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Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

One thing I love about metric paper is the beauty of the simplicity: When you fold it, it maintains its ratio. This is because it is 1:1.41, aka 1:sqrt(2)

When I saw that this new phone is 1:1.4, I instantly appreciated why it is that way. Metric paper wins again!

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The aspect ratio is the biggest problem with foldables.

The main reason I'd want a bigger display is for more immersive content like videos, which are typically 16:9. On a Pixel Fold, you have all the added complexity of the fold to make the videos you watch on the train 1cm taller.

The iPhone Duo unfolds to be the same height as the iPhone Pro Max. Sounds like it has the exact same problem - a bunch of added complexity without a practical use for it.

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> Touch ID is integrated into the side button

Another major flaw with the foldable form factor - it's hard to distinguish holding the device e.g. to pocket it and holding the device to use it. My foldable does the smartphone equivalent of butt-dialing way more often than any phone I've had before because it likes to unlock itself when I'm putting it in my pocket

Great point.

For media consumption on the go, I use AR glasses. They are considerably cheaper than the upgrade from an 18Pro to a Duo, and give you an absolutely giant screen.

Which AR glasses? I'm looking more for a travel MacBook virtual display that doesn't weigh so much as the Vision Pro. I would gladly trade away most of the Vision Pro features, but I'm also a huge snob about pixel density so remains to be seen if I can tolerate alternatives.

3+ year old XREAL Air AR Glasses.

I bought them to code more effectively on my laptop at my then girlfriend (now wife)'s house. The display was too pixely and distracting for me to code on. However, its plenty good enough for videos.

For videos I mostly use it with my phone (16 pro). Some apps are great (Netflix, AppleTV) and are smart enough to turn off the iPhone screen. Others (VLC, HBO) leave the screen on and burn battery at 2x-3x the rate of AppleTV or Netflix. I can watch AppleTV or Netflix on a coast-to-coast flight an still have plenty of battery left over. With HBO I use probably 20% battery per hour.

iPads have the same issue (to a lesser extent) if you're really looking for a device primarily for fullscreen 16:9 video. To be honest, the iPhone Duo (and iPads) are much more suited for multiple tiled apps and multi-column app layouts than they are for fullscreen 16:9 video.

On the other hand, they’re great for classic TV and academy ratio films.

But the thing is the current iPhone is too long for video. You don’t need all the length for 16:9. The two ends are wasted space.

So your same video on the fold will be about an inch wider because it has the space to expand into in the other direction.

I enjoyed the subtle shade (presumably at Samsung) when they discussed existing foldables having an awkward size, and choosing their new ratios and the asymmetric form factor. One edge square, one edge rounded, so all edges are rounded when open.

I suppose Google too. Basically every single one.

It's literally the same size as the Z Fold 8. The Samsung is $100 cheaper too.

Yep, it's same "passport" form factor as the (non-ultra) Z Fold 8, I just bought one last week and love the size.

Almost as if they're buying the display from Samsung...

> I enjoyed the subtle shade (presumably at Samsung) when they discussed existing foldables having an awkward size

I don't think that was subtle shade...

That being said, short-and-wide foldables have been done before, they just never stuck around. Google should've stuck with it on their Pixel Fold, same for Oppo with the Find N.

Shame that the short-and-wide foldables took this long to become more mainstream, since to me it's been the obvious form factor ever since I tried the older Galaxy Folds.

Samsung’s choice of square corners makes more sense for this type of device.

I don't understand the value of the asymmetric corners, it seems to be working around their decision to have absolutely massive corner radius? Why would you want that?

I have a Z Fold 8 in the same passport form factor and it has slightly rounded corners on both the front and interior screen that are symmetrical along both axes. The usable space on the front screen is greater without those edges as it's just a ... normal phone screen?

Am I missing something?

My pockets don’t care much about ISO paper standards (not sure why you call it metric? That doesn’t have much to do with the metric system as far as I’m aware?)

B1 is exactly 1 meter tall.

