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Hands-On With Samsung's Latest Foldable Smartphones, the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip
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It’s a gimmick when you consider the tradeoffs.
1) it’s way thicker when folded (twice a normal iPhone) and heavier to boot.
2) the screen dimensions are off (virtually a square which is not the typical aspect ratio you would interact with on a smartphone). Maybe it’s good for maps, and possibly excel, but how many people actually work on office documents on their phone and wouldn’t be better served waiting till they can open their laptop instead?
We are looking at issues of poor design which simply don’t have any near-term solutions. The fold is the classic example of trying to combine two different product categories together with the end result being an inferior experience overall.
When it comes to screens, I still stand by Apple’s move into wearables (smartwatches and the eventual AR glasses).
Folding phones will likely remain a hard sell for the near foreseeable future.
Really, your being completely obtuse with such remarks
1) Of course it's thicker when you fold a tablet in half, this stating the obvious. You could ask yourself why is the iPhone so heavy given the smaller screen size LOL
2) Apple themselves are shifting from 16:10 towards a squarer format like Microsoft 3:2 (1-1.5) where only the Ipad mini is the same and most others iPads are 4:3 which is quite square. Obviously a Fold with a preferred 3:2 aspect ratio would be too tall or too wide for practicalities of pocket-ability when folded
Your remarks of inferior experience is showing a complete lack of understanding of others user cases. Be it side by side viewing of email inbox and viewing screen or split screen views in landscape mode etc etc. Or the simple fact that for many carrying 2 devices constantly is just not practical.
I have always remarked how well you have integrated the iPad in to your workflow even though from my personal perspective it would be a non starter if not bizarre
Foldables are a hard sell many due to price point and OS preferences no because of functionality
These comments from you are way below your normal rational
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Larger is the entire point and generally longer battery life too. Everyone has a preference to iPhone size due to various reasons, which is why Apple has 3 different sizes. The main advantage of the larger iPhones are more vertical and horizontal space for more content or larger content.
And there's no comparison when watching a movie or video on the Pro Max versus the smaller phones. Below are my iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12, and iPhone 7.
Do you see advantages among these three phones?
Attachments
And thickness is an issue for a phone that you are expected to keep in your pants pocket. That’s my point. Try taping two iPhones together and add a stylus on top of it and see how many people would be willing to walk around with one in their pants pocket.
Except 3D TV did not have any practical use. In comparison Foldable expands a phone's useability.
With that said, I'm switching to Z Fold 4 this time. I had my iPhones since iPhone 4s and have nearly every Apple product except Mac Pro.
This will be a tough switch but I really want to try the new tech. I will probably change back to Apple when it introduces its equivalent foldable iPhone.
Apparently it is growing.
Back in the day when Apple released iphone 5, people complained about weird long aspect ratio.
Soon later, they introduced iphone 6, now people complained how it doesn't fit into their pocket easily.
Guess what? Back in 2006 people were able to easily carry their dumbphones, that are much thicker than G Fold, easily in their pockets. In fact current G Fold 4 is just slightly thicker than the original iPhone and that was considered thin back in 2008! Just search how thick old Windows Mobile PDAs, Tmobile Sidekick, HTC Dream (one of original Android device)
Oh so you are to decide how people should use mobile phones now? Since larger screen phones are what the standard customer wants I would say they don’t agree with you. The iPhone mini is selling terrible so even a 5.4” display is considered too small, I guess people don’t want back to not having any content on their screens but rather have more content on their screen.
1) It is only slightly heavier than the Pro Max and actually lighter than the iPad Mini. The Fold (and iPad Mini) is actually easier to hold than the Pro Max because you can actually spread that weight out properly.
As for thickness I agree that the Fold is quite thick, but we are already seeing foldables that are basically slimmer than the iPhone 3G was so Apple could definitely make something that was more than acceptable.
2) that’s part of what’s good about it, there’s a reason Apple is making their iPad and laptop screens more square. You can fit more text in a single row on the screen so you can actually read unhindered.
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The Fold seems behind the Chinese devices when it comes to innovation, but you get software support and Google services.
I like the Fold N, but it's China only and on an older chipset
Samsung (or someone) need to experiment with an affordable foldable. Cheaper camera setup, etc and try to get one out at a reasonable price. Until these devices reach a certain threshold of marketshare, apps just won't support their benefits.
