Being the age I am, I’m just old enough to remember flip-phones.
A relatively simple concept that has been on my mind lately for reasons I’ll get to. Widely considered obsolete unless you just want a cheap phone to make calls etc., these phones featured a screen on one side, a keypad on the other, with a hinge joint between the two.
The reason that this device has been dragged back to the front of my brain in recent weeks is because I am reminded of them every time I see this:
To be clear: I’m aware that this foldable iphone is not the first foldable modern smartphone (I know Samsung released them years ago also).
But I’m also left wondering: what is the point? I think I can perfectly understand the use of flip phones as they were when they were popular, but foldable phones I just can’t see the benefit. As far as I can see, these foldable type of phones offer little to no benefit that you couldn’t get from, say a regular iPhone or Samsung phone, in terms of the consumer and how they are used in general life. I get that the hardware/software may be different, but that’s not going to be a factor in most people’s daily lives (you’re not going to care about the type of core, or the screen resolution when you make a phone call, etc.) It seems like it’s more of a gimmick from the companies making them to try and make more sales, but even if that’s the case, the product must have something unique to offer, so what is it about foldable phones that are so unique besides the gimmick of folding?
The iPhone Duo (pictured above) makes a good case. It’s a 5.4" phone and iPhone users have been calling for a sub-6" phone for years. Now they can get one, albeit at $1999 to start. Then it opens up to a tablet-sized device for media consumption. So it’s convenient.
I think there’s a greater point to be made here, and it’s the folding screen itself. I think it’s a modern marvel of technology, and it would not advance like it has without mass adoption. Folding phones are pushing that, so the tech is getting better. I don’t really see much of a point for it, but I’m glad it exists and a mass market product is driving costs down, and R&D up.
There are a lot of neat things the Duo does, but none of them are essential to what I do, and certainly not for the cost. For example, I do use StandBy, the iPhone feature where if it’s charging and it’s on its side, it turns into a clock. The Duo does it in “tent” mode, which means it’s open halfway and it’s standing on its sides, with its hinge up in the air. The outer screen displays the clock face. Problem is, a regular iPhone can do the same thing with a FlyGrip, a PopSocket, or a $1 picture frame or plate holder you got at Goodwill. I have a $9 phone stand I use at my bedside.
I think it’s funny that Samsung and other Android OEMs have been making them for years, but now that Apple is also making them, people are starting to ask questions. Maybe they had the questions before, but they weren’t worth the time to ask when their brand wasn’t making them. And that’s fair. Unlike Android, iOS doesn’t exist to vacuum up all your personal data and sell it to advertisers. So it’s perfectly reasonable to be skeeved out by the advertising company that makes phones and the phone OS everyone else uses. Samsung isn’t an ad company, but they have to include all the data collecting bits. Gods forbid they make their own OS. Oh wait, they did, it was called Tizen and nobody wanted it.
To be fair, I did have questions back then, I just didn’t have Lemmy lol. Thanks for your share.