I also write notes with stylus on it which is practical unfolded. More real estate for video etc. And then I can just fold it and use it as a phone for calls.
I want a rough, minimalistic foldable like the old school Razr. Something that can take abuse.
I want to be able to flick it open and close with the snap of my wrist and stuff the folded form factor back into my pocket without worry.
I don't care if there's no screen covering the bezel. That'd make it less durable anyway. Two screens, similar to the Nintendo DS is fine.
I'm sick of the smartphone slab and exposed glass. I want a wallet shaped device with a protective plastic or metal shell on the outside.
Put your slab in a protective case and a screen protectir and you get a much more durable device than flip phones ever were.
If it doesn't crack 5 days after you got one, how will you buy a new phone?
> slowness / lack of responsiveness
Are you saying that replacing the battery improved your phone's responsiveness? I knew there was a throttling thing with iPhones but hadn't heard of anything outside of that.
Blame bad Samsung fab. Things like the Qualcomm 888 chipset were notorious for overheating like crazy requiring throttling (used in both Samsung and some Oneplus devices). Need TSMC. Apple had issues all the way back to like 6S era when they sourced from both and the TSMC ones just ran better.
You can override it with a custom rom and messing with EFS on those devices but it's already flirting with battery dangerous temps doing gaming. Better to buy TSMC or strap an icepack to the phone lol.
now, I noticed they weren't 1.5V to start, so they are crap, but it seems it just only goes lower as they age
Normal voltage range for Li Ion is 2.5 to 4.2V, nominal voltage is 3.7V, some manufacturers recommend you never discharge them lower than 3V. So something is off or you have your battery chemistries mixed up.
One application where cells are loaded up really heavily is in RC toys and drones, there lifespan is secondary to performance. But a normal, long-life application for a Lithium Ion battery pack will ensure that batteries are not overloaded (either during charge or discharge).
There are also special cells that can gracefully handle high discharge current (and usually correspondingly high charge currents) typically at the price of some capacity for a given volume.
But in for instance a vehicle or an e-bike you'd rarely see batteries drained faster than the spec, not if you want to use your expensive device for a while.
EV batteries and e-bikes are a whole different animal than what is used in cell phone battery tech.
Also, is 2.0V bad for the battery? It's not great, but it's not Voc of 2.0V. It's Vsc, essentially. Which is a very different quantity.
I would honestly love for phone manufacturers to outright build in some software to build in best practices if they actually exist. Don't let me charge to 100% at first or something!
Phones typically are geared to use the full capacity of the battery.
The demand towards the thinnest phones possible leaves smaller tolerances towards cramming in the biggest battery possible.
I think the galaxy note 4 was the last one with a removable battery therefore something that could run a long time.
An external battery case depending on how you use it can extend the lifespan of an internal battery too.
In the most recent iOS versions, if it can determine when "clean energy" is available near your location, it will also try to charge only during those time periods. I don't think any 3rd party has determined if it is effective.
Just gimme a slider that lets me tell it to only charge to 80% and be done with it.
My electric car by default only charges to 80% unless you tell it you're planning a long drive in order to conserve battery life.
Their help portal has a research summary explaining their sources (the most recent of which is from 2010, so battery tech has likely improved in some respects but it's still a useful reference point): https://accubattery.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/210224725-...
I was a big fan, but:
- Nexus 5X support was terminated
- Pixel 1 support is broken; the device used to reset daily (works fine with the original OS)
- They have at least one serious open issue (GPS not functioning, although it can be worked around)
In the end, I had to buy a new phone, that is officially supported. I still donate, but I don't hold my hopes high anymore, anytime that a device gets out of official support.
On iOS if you wanted to translate the text on a button you have to take a screen capture, then translate the screen capture.
This was possible partly because of the stylus hover feature, but also because the Android permission model allowed for applications (translation service) to 'see' the screen of other applications. Something I don't think iOS allows.
If you enjoy using foreign apps, learning languages or living in an area with a different language the Samsung Note series was fantastic.
However, every way involves the text being [selectable] text and not something like an image (unless you use your method). And you said button, and I am not positive if a long-press will trigger the press event.
However, I think with the -a series (7a, etc) they've turned to filling a gap with a reasonably priced high quality device, because Samsung &c low priced handsets are really terrible.
The biggest problem in the market of exceptionally expensive phones is that they don't really look all that different from cheaper ones. Foldable phones solve that.
It’s how the iPhone looked to bb users.
It’s how the Note 1 Phablet looked compared to 4” smart phones
You can only go so big in a phone.
If Apple nails the iPhone max that unfolds into an iPad mini while minimizing thickness, it will be hard to ignore.