I like the Fold N, but it's China only and on an older chipset
Samsung (or someone) need to experiment with an affordable foldable. Cheaper camera setup, etc and try to get one out at a reasonable price. Until these devices reach a certain threshold of marketshare, apps just won't support their benefits.
Being a white guy aged 18-49, once I realized that I will not always be the target demographic for everything, I found I was much less outraged.
You have no idea what features Apple has interest in. You're nobody.
The All Knowing Willie knows who I am?!? I’m so very honored. See, I am somebody.
If you’re gonna troll me, you’re gonna have to step up your game. Thanks for stopping by. 🤗
This is when using a watch as a gatekeeper of importance helps. I've been doing that for awhile now, and I can go hours without looking at my phone.
Not even close.
Foldable smartphone shipments to hit 16 million units in 2022, up 73% YoY
Samsung continues to lead the category it created with the first Galaxy Fold device.
www.telecomtv.com
Folding phones are causing people to switch brands in massive numbers, says Samsung
Would you drop your smartphone brand of choice for any of these Samsung folding phones? Apparently, a bunch of people are doing it.
knowtechie.com
I couldn't find the article but an abnormal amount of new Fold users are switchers from other brands, like 30% or something. So the market share isn't just constantly growing but a lot of the new users have switched platforms or phone brands to get their foldable smartphones.
At this point I think these joke attempts that foldables are a fail can stop, but It's probably too high of an expectation for this forum.
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*Chefs kiss*
Yeah, and nobody wants a phone twice as thick as the ones we keep in our pockets today.
4:4 would be quite square. 4:3 is not. Apple is not "moving in this direction."
His remarks were fair, and appropriate. I get quite a kick out of this small subset of people who think that Apple is going to upend the entire iPhone line of products by making them twice as thick and god awful ugly, to service them, despite most people not having this same complaint.
No, they're a hard sell because A. phones work quite well as they are, B. foldable are hideous looking, C. they're twice as thick, which nobody wants, D. crease.
That doesn't change that it's… worse.
You could, but that's easy to answer: a screen per se is hardly the heavy part of a device.
If anything, the opposite is the case: iPads used to all be 4:3; some of them are now a slightly wider aspect ratio.
Also, 4:3 "quite square"? Until ca. 2000, virtually any computer monitor and TV screen used to be 4:3; nobody described those as "quite square".
No, they're mostly a hard sell because they're far less practical than phones, and slightly less practical than tablets. They're only interesting for the market segment who wants a little bit of both.
Price doesn't help either, sure.
Generally speaking, though, having a fold means you’ve got less space for a larger battery, so folding phones actually sacrifice some battery power. There’s no such thing as a folding battery, so they have to thread ribbon cables and the like through the fold into the battery bit on the other side of the fold. Which means that you need to remove some internal battery space for the components that make that possible and keep the batteries working together.
They probably have some prototypes but it's doubtful they are at Samsung's level right now.
Rumors say Apple started to look into foldable devices around the time Samsung launched their first Fold, maybe around the time Samsung sampled the first foldable displays to other OEMs so Apple definely is behind by a few years vs Samsung but also behind other OEMs that have launched Foldable smartphones on the market and are iterating and improving them getting precious feedback from users and manufacturing helping them to raise the bar with each generation.
It's not a matter of decision but more like a matter of being behind with development vs other manufacturers.
You try to suggest that apple could have launched a foldable smartphone if they wanted to but I really doubt this is the case.
Taking in consideration that they would release one at least 5 generations later than Samsung expectation should be much higher for really any company not just Apple.
I don't see why Apple should be getting credit for releasing a device that meets peoples expectations relative to what available in the market at that time.
I doubt Apple right now is pushing anything really.
The Fold 4 already has Samsung latest Display tech which improves efficiency and I doubt Apple had anything to do with it.
Galaxy Z Fold 4 uses Samsung's newest Eco² OLED Plus panel with higher efficiency
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 uses Samsung Display's newest OLED panel called Eco² OLED Plus, which has higher power efficiency than the previous generation.
www.sammobile.com
At this point it's obvious Apple is just a spectator and will probably launch a foldable device when they will just be able to buy most parts(probably including the hinge) for suppliers and their biggest differentiator will be the software.
Also the Fold 4 is only 23g heavier than the 13 Max while having a much bigger screen, that's quite an achievement which would be difficult for apple to reach taking in consideration the wight of their smartphones in general.
Nope. Not here. It's a stupid gimmick and nothing else. It's the 2020's version of a 3D TV.