Why 2021 still didn’t sell me on foldable phones
2021 can go down as the year of folding phones have ceased to be a proof of expensive concept and finally went mainstream.
This was the year when the execution began to correspond to this immense futuristic promise, and where significant improvements in quality of life and reduce the price finally made the scope of ordinary consumers.
While I am one of the “ordinary consumers”, however, I do not count with the foldable converts. There are still too much rough, annoying edges, and open issues surrounding this section on the market.
Galaxy test
I looked at the foldable market near in 2021, both personal interest (I like a lot of new brilliant gadgets) and a sense of professional duty.
As an independent technical writer, I had it in search and write about the latest foldable phones for many press articles and features. But my current point of view of foldable phones really only took shape in August, when I received the two most striking examples of the format for testing.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 arrived together, wrapped in a big bright black box. They made an instant impression on me and a big positive part about it.
If there is an archetypal foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is surely. Essentially a 8-inch tablet flyer with the “normal” phone functionality bonus when it is closed, it will certainly stroll the same foldable design path that the tastes of Huawei, OPPO, and the honor have been or will be deposited shortly .
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is slightly lower than the current – a valve device that serves essentially as an ordinary phone folded in half. It is definitely cute, with a pointed style that shouts fashion accessory. It also reminds me a bit of the Game Boy Advance SP, which is never a bad thing.
Perhaps the best of all, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 finally brought the price of a foldable phone below (about) £ 1,000. Here was the first device you could recommend to a general public.
clam
The official TechRadar opinion of the two phones have been positive. They are both great handsets with the Galaxy 3 Fold take a half-star lead like “the best foldable phone so far” and “the first foldable phone we recommend to people who normally say the first to adopt”.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3, for its part, is “the best you can buy Clamshell Foldable”. I agree with each of these statements. But I still do not buy either phone myself.
In my own prolonged trial period, I found that I like using the flip 3 more than the fold 3 day. The CLAMSHELL plus compact phone form factor makes it more comfortable to use as a phone itself. Galaxy 3 Fold proved to be far too thick and heavy.
The 3 fold weighs 271g and measures between 14.4mm and 16 mm thick when closed. For the context, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra – a universally universally exhausted 2021 flagship telephone – weighing 234g and measures about 12 mm when you factor in the Mammouth camera module.
While the flip 3 is more practical than his big brother, I’m not quite very sure of what he is for. While the fold 3 truly justifies his Chunky form factor every time I play Slay the Spire (the fold being the only phone series that does justice game Roguelike wonderful) or the display of a worksheet, I do not Ai never found a practical justification for the folding reverse nature.
Of course, it slips easily into a pocket, but not much better than my iPhone 13 Pro. I can imagine that there is a case for those who have small pockets get something out of it, or those who wear their phone in small handbags. But in my experience, Flip 3 shape factor is a gimmick.
