• mlg@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Bruh this comments section is making the wrong conclusions

    Clamshell design was and always will be the superior space format. There’s a reason why the DS and 3DS had so much homebrew, it was practically the successor to PDAs.

    Android foldables have barely scratched the surface in split screen and back screen utility, but the half size alone makes it very nice to carry.

    The real issue here is that yet another small groundbreaking OEM died because Android device development is an oligopoly. Google, Samsung, Motorola, and Oppo simply took the technology the moment it was revealed and immediately made competitor devices, regardless of initial quality, to get investors excited.

    No one was gonna invest in some small Chinese OEM if the big ones were gonna do the same thing and guarantee sales + existence.

    This exactly why Android feature development has stalled so hard. Everyone sits around twiddling their thumbs for several generations worth of phones until another startup comes up with a new feature they can implement for cash grab. It’s so bad we literally lost features like NFC bumping just to match what everyone else is doing.

    If some startup made a phone with the camera shifted an inch to the center, I can guarantee you the next pixel or galaxy will have it for literally no practical reason other than to prevent competition.

    • TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      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.

    • Blankenstejner@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      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.

    • Psythik@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      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.

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

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

    • Psythik@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      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.