this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
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Smartphone manufacturers still want to make foldables a thing::Foldables are barely 1% of the market, but that's not stopping anyone but Apple.

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[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 145 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I love the foldable idea, but it's well beyond what I'm willing to pay for the novelty.

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 24 points 11 months ago (7 children)

Same! I had the LG v60 dual screen case, and loved it. Thats the farthest I'm willing to go, though. It was unwieldy, and almost impossible to use a popsocket with, no way to use a wallet case, et cetera. It's not worth that price tag for less options just for the occasional use of a bigger screen.

Now, foldable tablet? That's something I'd be down for (in theory. I am poor.). Closes up small enough for a pocket, folds out when you use it. Only screen on one side, so it can tossed in a bag without worrying about it, because it's closed up and the screen is protected.

[–] Sky_Lobster@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

My galaxy fold is 100% a foldable tablet with a pen. When I travel for work, I've stopped bringing my laptop. Just the fold, Bluetooth keyboard, and mouse. It's amazing

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[–] jonne@infosec.pub 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, the flip phones especially seem like a good form factor if they can make the price go down.

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[–] eddanja@lemmy.world 49 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Well then maybe don't charge me 3 months' rent for one?

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But that's why they want foldable phones to be a thing.

[–] GladiusB@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And why the market took a dive. Phones were 200-300. Then the iPhones and Galaxy's jumped them to 500-700. Now any top tier is 1000 plus and people's income has not compensated. As well as the rest of the crap you need to have all those new phones.

They are completely out of touch with normal everyday working people's incomes and financial needs.

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think a compounding factor is that the lifespan of phones has also increased. Phone manufacturers are no longer selling a new model to the same user each year.

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[–] dragnet@lemmy.dbzer0.com 47 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Once they are cheaper and more durable I'll buy one. Its still a new form factor that hasn't been perfected yet, but that doesn't mean its wrong for manufacturers to keep at it

[–] BallShapedMan@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago (12 children)

To add to this my wife got the Samsung Flip or whatever, the one that folds like an old flip phone.

Every year she's had to have it replaced because the screen cracks in the middle. Fortunately we have the insurance so it's only $5 to replace it. She just got her third phone this week.

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[–] Sky_Lobster@lemmy.world 45 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I've been daily driving a folding phone for about 3 years now, and honest to God I'll never buy a normal phone again. It's a laptop, tablet, phone, and notepad (stylus) all in one. I couldn't imagine going back.

Also, being able to open two full screen apps side by side becomes essential after you start to rely on it for work.

I get that they are expensive, but the price will come down eventually and the form factor is game changing from a usability perspective.

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 36 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (7 children)

It's a laptop, tablet, phone, and notepad

Has no keyboard, mouse or touchpad so it's not a laptop

Too small to be a tablet or a Notepad. Not that I care for tablets in the first place.

Too big to be a phone.

Not to mention insanely expensive.

They're supposed to be "great for media consumption" but the square aspect ratio means it's usually not much bigger anyway. And I don't consume media on my phone either. That's what 75" TVs are for.

Not saying you're wrong. To each their own. Just my 2 cents.

[–] CybranM@feddit.nu 16 points 11 months ago

I've never tried a folding phone but to me it seems like a jack of all trades, master of none. The 4:3 aspect ratio, black bars on basically all videos, and easily damaged screen seem like big negatives.

I'd be interested to see if I'm wrong if I ever get a chance to use one.

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[–] Phen@lemmy.eco.br 37 points 11 months ago (15 children)

I wish they would put a proper keyboard on a phone again. There's dozens of people like me who misses those things, why is nobody doing it?

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Totally agree. The smartphone market is wayyy to homogenous. All they compete over is price and what alphanumeric digits the chips contain. Give us foldables, sliders, cheap phones, high end phones, phones full of ports, small phones, and big phones. This is what the phone market used to be about until the mid '10s

[–] Dempf@lemmy.zip 19 points 11 months ago (4 children)

And what about phones with a removable battery? Would be real nice to keep a couple spares instead of a big power brick I have to charge it from.

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[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

no i love it when my gboard cache fills up or whatever and the typing is so laggy that only 60% of my key presses register and i have to do it really slowly i think it's good

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

dozens of people

Including me I guess that makes thirteen of us now.

