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
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).
Why did you stick it with it for a year and then why did you give it up?
After my wife’s started dying I was concerned mine would as well. If hers hadn’t crapped out I’d probably still be using mine.
Edit: There’s always the possibility that mine would have stopped working at some point, too, had I kept using it. After switching I mainly use it when I sleep now, so there’s been much less daily wear and tear. Who knows?
Why stop using it primarily instead of using it until it breaks?
Are they better for watching videos on?
I really want a phone with front-facing speakers and a good screen, maybe I have not been giving foldables enough credit.
Haven’t even looked into them seriously. Well
I was afraid if I waited until the screen died it would make it harder to transfer to a new phone. I do cloud backups but I don’t know how hard they are to restore when going between phone brands. USB transfer seemed safest bet.
As for watching videos, I do like that you have the option to fold it like an L so you don’t need a stand or anything if you don’t have something to prop it on and you need your hands. They also have a “camcorder mode” where they work sort of like a viewfinder when recording video which I found useful. The difference is mainly how you fold and hold it.
Sound was pretty good but not great on mine, but that’s most phones I’ve had experience with if you’re not using buds/cans.
Edit: My good Tech Spurt dude did a thing recently comparing moto and sammy that you might find helpful. He may have other full reviews of the individual phones by now, too. https://youtube.com/watch?v=XFtMrPPcL00
Oh awesome I’ll check that out thanks.
You can fold it in an L like a laptop?
Geez, are foldables the future?
I’ve learned so much from you guys
I think they’re figuring it out. The hinges must have been a real engineering challenge, not to mention the flexibility and durability of the screens. Remains to be seen if they’re around long term.
Yup fold it like an L for camcorder mode or when you need a stand. Some apps switch modes when you do that. Like with YouTube it’ll put persistent controls in the lower half while it shows just the video in the upper half. Probably also good for zoom or teams or other video calls since it becomes its own stand for the camera.
Ha, wild!
Thanks, I’m doing a deep dive into these puppies now
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.
Geez I literally had no idea. About as thick as two standard phones when folded?
I have to look into these now.
How are the speakers?
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.
Fold 4 daily driver. It’s easily my favorite phone since my motoX many years ago. I can’t imagine going back to a non-foldable. Looking at floorplans, videos, documents, photos, you name it is so much nicer on a small tablet vs a phone screen. I’ll absolutely be getting another foldable when I’m done with this one.
Oh that’s great to hear.
Awesome, thanks
I have a Z Flip 3, bought Dec 2021 and used as a daily driver since. I keep meaning to measure the folds I do per day, on average, but I’d guess it’s a couple dozen times, conservatively.
I’ve replaced the screen protector(s) four times; the screen itself is showing no artifacts or signs of wear.
Battery is meh, about the same as my previous Pixel. If I’m not on it all day, watching YouTube and getting stuck in Lemmy, I charge it once a day. If I use it heavily, lots of video binging, I sometimes charge it 3 times a day.
I’ll probably try the RAZR next, just because Samsung’s bloatware is truly obscene, and I read that Motorola’s isn’t as bad. But, otherwise, I probably won’t ever go back to a non-foldable phone, unless they release some newer tech like roll-out screens.
Very interesting, thanks for answering.
Why won’t you ever go back to an unfoldable phone, because of the screen size?
How are the speakers?
Thanks!
I like small phones, or, rather, I hate carrying around a quasi-tablet in my jeans. Folding phones reduce the size for carrying, while allowing good screen size for use.
The speakers are fine, but I’ll admit I don’t use them for music - only calls, or short YT clips. When I’m listening to music, I use either my earbuds, or an external BT speaker. I wouldn’t, like, use the built-in speakers to play music at a party, for instance. I can’t say I’ve met a phone yet that I would.
Okay, cool. I enjoyed the HTC 7 front facing speakers so much and never understood why that extremely successful experiment was not repeated en masse.
I do like the idea of carrying around a smaller screen that I can unfold.
I wonder if the next thing is just to carry around a tiny foldable screen that can unfold like 48 times into a giant screen you can just slap all the wall and connect your phone to to play a movie for friends.
Thanks
LOL that would be awesome!
I use a Samsung Flip 4 since almost a year ago. It’s pretty good, nice having a phone with a large screen that can easily fit in my pocket. Everything still works well, no problems with the hinge, but I’ve never dropped it or anything. As for negatives, the camera is meh (coming from a Pixel) and so is the battery life. Definitely needed my powerbank on my most recent vacation to the UK, where I used it a lot. I hope when it dies, there’s something like a Pixel Flip that’s durable and has good battery life. Otherwise not sure if I’ll go for another flip phone.
I need to watch a full review on the Motorola razr+ (U.S. name - I forget what it’s called in Europe). I saw some preliminary info that compared favorably to the latest Samsung, plus it runs closer to stock Android. Definitely going to take a closer look.
I’ll pick a Moto over a Samsung anyday.
Samsung has the worst battery life of all smartphones, period. Not to mention half the apps you get with the phone are bloat ware that can’t be deleted.
With the older Moto models, what stopped me from getting them was the hinge reportedly being much more fragile and prone to failure and the camera being even worse than the Flip’s. The current models seem like quite a decent improvement though.
When you mentioned a large screen, are these screens noticeably larger than a non-foldable phone? Is that the draw?
With the Flip, I’d say the size when flipped open is similar to many other smartphones on the larger side. However, I think that regular phones of that size are quite inconvenient though, so the draw for me is having that large screen size but being able to fold it to something much more compact that isn’t annoying to carry around.
