Hands-On With Google's Pixel Fold Smartphone

[MacWiz_007]

Not because it eliminates or does anything to the warranty. You haven’t had all the folding phones you claim if you want to keep down this direction.

You can see in so many videos of YouTubers showing foldable phones and the manufacturer says don’t remove it’s a critical part of the phone.

I don’t have time to go look all them up but it’s an easy find. I just remember Zach on Jerry Rig tearing apart the Pixel folding phone. And he said that’s not supposed to be removed. He also used Moh’s picks to check the screen hardness levels. You can think it’s glass all you want. Keep believing the narrative if you want.

The one I also read was the Verge and I went back and got you a quote…

“I have other bad news. After just a few days of using the Fold as my daily driver, I discovered a tiny hairline scratch on the factory-installed inner screen protector. That’s not exactly confidence-inspiring. One of my co-workers discovered a chip in the plastic bezel on his review unit, too. These are far from catastrophic, but the almost-year-old Z Fold 4 review unit that I have on hand doesn’t show any scratches as prominent as the one on the Pixel Fold. It suddenly makes more sense why Google didn’t make the Pixel Fold compatible with a stylus.”

Google Pixel Fold review: closing the gap

Not quite enough to top Samsung.

www.theverge.com

For good measure here’s another. It takes five seconds to get more facts than you can provide with a simple Google Search:

Can I remove the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3's screen protector?

Wondering if you can remove the screen protector of Galaxy Z Fold 3, we can help. We explain the all care instructions associated with it.

www.xda-developers.com

Or you can do some due diligence to understand what you’re talking about.

Again, chemistry and physics. Basic principles here, Einstein!!!

None of this rant makes any sense when it comes to challenging my points. Again, to break it down Barney style for you: removing the inner screen protector doesn't void the warranty, it can be removed very easily, and the display is not held together by the screen protector like tape. All of these are facts which cannot be denied by anyone of sound mind. You're wrong and your attempt to school me has once again failed. And do you think I'm going to go by what Jerry Rig says? Buah ha ha, that's laughable! This is truly comical at this point. FYI, I've done my due diligence by owning four foladables. How many have you owned? The manufacturer can say anything they want but if it doesn't void the warranty then it doesn't matter. I'm done here, but feel free to have the last word. Fire away!

 

[boswald]

Looks like an interesting phone but I just don’t have a use for the big screen. I guess I’m just use to the good old slab. I can definitely see the potential in foldable phones, though.

Any decent reports about thermals and battery life? My P7P throttled and overheated like crazy so I’m hesitant to try another Google phone.

 

[mensah]

The problem has and likely always be the operating system. Same issue with laptops and desktops. It's not the hardware - it's the operating system.

 

[Fromthehiptothehop]

Weight: 10oz (284g)

The weight of phones you hold in your hand all the time is becoming foolishly heavy.

iPhone 5s was 3.92oz
iPhone 7 was 4.87
iPhone 12-mini is 4.76oz
iPhone 14 Pro is 6.07oz
iPhone 14 Pro Max is 8.47oz

My iPad Air 4th gen is 16.16oz, which makes sense as it is 11' in size, lasts all day, etc.

Yes they are bigger, but I talk to people, and no-one carries these phones any more, they leave them in their backpacks, or in the car. The SE and Mini phones are the most popular in the consumer category for anyone who really uses their phone, and pays attention to weight.

Most people spent around 200 bucks for apple wireless headphones so it’s all good.
And times have changed, you don’t buy these primarily as phone devices.
Last but not least, our wrists grew stronger with the years

 

[Fromthehiptothehop]

It's not that difficult to leave the Apple ecosystem. I've done it and I was deeply entrenched.

And here you are on an apple rumors website. Well done!

 

[MacWiz_007]

And here you are on an apple rumors website. Well done!

Thanks!!

 

[lordofthereef]

And do you think I'm going to go by what Jerry Rig says?

That used to be a rather educational channel, but is pretty much content for views at this point. Not knocking the guy; get the revenue when/where/while you can. But really, there's not much value beyond entertainment there. I have been vilified on Reddit for it, but I have the same opinion of much of MKBHD, maybe a bit less so.

