RIP to my Pixel Fold: Dead after four days
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
>This plastic layer is critical to the OLED's survival, but it doesn't stretch to the edges. Every company that builds these screens leaves a margin around the perimeter of the display where there is no plastic layer, just a raw, exposed OLED panel peeking out into the world. We would normally expect a foldable to break along the crease, where the screen sees the most stress. But mine died due to this exposed OLED gap.
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>The scary part for Google customers is that a broken Pixel Fold means dealing with the company's notoriously unhelpful support team. Horror stories are a regular occurrence on the /r/GooglePixel subreddit, where users have called Google Support "hilariously incompetent" and a "nightmare" to deal with, begging the company to improve. It's one thing to ship normal glass smartphones, but these fragile foldables will put more stress on Google's support network
I love the idea of tablet like foldables but they're still very much in an experiment phase. I think they won't be mainstream for a few years still.
I mean, it's not a huge deal if these expensive devices fail or are not perfect simply because the people that buy them generally can also afford to lose them. These are not really "premium" in the sense of being high quality but more like an open beta or an early screening. You get to be there first.
Many years ago I bought the Nokia phone that had 5 cameras. It was the first phone to have so many cameras and it took really nice pictures, but honestly, it was a pretty bad phone. But it felt really good to be on the edge of this "compute photography" game. Now every phone comes with 3 or even 4 cameras.
You get a bunch of cocky guys together that say “well the foldable phone is feasible and within our budget, let’s impress people’s demands”
Instead of taking a step back and wondering if pressing this hard is really worth the effort. Like there’s really a convincing need for a folding screen other than quickly tiring party tricks before it goes back to being a boring large Android phone.
Steve was an ass, he thought the average consumer was dumb and didn’t know what they wanted. I couldn’t imagine him catering this hard.
The size reduction of the iPod nano was an example of something consumers found compelling. It was a success and it took a lot of effort to reduce size/price
The takeaway from this is:
Google has taken on the risk factor of a releasing a screen no other company has achieved thus far for a small market that will at most benefit their image.
I just don’t think it’s a surprise Apple isn’t trying to create a seamless Nintendo DS like device so business men can pretend they’re reading WSJ in cyber dystopian 1987.
Dumb
Except Samsung has had foldable phones for a few years now.
Perhaps while I was writing this long winded rant, I could’ve used my extra screen to read all about it.
There also already are rumors that Apple is also experimenting with foldable devices. To think they wouldn’t at least explore this is folly, especially within their iPad line.
Over a decade later, who really cares what a 90s/00s era Steve Jobs might be doing today? Personally, I currently use Apple products almost exclusively and I wasn’t attracted to any of their devices until a post Jobs Apple. What Apple does best is take and existing idea or product, refine it, and make it better (for some, but certainly not all). If they can tackle the foldable market, I’m sure their devices will sell.
I guarantee you though that Apple will "invent" a foldable phone in a few years and you'll use a different Steve Jobs quote to shower praises on Apple.
What I wonder is how this escaped any kind of field testing without discovering this problem. Or even how it made it out of design. How does that protective plastic not go to the edge? And TIL that if you buy a foldable, you're getting a screen protector whether you like it or not.