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Google I/O: $1,800 Google Pixel Fold, AI Updates and More
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Anyone else remember 3D TVs? And how one had to put on glasses to watch 3D content? And then when consumers prioritized picture quality over display gimmicks? And how a whole problem was created simply by trend? Maybe I’m wrong, but 3D TVs are the equivalent to today’s foldable phones: expensive, niche, and insistent on filling a technological gap that doesn’t exist. Nice flex tho?
Plasticky, fat-looking $2k crap? Hopefully Apple will never...
I have paid that in my country for my 14PM. Not cheap.
The value is not in iphone camp anymore.
AI in the phone is starting to make ios like a venerable Nokia brick. I am afrraid Iphone will go the way of Blackberry. All the signs are there, even the closed messaging ecosystem. You had the advantage Apple, but the ego killed you.
Like it or not we all be using AI a looooot more than we imagine in 10 years.
Is Siri or IOS where Apple "promised" 10 years ago?. 10 years later will be a rock compared to Android, maybe we can have finally a good Microsoft phone!.
The value is not in iphone camp anymore.
AI in the phone is starting to make ios like a venerable Nokia brick. I am afrraid Iphone will go the way of Blackberry. All the signs are there, even the closed messaging ecosystem. You had the advantage Apple, but the ego killed you.
Like it or not we all be using AI a looooot more than we imagine in 10 years.
Is Siri or IOS where Apple "promised" 10 years ago?. 10 years later will be a rock compared to Android, maybe we can have finally a good Microsoft phone!.
I have used foldable phones like that and I thought "wow, so heavy, it has a crease, etc."and then it was a revelation, they are the present and future.
Few people wanted a phone without a keybaord or thought about paying $1000 for a "phone", or take good photos with a phone, or browse internet succesfully in a palm sized device, or read on a tablet or play video games without physical controller, or listen to music without owing it, or using a gigantic 6 inches phone. The same with foldable devices. Not perfect now, but even iphone took until iphone 4 to be quite decent and we bought even in version 1.
Few people wanted a phone without a keybaord or thought about paying $1000 for a "phone", or take good photos with a phone, or browse internet succesfully in a palm sized device, or read on a tablet or play video games without physical controller, or listen to music without owing it, or using a gigantic 6 inches phone. The same with foldable devices. Not perfect now, but even iphone took until iphone 4 to be quite decent and we bought even in version 1.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
Hands-on photo below. Hmm! Last photo the split screen action is a welcome change! Multi-tasking at it's finest!
Some of it would have to be refurbed. £1800 would get you an iPhone pro max and an iPad mini.
I think the price moves it out of premium territory into the land of rich enthusiasts only. Certainly I’m not going to spend what will be over 2000 euros in Europe on a phone. Also I’m a little iffy on holding it to my ear, thick chunk of tech folded, seems a little odd.
Well, brand new MBA M1 (£999) + iPhone 12 (£649) + iPad 9G (£369), so it is £2017 in total to have all three devices. This is without any promos and carrier deals, etc.
If you do not need an iPad or a laptop, depending on your particular use case, you could easily get yourself a modem and highly functional Apple combo for £1800-2000.
In my case, I do everything on my iPad (Air 4) and iPhone (12 mini), both bought brand new, with a 2015 13” MBP handling downloads, so the total budget in my case, if I were to buy them today, would be around £1320 (Air 5 + 13 mini). So about £500 left, which could also be put into bumping the specs or size of either device.
13 mini is the way. Class, taste, refinement, all in a pleasingly pocketable and penury-friendly package.
Soon we will be getting to the stage where you can buy a used car for the money you spend on a smartphone. It’s ridiculous. These are big purchases, meant to last for quite a few years, and they expect us to upgrade every year?
Can't understand why anyone could ever, get past the fact that a paper book had a fold in it. They were quite thick as well, people must have just read the first page before the insulting fold became too riotous for them to continue.
That's fair enough. I'm a big believer in foldables but obviously cost is a massive prohibitive factor and will likely remain so for a while, even though the flip style phones have become a lot cheaper and I start to see them more regularly around town.
I think the bigger foldables could replace some tablets or even laptops, particularly on the casual end of device usage, but I think realistically in many cases they will replace just the regular phone so you'll have to compare the cost against that and consider that you may still need a laptop, or even a tablet in some cases, on top of that.
That being said, I would love to have one of these as my work phone. The dual screen would make replying to emails, scheduling events (often in response to emails), some basic review of documents, presentations and spreadsheets on the go so much better and I could actually see myself not getting the computer out quite a lot.
I'm not convinced foldables will do any one thing better than a tablet anytime soon, but they would give me a tablet in scenarios where I right now just would not have access to one because it's either impractical or because I just don't want to carry around a second or third device everyday. Think messaging with your partner while watching a show or reading the news on the train.
I'm fairly convinced that most people would see utility in these devices, but just not enough to justify a £1,800 price tag. Whether or not foldables will be a success will not be decided by whether these devices are useful, but by whether they are affordable.