Honestly, it's my biggest gripe about youtube in general these days. Used to be almost purely educational. You really have to dig deep and tell the algorithm to shove it to find actual good knowledge. Half of this is because everybody thinking that editing and sexy videos are what make something good. My most recent example is I have been getting into fruit trees. There's a professor from UCSC that puts his relevant lectures and labs up. There's more educational value in one of his 30 minutes videos than hours of some of the top gardening youtubers. But his videos get 10% of the views because its an old man treating it like education and not entertainment. Beyond that, I have seen some top channels give actually bad info. I will assume it wasn't intentional, as sometimes they will even edit, but that doesn't change the reality (for clarity, none of the channel names I mentioned here fall into that category, at least to my knowledge).

Alright, that's enough of my rant lol.

 

[lordofthereef]

And grab yourself a moh’s level 5 hardness tool, which will not scratch “glass” and run that across the piece of “glass” you think you have. You really don’t have chemistry or physics down!

It really actually is glass. I was surprised to read this myself but multiple sources confirm it. The thing is its a really thin piece of glass and removing the protector is not recommended because, as shown around 3:00 in the teardown, its so thin that even a tiny scratch can cause a failure point (crack).

 

[MacWiz_007]

It really actually is glass. I was surprised to read this myself but multiple sources confirm it. The thing is its a really thin piece of glass and removing the protector is not recommended because, as shown around 3:00 in the teardown, its so thin that even a tiny scratch can cause a failure point (crack).

Exactly. It's ultra-thin glass. But what do I know, I've only owned four foldables now and have spent countless hours researching every one of them!

 

[ThailandToo]

It really actually is glass. I was surprised to read this myself but multiple sources confirm it. The thing is its a really thin piece of glass and removing the protector is not recommended because, as shown around 3:00 in the teardown, its so thin that even a tiny scratch can cause a failure point (crack).

Which is sort of like saying that the screen protector is tape holding it together. It was an analogy for reference an example.

And if there is glass it’s a first, but the crease in the middle isn’t glass. It’s flexible OLED. So until we fix the chemistry and overcome physics there will always be annoying to have interruption in the screen when interacting with it or viewing off axis.

Hell, I want there to be an iPad mini sized device that folds in half and works as an iPhone. The technology just isn’t there. That Pixel is proof that it’s not really even close yet. The bezels are about the size of a damned notch on an iPhone, too.

I think I enjoy the Nothing Phone because it does a great job of having symmetry and uses a hole punch for the front camera. And feels far better than an iPhone in the hand (I don’t use cases or screen protectors). I wish Apple would eliminate the damned inner dynamic island. I am happy to do whatever to get rid of the notch, and part of what I think would be great is when Apple can do it the front could have a camera for FaceTime but then leave the inside as display only just like an iPad. That would truly be great.

As we find ourselves doing more and more with phones, as the display sizes have increased considerably, it makes me want to have an iPhone mini sized front screen with a fold out iPad inside that gives me double the screen real estate when I want to do something like watch a YouTube video or educational video (I like MindValley).

But, I can see Apple being so invested in Vision Pro and ten years from now I don’t think we will need an iPhone or an iPad. We will have something slightly thicker than glasses that gives us the whole experience but better. And eventually we will have nano-microLED displays that are like contact lenses and are even powered by our own bodies. I really wish I could be around in another 100 years to see if we advanced ourselves greatly or allowed someone like Putin to blow the world up in nuclear wars…

 

[bobcomer]

And if there is glass it’s a first, but the crease in the middle isn’t glass. It’s flexible OLED.

The middle is actually glass, look it up for once. Folding glass is real. It's not your traditional old school glass, of course, and it does need a polymer layer to make it do that, but it's real glass. (actually a lot of glass has a polymer layer, but that's beside the point. Anything shatter proof..)

This glass can bend tens of thousands of times without breaking

Schott's Ultra-Thin Glass is thinner than a human hair, and you can watch us bend it in this CNET video.

www.cnet.com

 

[Rafterman]

The Pixel Fold's two big advantages are it's more traditional sized folded screen and a Pixel is the most Apple-like experience for Android - hardware and OS from the same manufacturer.