I am old enough to remember when your average laptop was several thousand dollars, much of the cost of which was due to the LCD display. My daily-driver laptop in college I bought used for like $900 in 2001 (a Toshiba Tecra 780-DVD), but originally all the kit I bought with it would have run close to $6,000.
If it's nearly 2k, it's a plaything for the rich that's both fragile and may have issues that are likely to be poorly supported by the vendor.
I'm not sure whether foldable phones will become what everyone uses, but this is typical for new products that have not started zipping up the S curve.
I thought for sure when I first bought it I'd have to be super careful about the hinge but by now I'm constantly opening it and closing it during the day (though not quite jerked around like an old school flip phone).
I'm amazed at how perfectly it still works almost 2 years later for me, I made a point of keeping my old pixel phone instead of trading it in when I made the upgrade because I was so worried the Flip wouldn't last.
Definitely going to be getting another Flip when I do upgrade again, unless maybe Google launches its own version of that configuration.
I usually do so on my tablet, but before tablets were a thing, I was reading comics on my various touchscreen phones. Pinch to zoom: Mandatory.
I prefer cheaper android phones. My requirements for a general purpose computer in my pocket were long ago exceeded. Reading comics on the go is fine with a phone, better with a tablet (of which I have several, the most expensive one being still cheaper than the cost of the new Pixel Fold even when you add in the cost of my work phone and personal phones).
Computing power is so cheap these days, I am a big fan of just having one-off devices on the cheap. My new Kali Linux box? A $50 refurb Chromebook. Let's not screw with multi-boot shenanigans if we don't have to.
I really don't need a do-everything device. I think most people don't either, they just want one.
For example, in Japan, 36.6% of teenagers say they don't use PC at home [1]. It's also a country where people read a lot of comics. Now these foldable screens make more sense, right.
[1]: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/fuwaraizo/20201021-00203217
But of course this one is from Google so it doesn't enjoy Apple's branding premium.
And tablets are still a thing, you can just use them for comics instead of spending $1800 on a phone.
I’ve heard so many people make this comment about a variety of things.
I recommend paying closer attention and learning.
The best response is to let people figure out for themselves what they don’t get.
Now I just say "doesn't do anything for my style of cooking"
The vast majority of the population doesn't need the kind of computing beast they are using, but it is what gets sold to them. Everybody in society gets a phone and the vast majority of them are technologically illiterate, it's absurd to think that organic demand directs direction in the phone market.
An iPhone 14 and iPad Pro are gonna' run you $1,600, and be more useful in most cases.
I mean, sure, you're not going to fit an iPad in your pocket, but do you really need to? And when it's out, it's more productive to have a separate tablet and phone, than just one device that's trying to do it all.
Folding phones are a neat idea, and as a technical achievement, this is impressive. But in terms of price and practicality? I don't really see the appeal or value.
I thought that was the consensus... It surprises me that Google is investing money on such a device. Weird.
Unlike other prudent decisions from Google in the last decade?
There are also multiple ways to use the folding screen tech, they can make phone with normal size unfolded screen and small folded form factor instead. Women's pocket sizes alone can sell a lot of those, and there's definitely a nostalgia market for e.g. the razr form factor too.
With Apple bringing Final Cut and Logic to the iPad, they can cut further into the "creative on-the-go" market without having to bother creating a foldable and just leverage their existing tech.
That’s a consensus, true.
I think google has correctly called the direction of travel here
It's just remarkably convenient
On the other hand, I always have my phone with me and I'd definitely benefit for a larger screen when reading emails, websites, documents, planning trips or whatever.
That said, I would never pay that kind of price, neither for a foldable, nor for an iPhone so I guess I'm out of that market niche anyway.
Finally, it’s also part of my three monitor setup for my laptop. The other is a portable USB C powered monitor.
Jokes aside, I never found the bed to be comfortable for any kind of content consumption, even reading books is annoying. And when I already sit upright I might as well have a keyboard too.
I also like to think that long-term maybe they will have the ability to fold out along more than one dimension and potentially be dramatically larger than this, but that's just dreaming at this point.
Not convinced. Having to move back and forth between two devices is a pain. Just like how a powerful laptop with a docking station is much nicer than a cheap laptop and a desktop, even if the former costs more.
I do that a couple times a day. Almost everything that I do with these devices stays in sync through various accounts/cloud in the background. Admittedly I'm just doing this at home, but when I travel, I pretty much always bring my iPad (in addition to the iPhone and my Apple Watch which are on me as long as I'm dressed and awake). I don't have it set this way at the moment, but you can even have any app that you install automatically get added to the other device.
It's very different than a typical laptop/desktop situation since those are harder to sync (depending on what OS/apps/files/etc are involved). However if a lot of what you do is in the cloud, then maybe switching between laptop and desktop is more fluid.
