they can make intricate folding devices now.
but making them repairable is somehow fucking impossible.
It’s not impossible for them to do. They just don’t want to do it.
I don’t want to cure cancer, I want to turn people into dinosaurs!
I suppose that would be an improvement for the people with cancer (assuming the options are mutually exclusive). I don’t think it would be that great for everyone else though so on balance I cannot support this idea.
I don’t understand the folding phone thing. It feels like tech now is all about creating ridiculous features and tech companies trying to convince us that we want them while ignoring things that would actually be worthwhile like repairable phones, headphones jacks and minimal bloatware.
I can actually see the value in a trifold like the one pictured. In your pocket it’s a phone. When you unfold it, it’s an iPad. You’re consolidating devices.
That said, I’m not a fan of folding lcd screen tech used today. It creases. I’d rather see three separate bezel-less screens that magnetically join to make a larger surface.
I see it the same way. I would love a tablet I could fit in my pocket.
Agreed. I have a Tab 9 next to the bed that would be great to not need. That being said, I also use it for sketching plans and as a full PC for VScode-server, and I’m pretty sure a folding phone won’t have that modularity with an attached keyboard. Bluetooth keyboard with stand may solve that, though.
Not many people get it until they get one. I got a fold 3 when it came out and have just upgraded to a fold 6 because i just couldn’t go back. Its a better form factor for a mobile computing device. Its a phone thats also a small tablet! I gave my old one to my wife who was always averse to getting a fold and she has told me multiple times since then that its her favourite phone shes ever had.
and she has told me multiple times since then that its her favourite phone shes ever had.
Doesn’t mean much because of loved one bias.
She doesn’t love me. :p
My condolences.
I’ve used a Z Fold 4 for two years now and it’s been the best phone I’ve ever had. Desktop versions of websites, on my phone, without feeling cramped. Two apps side by side, both roughly the size of a usual phone screen. Huge screen for retro emulation using a Bluetooth controller. All with still having a small screen for one handed use and more traditional scrolling.
Games like Hearthstone, Gwent, Chess, Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic, feel way more playable.
At this point, using any other device feels limited and cramped in ways that a big screen doesn’t.
My only complaint has been price, and I only got mine because my company paid for it
Same but with z fold 5 for one year. I am a sysadmin and its glorious for remoting into servers. You get plenty of screen space to have a keyboard and widscreen view of the desktop at the same time.
Same, the only downside is that I can never go back.
It is pretty useful and convenient if your use case suits it but I don’t think that fits the majority of people. For me my Fold 6 replaced my Kindle and Surface. It’s nice to able to open it up to read ebooks and manga since opened up, it’s pretty much the dimensions of a typical book. Also makes things a lot easier when I need to remote into a PC or SSH into stuff and is a really convenient sketch pad for ideas.
It’s also really neat that it’s not ridiculously wide like every other phone out there nowadays since I have small hands.
My Fold 3 lasted 3 years with no issues until I traded it in so I think they’re fairly well built.
In this case with the trifold, I personally think it’s way too big but I’m someone who’s never seen the point of tablets that were larger than 7 inches anyways. Always preferred a laptop at those sizes.
It’s really not bad, especially for reading, especially if your eyes aren’t what they used to be.
I didn’t get it either til I came across a Galaxy Fold demo unit at the mall.
It’s light, the expanded screen gives you lots of extra screen real estate without feeling too big or unwieldy, and when folded up you get a normal aspect ratio, at a thickness that’s comparable to other phones.I never really felt like a tablet would be useful for me, filling the “gap” between a laptop and a phone with essentially a ‘bigger phone’ I’d have to charge and carry always seemed silly: I’d rather just keep using my phone instead.
But when you merge both devices into one, it works. It really is a ‘bigger phone’, with the benefit of being able to choose when you want to use the extra screen real estate without having to swap devices.As someone who often tries to juggle multiple tasks on a phone*, I want one.
Shame they’re so expensive where I live. Looking at the used market, even the folds multiple generations behind are still too expensive.*Side note: Stock Android’s split screen implementation is shit.
The floating windows Xiaomi and other OEMs have is light-years ahead, Google should be ashamed.When the page doesn’t fit on the phone, it’s really stupid to zoom and scroll around to get stuff done.
I control my qBittorrent with a web interface and it’s way easier with a bigger screen. I don’t have to go grab the laptop, I can unfold the screen that’s already in my hand
Phone companies, listen to me, BUILT-IN KICKSTAND
Hey I actually like my phone kickstand. I use it… sometimes.
HTC glory days.
Three are lots of cards that have built in kickstands now, why not just get one of those?
More screen space in a smaller portable form is of tremendous use to some people - until projectors come of age at least.
Soon… Any … Day… Now… https://youtu.be/KbgvSi35n6o
I’ve never heard of that bracelet (surprise surprise) - talk about a pipe dream. I just want to be able to view diagrams and plans on something bigger than a phone. Whilst on site and off grid. And yes, I know they’re available on paper but… reasons. We use tough-tablets sometimes but their pretty cumbersome when not in use.
All the things that used to break phones got fixed, mobile OS changes got smaller and smaller, designed obsolescence required something that would get people to buy a new phone every 18 months. So here’s a hinge. Here’s TWO hinges!