But the support for third party software isn't there yet on the Pixel. For example, on an app that the Pixel doesn't recognize for big screen support, or doesn't have an embedded tablet view, it runs it normal sized, with black borders. But the Samsungs know enough to expand the app to fill the whole screen, even if not supported officially. Google chose (IMO) a less effective behavior.

Also, the Pixel's gapless design is concerning. Debris getting stuck inside the phone could damage the screen protector (dings and dents). The Fold 4's slight gap helps reduce that possibility (though the Fold 5 is runored to be gapless too)

Finally, the Pixel's Tensor processor, while heavy in AI support, lacks the raw power of the Snapdragon processors in the Samsung.

Also, I disgree that price is one issue Apple is considering when not releasing a folding phone. When has price ever stopped Apple before?

 

[KevinN206]

This is what I think the iPhone Pro will turn into one day, except the big screen will be on the OUTSIDE so when folded you will get a screen on the front and back. On the inside will be the pro camera array. This would mean Apple would have to make a folded screen that can survive being dropped, scratched with keys in your pocket, and folded/unfolded a thousand times. But it seems silly to hide the folded screen on the inside. If it were on the outside then when folded either front or back screen could be the main screen, so it wouldn't matter which side was facing you when you picked it up. And if there were front facing cameras under the screen on the top and bottom of each folded screen then it wouldn't matter if you were holding the phone "upside down" when you pick it up, it would always be able to auto orient itself the right way. Plus the four camera array on the screen could take 3D video, which would be nice when FaceTiming someone wearing Vision Pro.

That's pretty much the Huawei Mate XS 2 available almostone year ago. You can see that this design makes having good cameras rather difficult. Huawei dedicated one side for the cameras.

 

[SoldOnApple]

That's pretty much the Huawei Mate XS 2 available almostone year ago. You can see that this design makes having good cameras rather difficult. Huawei dedicated one side for the cameras.

Hey you're right, that's pretty much what I described

I guess I didn't think that it would result in a square screen when unfolded. I imagined the iPhone version would have huge lenses like the Pro camera currently looks like and the bulging lenses could sit inside a recess on the other side when folded. But seeing the square screen in action it does look a bit odd. It doesn't unfold into an iPad mini, it unfolds into a strange square. If it unfolded into an iPad aspect ratio then the folded mode would be the wrong aspect ratio for iPhone, too narrow or too fat.

Makes me wonder just what Apple would do with folding technology in the future, something I can't imagine it seems..

 

[MacWiz_007]

The Pixel Fold's two big advantages are it's more traditional sized folded screen and a Pixel is the most Apple-like experience for Android - hardware and OS from the same manufacturer.

But the support for third party software isn't there yet on the Pixel. For example, on an app that the Pixel doesn't recognize for big screen support, or doesn't have an embedded tablet view, it runs it normal sized, with black borders. But the Samsungs know enough to expand the app to fill the whole screen, even if not supported officially. Google chose (IMO) a less effective behavior.

Also, the Pixel's gapless design is concerning. Debris getting stuck inside the phone could damage the screen protector (dings and dents). The Fold 4's slight gap helps reduce that possibility (though the Fold 5 is runored to be gapless too)

Finally, the Pixel's Tensor processor, while heavy in AI support, lacks the raw power of the Snapdragon processors in the Samsung.

Also, I disgree that price is one issue Apple is considering when not releasing a folding phone. When has price ever stopped Apple before?

I agree with everything you've said here. The one thing that resolves the app sizing issue on the Pixel Fold, about 90% of the time, is changing the orientation from landscape (default) to portrait. The Pixel Fold does not have the option (yet) to force apps to full screen though, like you've mentioned. From my understanding, Google's reasoning behind this is that they want to push developers to make the apps scale properly for tablets and foldables. This makes sense to me but in the meantime I wouldn't seeing a "force app to full screen" option on the Pixel Fold, even if it would kind of defeat the purpose of their aforementioned mission. Also, every foldable maker is moving to the gapless design, even Samsung with the Z Fold 5. I personally prefer this because I don't have the dust/lint on my inner display all the time anymore like I did with my Z Fold 3 & 4.

 

[rubaxter]

Perfectly happy to wait for the Apple foldable that has polished iOS SUPPORT and an actual Gotta-Have App which that iOS build makes possible.