Do you still have to open it to use the screen?
Or is there some kind of outer screen?
It has a small outer screen for notifications and the like. The newer models from the Flip 5 onwards have a full outer screen that can be used for pretty much everything though.
Dang, that is some nifty shit I didn’t know about
My wife got one of the early models and really liked it. The battery did suck though. She’s excited about getting one again that’s supposed have better battery, and more convenient dimensions.
Is the screen too big?
Or is it too wide?
I’m surprised to hear so many positive anecdotes, it’s cool to learn all of this.
I actually don’t know anyone very well right now that has a foldable, so this is all valuable information.
First one was a Samsung flip, which just folds a regular phone in half. It’s not really usable folded beyond notifications and such. It was convenient for video calls to be partially folded and set on a table. Also you could hang up on people by closing the phone, which was cool to be able to do again.
New one is a Samsung fold which is more usable as a phone when folded.
This is all fascinating, how are the speakers on these things? Or on the ones that you’ve had?
Why are you sticking with foldables instead of flat screens?
I’m still rocking an s10+, it works for me. The folding screen isn’t a huge draw for me, i don’t use my phone for enough things that benefit from increased size (my phone is already quite large though). I didn’t notice the speakers being significantly different than most any phone.
Okay, thanks. I didn’t see the draw either, so these answers have been pretty enlightening.
Moto Razr foldable Android user here. I’m very happy with it. They’re also very affordable when bought used.
Cool. What led you to buy a foldable phone?
How much are they now?
This question got a lot more answers than I thought.
Second on the RAZR+. Get it. Moto is still a solid company, they added some nice touches, and the exterior screen is awesome (if used less than expected). Paid ~1000 CAD on sale.
Only complaint so far is the OEM screen protector is getting a gnarly partial crease after 7 months, but it’s only noticeable on some screens and if you put your finger on it. Should be a warrantied issue I think, but unsure
I did a lot of research and personally found this to be the better option over the Samsung fold (not throwing any shade though).
Edit: also this year’s RAZR+ looks even better than last year’s
Awesome, I watched a review video with the z versus the razr and I did think the razr came out on top pretty definitively for my tastes.
I do want a larger screen though, like more of a phablet thing where I could read comics also
My uncle has one and very much enjoys it
I have the Fold 4, I’ve been using it as a daily driver since 2022. I love the thing, but just last night I had my first problem with it, I have a hardware failure that when I close my phone it turns it off. I am luckily still under the T-Maybe insurance; I have to go poke them with a stick later.
My partner has the flip 3, still going strong.Overall I love the device, but I recommend never having a foldable without insurance.
Which brand are those?
Thanks.
Good luck on your stick poking
Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 and Samsung Galaxy Flip 3. And thank you.
Other people have mentioned the screen size.
Is the screen size on these noticeably bigger than the average regular smartphone?
What are some specific likes for you about the foldables?
I was under the impression they were basically the same size as a regular phone, but it sounds like not?
Speaker quality?
It’s not for everyone, but I love having a real phablet in my pocket. It is basically like carrying a full computer in your pocket; be it for videos or pictures or just browsing Lemmy, I like having the bigger screen. I am more of a power user of the device and run and control my other computers using Termux shell and SSH.
The outer screen I wish was a bit wider. I wish Samsung would put the fold at 90 degrees from where it is currently, so the outer screen would be shorter and fatter, which would make it more usable.
Sound quality is quite good, or good enough for me (not much of an audiophile), it can get louder than my partner’s phone when we have volume battles. I have not heard any audio distortion from it being turned up all the way, either.
That’s super interesting. I used to like watching videos on my phone, but I absolutely can’t enjoy it without front-facing speakers, but if the speakers are louder without distortion, maybe that would make a difference.
I’m going to do a deep dive into foldables now, thank you very much for the in-depth answers.
A relative of mine does and has had 2 versions of this Samsung one. He loves it.
I do not like it because the crease is extremely noticeable and is filled with dust and debris and very noticeable to sight and touch. I don’t have one but I was using his for a project he wanted me to do while he went out of town recently.
the crease is extremely noticeable and is filled with dust and debris
Your relative needs his screen protector replaced. Some people just take it off and live dangerously.
Maybe I have to try one out, because I have heard about the noticeable crease, but nobody who likes the phone mentions it, maybe it’s right at that threshold.
Are the Samsung foldables the most popular one?
I have a friend who got one of the big ones, and I can’t remember which model. He loved it, loved showing it off, and loved all that screen real estate.
Then it broke and he quietly went back to a standard flagship.
Lots of positive comments here, I can back those up. Will say I think my hinge is getting slightly weaker, but I literally close it whenever I’m not looking at the screen. Z Flip 4.
I’m definitely a lot closer to buying one then I was before I asked the question.
I have the fold 4, love it, wouldn’t go back to a non folding.
Also, what’s the fold four? Which brand is that?
You can edit comments, you don’t need to reply multiple times
Thanks, I was confused by that
Is that a menu option?
Sounds convenient
These are the answers. I’m interested in, why?
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.
Really? Awesome.
What led you to get it and why do you like it so much?
Are there any particular benefits to a foldable screen that spring to mind?
I know someone with the Samsung flip4.
She’s on the second screen (once replaced already) and still now after a few months a line is visible at the screen… well, fold and the screen itself is separating in layers.
So I would absolutely not recommend it.
