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Personally I think they're ugly. They might have some functional advantage, that I don't know. I believe they're going to be the cyber truck of mobile phones, p

by jrs235 1y ago

Personally I think they're ugly. They might have some functional advantage, that I don't know. I believe they're going to be the cyber truck of mobile phones, primarily a status symbol.

jemmyw 1y ago
I mean who cares that much what their metal slab looks like? I jest because I know lots of people do, but it really should be a thing primarily for function. I'd like a foldable if it had as nice cameras as my current phone.
- bartvk 1y ago
  If you make a lot of selfies then the camera is actually better. When making selfies on a regular phone, you use the front-facing camera which is often sub-par. But with the Samsung Folds, you use the main camera for selfies (you flip open the phone, and see the viewfinder on the outside screen).
  - jemmyw 1y ago
    I never make selfies
seec 1y ago
Yes but it's not ugly in the look/fashion sense, it's just ugly because it doesn't match a reality where it has a purpose. Either they have good form factor closed but they suck open or they have good form factor open but they suck closed. They could go with no external screen but it would be much more annoying to use. And I think it says something fundamental about smartphones, that Steve Jobs intuitively understood: it's a good tool when you can pull it out of your pocket and use it in seconds (preferably one-handed when possible). Having a bigger screen but that needs to be unfolded doesn't add any benefits to this primary need and ends up requiring a lot of compromises (weight/volume, compromising pocket ability) for uses cases that are infrequent and would be better served by a typical table anyway. Funnily enough, in those situations you are quite likely to have the bag to carry this solution so the foldable phone becomes moot. To make things worse, they are ridiculously expensive, often more than what it would cost to buy both an equivalent phone and tablet, which is at the same time stupid and genius. And yes, this is precisely why they are a social status thing. You have to be quite affluent to buy something so practically stupid, you are basically burning cash. I find folding phones interesting for what they so aptly demonstrate about life in general: no matter how hard you try, you can't have it both ways.
- baby 1y ago
  I'm reading your comment like a review of smartphones from a nokia 8210 user
  - seec 1y ago
    Hey I'll take that as a compliment. I'll say this: I live in France and when Apple announced the first iPhone, I imported it from the US at great costs. So, it's not like if I am a luddite, I'm just able to understand what's good and useful while you may not.
    - noosphr 1y ago
      The iPhone was released nearly 20 years ago. This would be like someone in 2007 bragging that they aren't a Luddite because they bought windows 1.0 when it came out.
      - seec 1y ago
        What are you even saying? It's funny you think I'm bragging. Here is the thing, people are buying foldables only to show off, the functionality/usefulness makes no sense for the vast majority of people. Which is why they are still expensive and it will stay that way. Even tech reviewers with infinite choices and zero affordability issues are not using them. If they were any good, they would be using them daily, but it's not the case. What I'm saying about the first iPhone is that it was good and useful on release day, even though it was a flawed product missing many things that would only come later. And the cost wasn't a problem. We have had many generations of foldables with improvement/refinements everywhere and they are still nowhere close to being ubiquitous or mainstream. At its 4th generation, Apple was selling 50 million iPhones globally even though it was one of the most expensive phones you could buy. We are in the 6th or 7th generation of foldable and they are not reaching anywhere near those numbers. Even if the price would come close to a regular smartphone it's doubtful that most would pay up because there are other compromises. Fundamentally, foldables are niche products for tech geeks or people who like to show off, they will stay niche, just like VR and 3D before them. I have been right on both of those before, do you want to make a bet?
baby 1y ago
That's the thing, all phones are ugly, but folding phones bring such life improvements that nobody seems to care. I bought mine because it's useful, it's weird to read that someone would think that it's a status symbol. Are noise canceling headphones a status symbol too for you?
- jrs235 1y ago
  Noise cancelling is a feature and useful. Airpods? Annoying, I can't tell if the person on the sidewalk is trippin' or talking to someone on the phone via their difficult to see airpods.
user34283 1y ago
The functional advantage should be obvious as soon as you open a book or website. Particularly so if the content has a table, grid, or similar. Typing isn't perfect, but it's somewhat better. Photos and images are so much better on the foldable. For videos the advantage isn't so great, but at least you don't need to rotate the phone. You can watch both horizontal and vertical content. Considering how most customers prefer a large phone, I'd rather bet on foldables becoming the default.

