Unfortunately I purchased this device on impulse with a carrier deal over the summer. The idea that my phone could be a tablet as well being essentially an all in wonder device was incredibly appealing.
In practice however the experience leaves a lot to be desired. Very few apps are developed with foldables in mind and either stretch to accommodate the extra real estate or take up a fraction of the display. Sure you can multitask side by side apps, but I have very little reason to ever do that.
That leaves watching media on the larger screen. Unfortunately even that is hampered by the aspect ratio with black bars accommodating such a large portion of the display the actual viewing area is barely larger than a slab device if at all.
The hardware is also lackluster. Google decided to put a last generation processor in this years most expensive phone for some reason. Also the camera is worse than last year’s Pixel release (7 Pro). The phone is very very heavy and even when closed I often need it to rest on something to be able to use it for any amount of time.
Such a bummer. I’m stuck with a phone I hate until next year when I can ditch it for an early upgrade. I received $800 off on a carrier deal but it’s given in monthly bill credits which locks me in paying MSRP of I want to cut my losses.
Fortunately next year I can do an early upgrade, but for now I’m stuck with this damn thing. I should have waited for the Pixel 8.
The issue with the fold is that it opens into a tablet from factor that Android has notoriously been awful at supporting. Even after the release of their new tablet and now the fold their support is severely lacking. Ive owned both the pixel and Galaxy fold and experience wise the Galaxy fold is vastly superior. Just the fact that whenever you open the phone it’s defaults to a portrait mode means 99% of apps “just work” and the ones that support a tablet ui get 10x better. As cool as the passport form factor is and how bad (to some, not me) the Galaxy’s super thin design is, the pixel fold just cannot compete due to Google’s failings in gathering support for tablets. I ditched my pixel fold for my old Galaxy fold and couldn’t be happier.
I don’t think there’s not an audience however; old people who want a bigger screen, people addicted to their phone, kids for big screen gaming, all great examples of how foldables succeed. I honestly think most of the hate for them comes from the fact that they’re big and bulky, especially from a userbase like Lemmy, which from what I’ve seen are predisposed to small phones. I think if every carrier just gave out a Galaxy fold then everyone who didn’t care about a small form factor would fall in love. I sincerely believe that they are the future and am dying for apple to release one, since that’ll be the nail in the coffin for traditional slabs.
I’ve never used one, but I’m guessing that for someone who uses Rustdesk a lot, it’d be useful.