Do you call ISO216 metric in the US? Where I’m from in Europe we just call it ISO/OSI or DIN standard format

Most people in the US aren't aware that everyone else uses a different size of paper. Heck, most people in the US aren't even aware that there are names for the sizes of paper we do use.

I'm pretty sure most people know letter and legal, some tabloid/ledger.

You'd be surprised how many people don't know the names, only "regular paper" and "long paper"

It's metric insofar that A0 has an area of exactly 1m².

Of all the ISO standards I wish the US would adopt, ISO216 would be it for me, hands down. I recently needed to buy some A6 thermal paper, a size no one seems to offer anymore. And who cares! Why would they! I can just buy an A4 sheet and cut it in half twice, no fuss.

Same here. I wish I could just use A4 paper, but usually when I put something on paper it is to share with others, who will not have an easy way to store or process it. It has to be a widely mandated switch.

Like only allow A* paper for government forms or something that would force everyone to switch their paper handling infrastructure to A*.

As a reference point, I’ve stubbornly been using A4 paper in both USA and Canada for years now with governments and businesses. Never had any problem with IRS, passport agency, CRA refusing to accept them, or even mentioning it at all in person.

No problem buying it either, though it’s about 2x the price of letter. (I go through about 100-200 sheets per year mostly due to my daughter drawing on it.)

I don’t actually store any printed paper since anything gets scanned and shredded, so no comment on long term filing.

(Due to this experience I recently partially switched to B5 paper, which is a nice size compromise instead of A5 which would be too small. Anything A4 will print to it without scaling issues of course, just takes up a bit less space.)

I think it would be pretty rare to find a paper "storage or processing " device that can accommodate letter but not A4.

Rare? A simple shipping cardboard box is sized to fit either A4 or letter sized piles of paper. Simple enough to change, but fairly common.

The US would need a president who is bullheaded enough to executive order a thing, like drop the penny or paper straws, but that also likes Europeans, so we might be waiting a while for a push from the US government. Printed media nerds, however, already know about benefits of A* and will switch as soon as they're in power and can spend the millions and millions of dollars it would cost their company to switch. Printed media is not as important as it once was, though, so the switch is really to start outputting PDFs as A4 and letting people print scale-to-fit when they actually need to print something you've sent them. Given how often my printer sees use, I doubt most people would notice if the PDFs you send them started being A4 instead of US letter.

As a reading device that is great, but as a phone that is wide.

But it makes it really weird to type one handed I think.

Nearly impossible to actually buy A4 paper in the US

I can have 10 reams of Hammermill 20lb in A4 at my door in less than a week for less than $100.

Amazon typically has it; https://www.amazon.com/Hammermill-Paper-letter-Bright-Sheets... by Friday. I occasionally need some for Australian paperwork and forget where I stashed it every time. Some day I'll open a closet and find 20 reams of the stuff with a page or two missing.

FWIW, the reviews mention the size is off haha, I assumed it was the usual chunk of buyers accidentally picking up A4 instead of Letter but it seems like the A4 itself is off: 8.5"x11.5-12" instead of the 8.5"x11".

You get it online. I keep it around to print booklets for certain community purposes. I can set latex for A5, design the pages, then print the A5 pdf to A4 paper booklet and Tex, Mac and Brother understand with zero further brain investment from me .. . Letterpaper is a nightmare

I had no problem buying a ream at Staples.

Apple's submarine introduction of A* papersizes to the US.

Oh man if this is what got the US to adopt metric paper I would be so happy.

… wait you don’t use A* paper sizes? wtf do you use then?

Letter, Legal, Tabloid, and Ledger:

https://papersizes.io/us

It's bizarre and makes no logical sense.

I always thought when people mentioned a “legal pad” in us tv shows they were referring to the colour which always for some inexplicable reason seemed to be… yellow or blue…

now i know…

I see a possible future where we have ultra thin devices that can be successively unfolded to larger formats based on this ratio, making size-based product variety obsolete. After that we get screen origami.

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