It’s 1600 for iPad Pro alone in Europe.
> I mean, sure, you're not going to fit an iPad in your pocket, but do you really need to?
Yes.
> And when it's out, it's more productive to have a separate tablet and phone, than just one device that's trying to do it all.
Majority of people care about convenience, not productivity.
I'd say the market is heavy cellphone users that use apps that benefit from the larger screen.
I don't understand this type of justification.
My fridge would cost around $65k for a 15 year lifetime at $0.50/hour.
It just seems like a completely meaningless way to judge the value of something.
I brew at home and it's 10p for me, is that what you mean?
Neglecting the cost of the $20 press, the water, the kettle, the rinse-water, the mug, and the heating of the water, that's about $0.33 USD / cup?
You'd pay double the price for double the screen size (if more screen size serves a useful purpose to you)
It's really not that hard of a concept to grasp.
I had a 55' TV and I also bought an 85' TV.
I had a 24' monitor. I also bought a 34' monitor
Not a difficult concept to grasp
> I had a 24' monitor. I also bought a 34' monitor
So huge! I don't think I could even fit a 24' monitor in my house. How would you get it through a door?
The newly announced Pixel Tablet screen is 4 times larger than the newly announced Pixel 7a, and they're the same price.
Is the Pixel Tablet supposed to be $2k because the screen is 4x larger?
I really don't know what either of you are talking about with these strange thoughts on pricing.
A concept not hard to understand.
It's to judge it based on the value it gives you per unit of time.
It's the entire justification for investing less in things you use less, and investing more in things you use more. That we generally receive benefits not in one-offs but spread out over time.
Something might not sound so expensive if you frame it as $0.50/hour of use. But it certainly does if there's an alternative that meets your needs that you can get for $0.10/hour of use.
There have been a bunch of times in my life when I delayed purchasing or felt guilty about purchasing something genuinely valuable but very expensive.
But then when you're in year 5 or 7 of using it daily, you're like... best use of my money ever. That's the point here.
If you spend a ton of time needing a large screen, using this for 3 years might be that expensive purchase that pays off for you.
That doesn't make it worthless to figure the approximate cost per time used of a couple of different beds, maybe even a nice one.
Classic sales reframing tactic for obscene 500%+ margin products: You should buy this thing far above market rate because it's worth a lot to you, not because it's priced at a realistic BOM + labor + reasonable profit margin.
The technology is still in an awkward phase but I think slab phones will be obsolete in 5 years
Also feels good to "close" the phone. In ways that locking doesn't quite reach.
Not surprised at all by the cost it's a lot different product and very new. There's people paying 1K for normal phones.
I feel like carrying small phone and a tablet/laptop is still a significantly better value any way you look at it unless you travel a lot without any storage on your human. I found the most ergonomic travel setup for me is a Lenovo Yoga laptop and the small samsung s22. Both of which can be bought for less than 1800$.
I don't like carrying a bag with my MacBook if I can avoid it
An iphone was also amazing unique and expensive when it first came out. But by todays standards - a $100 android phone is both more powerful and a lot cheaper.
If I could have both in one device, that'd be awesome.
So far however (besides the fact that only Android has foldables), the very visible crease is a dealbreaker for me.
That's what I thought too, but after speaking with a Samsung Fold something owner, and testing it for some time, it's mostly visible only in some angles. Also I imagine it's like notches and holes, you get used and forget about them.
And yea, what you stated is why I want a foldable phone
Best extra $400 spent per year or so.
If you have all the money in the world the most expensive / exclusive phone you can get is an iPhone, Samsung Fold, or this Pixel Fold.
$118,500 for a diamond-encrusted dumbphone that's still running Symbian, anyone?
There’s a million ways to show off you are rich that would not result in you wasting your time.
https://www.wired.com/story/we-tried-vertus-web3-phone-it-sc...
>“Vertu has changed hands lots of over the past decade, but is still being run by a bunch of folks based out of Hong Kong, very close to the Chinese supply chain,” says Neil Shah of Counterpoint Research. “These folks with renewed focus are rebadging existing models from brands—ZTE, for example—with luxury materials and advanced hardware and software.”
I met a guy once who got sent to Dubai for a week and his only job was to visit all the places a wealthy person might want to go to, while carrying a Vertu phone in his bag. They wanted to check signal strength.
The folding bit has no value to me, but even if it did, that price point is unacceptable. A phone is something I carry every day and don't treat like a delicate flower. If it costs so much that losing or breaking it would bring financial pain in addition to the pain of the loss of the phone, it's not suitable for my needs.
That said, I'm being overly cautious because I've never actually lost or broken a phone.
