Technology

👉😎👉

Well played.

In the US, they were called Quarterpounder Technologies.

From a user perspective: A tablet that folds up to the size of a phone. Or a phone that flips to the size of a compact little square.

From a business perspective: A phone with an extremely fragile screen that will require frequent replacement and a hinge that has limited life, ensuring customer retention and re-purchasing.

I do keep a loose eye on them, especially flips as I like the idea of a phone that can fold up really small for tiny pockets. Their unfathomable prices and durability issues put me off, though. I have seen foldables that have been kept past the usual 2-year contract window and... oof. They do not age gracefully. For the $1,800-$3,200CAD asking price that is unacceptable. Does not help that the only foldables with major retail presence here are from Samsung and Samsung's customer service and warranty support here is atrocious.

I love it and would hate to go back. You have a normal sized phone that can make various otherwise awkward activities on small factor quite comfortable unfolded: note taking, film watching, reading, Internet in general.
It is so good to be able to whip this out anytime, anywhere.

It literally replaced 3 other devices for me that I used to drag around to cafes, work and when travelling.

I considered this overpriced bs until I got to try my friends device. Now I just consider it overpriced.

I have a mini iPad in my pocket when I want a bigger screen and finally have a phone I can use with one hand. I can't go back lol

One reason why I can never go back to non-foldables: restaurant menus. (Or any document/book reading, for that matter.)

It's amazing for videos and games too.

For me it would be to have a single device that could work as both a phone and tablet, so compact when folded for portability while having the option for using a big screen when needed.

Writing this from my first ever large foldable I got just a few days ago: They're cool! The large screen is great for watching videos, reading a book or playing a game! Browsing the web is also pretty sweet.

And the Flip foldables are really great for small pockets, had one previously.

I got to buy a flip and a fold for QA purposes for work. I test drove them for a few days before handing them over.

I daily drive an s24 ultra so I'm a fan of big phones already.

The use case for the fold is for anything where you would rather have a tablet. Some people would rather consume media on a bigger device. The real downside to me with the fold was the thickness while folded. It was uncomfortably thick in my pocket. And then of course there's the inability to have any decent protection on the phone, and the lack of water resistance.

Now the flip on the other hand, I really enjoyed that device. It opened up to the same size as a decently large phone, you could fold it up and throw it in your pocket, It was protected.

They're both too damn expensive. You could buy the biggest baddest flagship phones with the most beautiful screens and cameras for the same price as something that just folds up a little smaller in your pocket.

They look flash as heck.

The only usecase for foldables that made sense is that since phones keep on getting bigger, so having a foldable phone would save some pocket space. However, I think phones stopped growing after 6" and foldable phones have been considerably more expensive. People are just more comfortable with a normal "slab" phone.

It says foldable phone in the title. Do you mean that you were unsure if it was a portable smartphone or a landline phone?

Were there any non-smartphone foldable makers?

I went without a foldable for two weeks once and it was incredibly frustrating. Couldn't get used to not being able to open the phone to get a closer look at pictures and restaurant menus. The zoom-and-scroll technique on a tiny phone screen is annoying as hell once you're used to not having to do it anymore. I can never go back to a non-foldable ever again. Thankfully used ones are pretty affordable. Just upgraded my Samsung Fold 3 to a Fold 4 for only $400.

My folded phone is worse in every way to a regular phone. It is a gimmick.

May not be one day but currently not there.