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[–] Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world 30 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm on a Fold 4, never going back. There are certainly a few tweaks here and there that could improve it, but a tablet that you put back in your pocket when you are done is the perfect phone so far. I don't know what they would have to do to make something better than this, but I'm sure something will come along. Until then, not going back to a phone that can only be bar shaped.

[–] Plopp@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago (20 children)

What do people use tablets for? I really wanted to come up with an excuse to get one but no matter how hard I thought about it I couldn't come up with a use case (for me at least). I want my phone to be smaller, not bigger.

[–] Strayce@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm studying at the moment, so I do a -lot- of research. A tablet + stylus is perfect for me for taking notes on top of lecture slides and reading / annotating pdfs. A folding form factor would be really useful for me, so I wouldn't have to carry around a second device.

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[–] AMillionMonkeys@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'll trade you my 3D TV for one.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

Hey, old 3D TV's are great...

...As computer monitors. Lots of PC games can be bullied into displaying stereoscopic 3D in one way or other.

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[–] 000@fuck.markets 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I don't give a flying fuck about foldable screens, give me a real keyboard. The bottom half of one of these flippable screens could totally fit rows of physical buttons!

[–] Patches@sh.itjust.works 9 points 11 months ago

That's just Flip Phones with more steps.

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[–] jezebelley3d@lemmy.zip 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have a Pixel Fold and I hate it. It's heavy, almost no third party apps are compatible with the square aspect ratio of the inner screen, and when you consume media there are massive black borders due to said aspect ratio that makes the viewable space the same as a regular phone. There's literally no point to these things.

I see why Apple never jumped on board. I can't wait until August when I can get rid of this damn phone.

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[–] KeefChief13@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I've been using the z flip 4 for over a year now. I think that is what it's called... I won't go back. The foldable phone is awesome.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

I've got my Fold 3 and it's amazing. Are there compromises? Absolutely. Are they worth it, also yes.

I've always been the type to upgrade my phone every year, but I'm thoroughly satisfied with this device after 2 years, and don't see myself replacing it anytime soon.

The biggest thing foldables need now isn't new features and spec bumps. What they need is a significant price cut.

Full-size foldable phones still costing $1800 5 years in is why they're such a tiny market share.

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[–] mlg@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Man I just want a FOSS version of the DS.

Clamshell dual screen has so many advantages.

Even sliding keyboard was great

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 9 points 11 months ago

Clamshell dual screen is the bomb. I don't know why they're jumping so many hoops just to avoid a fucking bezel gutter.

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[–] ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, there's a completely unfulfilled market for smart phones with physical keyboards right now and fuck capitalism for not meeting this need more efficiently

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 12 points 11 months ago

N900 gang represent

[–] ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I love my flip phone. I'd love a phone with a hardware keyboard even more, but at least a folding flip phone is interesting in a sea of rectangles.

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[–] ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You can take my foldable out of my cold dead hands!

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[–] tmjaea@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thinking of that one guy that lost their foldable to a grain of salt after eating something in the train while watching a movie on it and then closing the phone... I hope they never get a real thing

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

That's unfortunate, I hope the tech progresses to a stage where a salt grain doesn't render it useless.

[–] NickwithaC@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I still haven't seen a legitimate use case for a flip phone that is 100% screen on the inside.

[–] the_artic_one@programming.dev 9 points 11 months ago

Takes up less pocket space and the primary screen is more protected.

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[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This article seems to only talk about the ones that fold like a book, and not on the ones that fold like a clam. I don't get the fixtation on that design - at this point it's more of a tablet than a phone, and for a tablet it's pretty small. When opened, the Samsung Z Flip has the dimensions of a smartphone - which means you can put it to your ear or operate it with one hand. You can't do that with the Z Fold - it's too wide. Also, the Samsung Z Flip costs half as much as the Z Fold - which is still not cheap, but it's not that much more expensive than Samsung's regular flagship phone with the same specs. So I assume affordable flip smartphones should be possible - maybe not this year, but probably soon enough.

Z Flips sell twice as much as Z Folds - all while Samsung is spending most of the marketing effort on pushing the Fold. Maybe if they focused on the Flip instead they could have made this one "a thing"?

[–] Rutschi@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The tablet thing is the point I like about my foldable phone. I couldn't be bothered to carry a tablet with me, but the Fold fits in my pocket without any issues and I love the bigger screen. If I have to use my phone with one hand, I just use the outside screen (which to be fair hasn't the best aspect ratio).

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

It's odd that we should need to spell out that different devices are designed for different kinds of users with different use cases.

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