, I think, but if the flaws in current foldable technology aren’t a problem for you and you have the right use cases, they’re great.
This is interesting, you’re the second person who’s mentioned the screen size.
So it’s noticeably different than a smartphone? I thought they were all basically the same size as any standard pixel or whatever but just fold it in half.
Also, since you watch movies on your phone, how is the speaker quality?
I have been dying to get another front-facing speaker phone since the HTC 7 and nobody is playing ball.
It’s insane that phones don’t have front-facing speakers for human ears.
Insane to me.
The Z fold is the size of a standard phone, yes, but it unfolds in half.
Can I ask, I can see the crease in that picture.
That because it’s off angle?
When I’m looking at the screen, is the crease unnoticeable to you?
The crease is noticeable in bright ambient lighting conditions like outdoors in very bright sunlight or if glare from lights hits it at certain angles. For example, imagine you have a lamp and you take the shade off of the lamp. If you stand so that the lamp is behind you while you are browsing the phone, it will glare off of any normal phone screen. On folding phones, the glaring will make the crease visible.
In addition to bright lighting conditions, it’s most noticeable when not viewing the phone from head on, like you said. Viewing the phone head on seems to minimize the opportunity for light to bounce at an angle and so the crease is often not noticeable.
If you use the phone normally (viewing head on, as in browsing content, writing a text, etc) and in normal indoor lighting conditions, the crease is often totally invisible to the user.
If you work outdoors all day in bright sunlight, tbh you are going to notice it. But then I find most phone screens are hard to use in bright sunlight anyway because they aren’t bright enough.
Tl;Dr - There are many cases where you notice it, but there are many more cases where you don’t. It just sort of blends into the background after you use it for a few days anyway.
The whole spiel is helpful, helped me understand the conditions under which the crease might be noticeable, thanks.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you on this. There are some folding phones that fold vertically. They’re for convenience and fold out to the same size as a normal candybar phone. The Z Fold folds out horizontally and doubles the screen size. Speakers are fine – not audiophile territory, but not bad at all.
No worries, thanks for the reply.
That’s knocking my socks off, I had no idea the screen’s got that big.
I’m trying to pick one out now, it will definitely be a fold with twice the screen size.
Looks so cool, and so much more practical for a lot of my applications, I love comics and lounging around watching less visually demanding TV on my phone.
I’ll probably still prefer larger screens for something where I’m supposed to be paying attention to detail, but this is great to know.
Nope, and I don’t intend to anytime in the near future either. Mainly because I see it as just a gimmick with very little practical application. That and you’re not going to convince me that you can make glass that will not break after being folded. No thank you. Phone screens are already expensive enough to replace.
They aren’t glass screens.
Samsung “UTG” means Ultra Thin Glass
Today I learned… My mistake. I was basing solely on the experiences I have had playing with the phones of 2 people I know that have them (one is the fold, one is the flip), the screens did not feel like glass screens to me, felt more like some type of plastic touch screens.
I have noticed thin glass feels similar to plastic. Had the same experience with a sugar jar i bought
Had a fold 3 since launch 3 years ago. It’s the best phone I’ve ever used. Software is brilliant and clearly a focus for samsung. The big inner screen is amazing for work and games as well as browsing. Well worth it.
The crease is just a non-issue. People see it from an angle and they think it looks bad and that it would bother them, but i assure you, when you are using the phone yourself and its facing you, like all phones that you are currently interacting with are facing you, you cannot see it. After using this phone for 3 years, i can honestly say i forget its even there.
Anyone complaining about the crease has almost definitely never used one of these phones. I hear the complaint and i can only drawn that conclusion. Its like saying you dont like a certain food that you have never tasted.
There are downsides to the fold phone that the flips wont have. Like the fold 3 is a bit heavier than most normal phones and it has sometimes been an issue when using my phone lying down somewhere as it can be cumbersome to hold up at arms length.
Also the strange aspect ratio means that video is too small to play on the outer screen and doesnt fill the inner screen. You get black boxes at the top and bottom, so video is always a little bit smaller than the inner screen. This doesnt affect games, it seems that 99% of games support the aspect ratio and often give you some level of advantage.
This would not be true on the flip phones as they have a normal screen size when open.
Incidentally, next week i am buying the fold 6 and locking in for another 3 years on a contact. If that is any endorsement.
Edit: reading throught the comments here i noticed a consistent pattern.
Those who have the folding phones cant recommend them enough and say they are the best phones they ever bought.
Those that dont have one but have a friend that has one are saying dont get one as they look bad.
(Of course there are some exceptions on both sides but a quick mental tally, and it seems that what im saying is true)
If you want to weigh in, then maybe own or have owned one before deciding they are good or bad. Your friend might disagree with your concerns about their phone.
I really want a fold 6, but here in my country they are prohibitively expensive. A S24 Ultra was 6k, a new Fold 6 is around 16k. Minimum wage here is 1.4k… Really like the technology, hate the price
1.4k what? A year? What currency is that?
If that’s yearly, it would be the equivalent in the uk would be the fold 6 costing the same as a 3 bedroom house. If i was earning 20k, which is give or take the minimum yearly wage here, and my house was 10x that, then yeah… 200k, about the cost of a lower mid level house.
How can a fold 6 cost mor than 10x your minimum wage? It doesnt even cost me 1 months salary and i am not in a well paid job.
Monthly. Real. Brazil.
I’ve got a Z Flip 4 I’ve been daily driving for almost a year and a half now. The folding is quite convenient, especially with quick launch apps for like payments, but the main problem is the screen cover is peeling along the crease. It can be replaced but there’s no service centres in my city so I’d have to mail it
I’ve heard that about the screen cover specifically with the z, one guy said he replaced it over half a dozen times but he enjoys the phone so much that it was worth it.
I like the look of the folded form as well since I’ve been researching these after this thread, thanks for your input