Three hinges! Hinges everywhere… unhinged.
then the Rubix Magic
Phones have honestly flat lined. Back in 2011 me and my buddy were heavily into phones upgrading what felt like every few months to try the latest and greatest new features. Nowadays you get a marginally bigger optimized battery, upgraded camera, and a mildly upgraded screen, however you pay significantly more. The only people I know who upgrade on schedule are iPhone users. I’m upgrading every 5-7 years now and my next phones probably gonna be whatever I can get cheap enough
Companies don’t make as much money when it’s repairable. Washers and dryers used to last 20-25 years with a few repairs here and there. But companies weren’t making any money, so they started making unrepairable junk instead.
That has a name: built-in obsolescence, and it’s bad.
and the earth literally can not handle everyone doing that.
The all new Apple shoe laces! Because now we got you bitch! You thought you could escape ads while tying your shoes? Think again you sonobabich! It’s a Walmart October…sale! Everything… must go!.. bananas!.. $3.56/lb… American cheese 🧀… 56c/lb! …blowout sale…blowout prices!.. Walmart…
Hey! Get out of the way dude! It’s the elevator entrance! If you need more time with your laces take a seat over there!
… In other news, tree elderly cops were run over today while tying their shoes! The CDC suggests banning shoe lace ads unless they are about guns. The republican Senate has put forward the new constitutional ammunition amendment law that includes this and the deportation of anyone who isn’t a white guy. Women disagree entirely!..
this is going to be like the Gillette blades
That’d be cool. Buy one cheap phone frame, and a pack of 8 screen+electronics assys for $20,000.
They already stuck a screen on the back
Just… why…?
Gimme a fucking keyboard instead of extra screen size
they actually made one for this and it folds 🫨
they also give a keyboard for that extra screen size
Exactly, if you’re going to add mechanical elements that will break it better be a keyboard
https://youtu.be/e2n2ftM-MwI?si=F_1PfmfYQadCr9Zl
Clicks keyboard?
Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Folds.
Y’all are so stuck in the old linear thinking. Be brave, expand your mind. Rubik’s cube phone when?
Screw that, I want a phone that folds into a fucking origami crane
Holding out for the Anne Frank Trapper Keeper phone.
Do you mean Lisa Frank, the artist for colorful animals on school supplies, and not Anne Frank, the famous diarist who was killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust?
Shit. That’s a big oops. Been a very long day.
Lmao thank you for leaving your comment unedited.
An Anne frank fold out phone would be a hell of an art piece. I think it could give Lisa Frank a run for her money.
Ok, now I want an Anne Frank Trapper Keeper.
Holy shit we just witnessed Lemmy culture 🥲
I was really wondering if I had missed something about Anne Frank.
Or, perhaps a mashup of both???
I kinda always wanted Penny’s computer book from Inspector Gadget.
Clearly, so they could make an [email protected] animation. I mean, practicality is obviously not a factor here.
This technology gets interesting, when I can unfold a full 27" 2k screen.
LG has a roll up screen. (prototype). More practical.
Should just be a roll up projector screen and you wear the projector on your forehead like a lamp. Also it’s a lamp and you can project directions on the street when you’re lost at night.
Fuck Elon I got this. Give me money!
Sign me up for the Kickstarter.
Cue the Scroll PhoneTM.
I can’t even imagine the nightmare UI that would accommodate that type of screen.
Mechanically, I could see a device that has a slide down keyboard and a roll up screen. Functionally, I can’t see how it would be useful for daily smart phone actions like one-handed use or swipe-gestures.
A tablet that rolled uplike an ancient scroll would be kind of cool. We already have roll up keyboards.
Expanse hand terminal so close. Can have the iPhone rectangle kind or the slap it on your wrist kind.
What we really need is decentralized data and computing. Make phones super basic screens/radio hardware and all your data and computation done remotely. Makes hardware more renewable because you don’t need to buy one every 2 years, cheaper, and since it has so much less hardware you can do really cool designs like a single transparent glass chassis.
Are you suggesting to separate the modem/sensors from screen/battery/CPU/GPU? Probably like put the former in a watch and the latter kept as the same rectangle slab our phones are already in? That sounds neat.
Is it stupid? Yes! Yes it is certainly. But I’s it fucking stupid? It certainly is fucking.
Plastic screen on the outside seems nice when my gorilla glass screen still manages to scratch
Gorilla produces two main categories: high drop resistance, and high scratch resistance.
It’s not really possible to have both (hard vs flexible).I honestly would prefer plastic screens coming back. The issue with scratching in the pocket is solved by screen protectors and my phones always hold the longest after they had a crack that didn’t damage the display (internal stress is gone).
In that case there’s no downside then
This is dumb and stupid
Whilst I agree the technology is awesome, £2,000 for a phone, wow, no thanks.
I pick the category 'Things no one Asked For", for $25 Mr. Trebek.
Someone said the same about touchscreen when you were still a kid. If you don’t want it, don’t buy it.
I was an adult when touch screens properly took off, and I doubt this is in the same league.
There was some practical purpose to touch screens, whereas this thing is just unnecessary. I doubt it would have the same effect.
Having a phone that can turn into an iPad is probably going to get some use.
There is practical purpose to a touchscreen, the fact that short sighted people couldn’t see its usefulness is my actual point.
I’m just saying I don’t think the market is going to be big enough for these models to even get close to emptying shelves. Maybe it’s not the right time, I don’t know, I’m just finding it difficult to see any use where people would find it more appealing than the form factors and devices they already have.