by jrs235 1y ago

Personally I think they're ugly. They might have some functional advantage, that I don't know. I believe they're going to be the cyber truck of mobile phones, primarily a status symbol.

jemmyw 1y ago

I mean who cares that much what their metal slab looks like? I jest because I know lots of people do, but it really should be a thing primarily for function. I'd like a foldable if it had as nice cameras as my current phone.

bartvk 1y ago
If you make a lot of selfies then the camera is actually better. When making selfies on a regular phone, you use the front-facing camera which is often sub-par. But with the Samsung Folds, you use the main camera for selfies (you flip open the phone, and see the viewfinder on the outside screen).
- jemmyw 1y ago
  I never make selfies

seec 1y ago

Yes but it's not ugly in the look/fashion sense, it's just ugly because it doesn't match a reality where it has a purpose. Either they have good form factor closed but they suck open or they have good form factor open but they suck closed. They could go with no external screen but it would be much more annoying to use. And I think it says something fundamental about smartphones, that Steve Jobs intuitively understood: it's a good tool when you can pull it out of your pocket and use it in seconds (preferably one-handed when possible). Having a bigger screen but that needs to be unfolded doesn't add any benefits to this primary need and ends up requiring a lot of compromises (weight/volume, compromising pocket ability) for uses cases that are infrequent and would be better served by a typical table anyway. Funnily enough, in those situations you are quite likely to have the bag to carry this solution so the foldable phone becomes moot. To make things worse, they are ridiculously expensive, often more than what it would cost to buy both an equivalent phone and tablet, which is at the same time stupid and genius. And yes, this is precisely why they are a social status thing. You have to be quite affluent to buy something so practically stupid, you are basically burning cash. I find folding phones interesting for what they so aptly demonstrate about life in general: no matter how hard you try, you can't have it both ways.

baby 1y ago
I'm reading your comment like a review of smartphones from a nokia 8210 user
- seec 1y ago
  Hey I'll take that as a compliment. I'll say this: I live in France and when Apple announced the first iPhone, I imported it from the US at great costs. So, it's not like if I am a luddite, I'm just able to understand what's good and useful while you may not.
  - noosphr 1y ago
    The iPhone was released nearly 20 years ago. This would be like someone in 2007 bragging that they aren't a Luddite because they bought windows 1.0 when it came out.
    - seec 1y ago
      What are you even saying? It's funny you think I'm bragging. Here is the thing, people are buying foldables only to show off, the functionality/usefulness makes no sense for the vast majority of people. Which is why they are still expensive and it will stay that way. Even tech reviewers with infinite choices and zero affordability issues are not using them. If they were any good, they would be using them daily, but it's not the case. What I'm saying about the first iPhone is that it was good and useful on release day, even though it was a flawed product missing many things that would only come later. And the cost wasn't a problem. We have had many generations of foldables with improvement/refinements everywhere and they are still nowhere close to being ubiquitous or mainstream. At its 4th generation, Apple was selling 50 million iPhones globally even though it was one of the most expensive phones you could buy. We are in the 6th or 7th generation of foldable and they are not reaching anywhere near those numbers. Even if the price would come close to a regular smartphone it's doubtful that most would pay up because there are other compromises. Fundamentally, foldables are niche products for tech geeks or people who like to show off, they will stay niche, just like VR and 3D before them. I have been right on both of those before, do you want to make a bet?

baby 1y ago

That's the thing, all phones are ugly, but folding phones bring such life improvements that nobody seems to care. I bought mine because it's useful, it's weird to read that someone would think that it's a status symbol. Are noise canceling headphones a status symbol too for you?

jrs235 1y ago
Noise cancelling is a feature and useful. Airpods? Annoying, I can't tell if the person on the sidewalk is trippin' or talking to someone on the phone via their difficult to see airpods.

user34283 1y ago

The functional advantage should be obvious as soon as you open a book or website. Particularly so if the content has a table, grid, or similar. Typing isn't perfect, but it's somewhat better. Photos and images are so much better on the foldable. For videos the advantage isn't so great, but at least you don't need to rotate the phone. You can watch both horizontal and vertical content. Considering how most customers prefer a large phone, I'd rather bet on foldables becoming the default.