I don't have a tablet and wouldn't want one as a dedicated device, but I could absolutely see myself using the tablet features of the Pixel Fold, given that I wouldn't be carrying around an extra device, and it's pocket-sized when folded up. (I usually read a book on my phone when on transit, for example, and would love to be able to do that on a larger screen.) But carrying around a $1800 device that's as easily breakable as a phone? I think I'd be too anxious for that.
That said, not at this price point and with Pixels not known for their hardware quality. Maybe I’ll wait for when Apple inevitably does their foldable.
I mean not new for humanity, but for Apple.
By comparison, the standard of "splitting" a single screen results in something that is often too small and awkward to use and with too little screen space for comfortable viewing.
On the site, if you use Google Fi Wireless, and you keep your service for 24 months, then they prorate $700 discount for each month.
Why: I read a lot (pdf, not epubs) and I watch videos a lot.
The problem is that they're using the wrong fold. I want my screen to EXTEND outwards. I don't want to go from one screen to open yet another screen. I want it to intuitively either extend, or allow me to fold OUT my content, not in.
Besides, if this lasts at least 4 years then the amortised price is more reasonable.
Turns out... Plenty. Just like foldables. Samsung has been doubling shipments every year.
$400 is better.
$175 is good.
$50 is great - need subsidies from the carrier for this, IMO.
2. Really excellent emulation device. Powerful enough hardware and phenomenal screen. I use it as-is in portrait mode for the best possible DS emulation on-the-go. I can at least 4x the resolution in almost all games. I can also slap a gamesir controller thing on either side to turn it into a sort of switch-style emulation device. I play ps2, ds, 3ds, gba, gamecube, n64, snes, and nes games on it.
3. Good game streaming device. Mount the controllers on it and use moonlight or steam link to stream from my desktop PC, even if I'm not on local network. Or, use nvidia geforce now or whatever it's called. There's a separate link to servers here in Taiwan through taiwan dageda, so I get ridiculously good connection.
4. Pretty good note taking device with the stylus. This is the use case that drove me to purchase. I'm always experimenting with various ways of (handwritten) note taking, especially on books I read, and having all my notes right there on my phone is really, really nice. I never "forget my notebook" now. Well, unless I forget the stylus lol, or it falls out of my pocket, which has happened 3 times now, and the styluses are an absurd like 50$ or something, so, this device is not nearly ready for mainstream consumption. Similarly, it's great for banging out quick engineering diagrams or designs. I can export to image and throw directly on a ticketing system, or upload into slack. Nice flow, if I get a question from a junior when I'm on a train or whatever.
5. Reading books is very nice on it.
6. Using music-making apps, especially ones with piano rolls and keyboards, is phenomenal. I really wish it had an aux plug though. The jellyphone 2 has that and is the size of a pill bottle, and has dual sim and removable SD storage. No excuses. Although, my version of the galaxy fold 3 does have dual sim.
7. The width of the screen when folded is actually usable on my smaller hands. This was another big driver for getting it. Hilariously, my initial reason for looking for my next phone was, I was tired of big phones, and wanted one I could actually use one handed. Funnily enough the narrow width (that so many people complain about) of the galaxy zfold3 was a big selling point for me.
8. Using maps is really nice on it, and I'm doing this constantly because we're always exploring Taiwan.
In all, I don't think I'm down to drop another 1.8k (1.4 for me because I got it on contract) on a phone any time in the near future. When this phone bites the bullet (and the inner screen is already "tightening" and reducing the flatness of the unfolded state, so one of these days I'm sure I'll overextend and crack the thing) I'm going to get a nice small android something, I heard the Asus zenfone 9 is a good size at a fair price.
As cool as all the features are, it's not like I have all THAT much time to game or make music on my phone, and worse case, I can just toss the thing into my plane-toys bag when I have flights or whatever. The notes taking feature I still use occasionally, especially for diagrams, but I've since moved to a onyx boox e-ink tablet for that, mostly because this lets me hand-write annotate epubs, a feature I've wanted on a device for like, 15 years lol.
So, after ~1 year of using the galaxy zfold 3, I can say, it was worth the money ONLY because it fulfilled like 8 usecases for me. Take away even a couple of those and there's no way it's worth it. A better alternative would be a jellyphone or pixel + a small affordable android tablet in the bag with a stylus. Spend the remaining on a previous version op1 or opz if you're really into music making, or a steam deck if you're really into gaming. Or shit both lmao, you're right that 1.8k is an insane amount of money.
Edit: looking through the marketing material, I'm not seeing any stylus usage on the pixel version. Even if a stylus would technically work, if the responsiveness and sensitivity doesn't allow for note taking, this thing doesn't make any sense to me. On the samsung foldables, the responsiveness of note taking with the stylus beat out literally every other device I've ever tried it with. It is phenomenal.