Android is mostly just flinging cow pats at the wall to see what they can get to stick.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Thing is, you don‘t have too….

have too?

 

[Rafterman]

I agree with everything you've said here. The one thing that resolves the app sizing issue on the Pixel Fold, about 90% of the time, is changing the orientation from landscape (default) to portrait. The Pixel Fold does not have the option (yet) to force apps to full screen though, like you've mentioned. From my understanding, Google's reasoning behind this is that they want to push developers to make the apps scale properly for tablets and foldables. This makes sense to me but in the meantime I wouldn't seeing a "force app to full screen" option on the Pixel Fold, even if it would kind of defeat the purpose of their aforementioned mission. Also, every foldable maker is moving to the gapless design, even Samsung with the Z Fold 5. I personally prefer this because I don't have the dust/lint on my inner display all the time anymore like I did with my Z Fold 3 & 4.

Yes, I noticed that with a few apps. In landscape, some apps sort of fill the screen, but not completely. But if you go to portrait, then it fills.

App developers will get it straightened out eventually, but right now, at gen 4 or 5, Samsung is just more polished. I look forward to the Pixel Fold 2.

 

[Rafterman]

Perfectly happy to wait for the Apple foldable that has polished iOS SUPPORT and an actual Gotta-Have App which that iOS build makes possible.

Android is mostly just flinging cow pats at the wall to see what they can get to stick.

The Samsung has polished support with ANdroid for its foldable.

"It just works" is a myth that hasn't been true for Apple for a long time. If Apple hasn't released a foldable yet, its probably because they don't think the profits would be there.

 

[lordofthereef]

Which is sort of like saying that the screen protector is tape holding it together. It was an analogy for reference an example.

And if there is glass it’s a first, but the crease in the middle isn’t glass. It’s flexible OLED. So until we fix the chemistry and overcome physics there will always be annoying to have interruption in the screen when interacting with it or viewing off axis.

I am not sure why you are doubling down on your incorrectness. Its literally foldable glass, and it's foldable in part because it is so thin. The glass doesn't end in the crease. It's one whole sheet.

The screen protector doesn't hold anything together. It keeps things like a small grain of sand from putting pressure on said glass to keep it from breaking.

 

[ThailandToo]

I am not sure why you are doubling down on your incorrectness. Its literally foldable glass, and it's foldable in part because it is so thin. The glass doesn't end in the crease. It's one whole sheet.

The screen protector doesn't hold anything together. It keeps things like a small grain of sand from putting pressure on said glass to keep it from breaking.

Well, consider yourself King, of your own domain. And learn “it’s literally…” So you don’t know something simple and just because you call something glass doesn’t make it glass. Like oat milk isn’t really milk. That’s called marketing in the business world. 😉

 

[Rafterman]

I am not sure why you are doubling down on your incorrectness. Its literally foldable glass, and it's foldable in part because it is so thin. The glass doesn't end in the crease. It's one whole sheet.

The screen protector doesn't hold anything together. It keeps things like a small grain of sand from putting pressure on said glass to keep it from breaking.

From what I understand, the first Fold couldn't remove the screen protector without screen failure. But in subsequent versions, the protector could be removed without incident.

 

[lordofthereef]

Well, consider yourself King, of your own domain. And learn “it’s literally…” So you don’t know something simple and just because you call something glass doesn’t make it glass. Like oat milk isn’t really milk. That’s called marketing in the business world. 😉

I mean, it's made of glass though lol. The material is literally what we would traditionally call glass. We don't call gorilla glass some sort of glass adjacent product either. Because it's glass. But I digress. You clearly can't accept that you're not correct in your assertions. You also seem to be the only one that hasn't backed your assertions with a single citation. At this point, I'm not even sure there is a point. You've decided a thing is one way despite being shown multiple times that it's another.

 

[lordofthereef]

From what I understand, the first Fold couldn't remove the screen protector without screen failure. But in subsequent versions, the protector could be removed without incident.

That's believable. But it's also why it's important to not just assume that just because something was one way, it will forever be that way.

 

[JiggyJaggy]

Ok so seeing the Samsung Fold 5 just being announced, Im heading towards the Pixel Fold. That screen ratio just does it for me...