North Ladders

Samsung’s new foldable phone has always been with me when I’ve been out and about for the past few days. Of course, this is more for testing purposes, but I also like to play a fun game when I see people I know. I took them all out and put them in front of the man to see his reaction.

Surprisingly, however, there’s still something in our lizard brain that makes the clamshell form factor appealing. The stupid phone has left its mark on us for decades. Maybe it’s a consolation shot. It’s also possible that we all have great unresolved stress on the phone. In the last decade, the screens and phones in their homes have gotten bigger and bigger. This is an unexpected trend in the electronics world – especially for the devices we carry.

What is somewhat surprising here is that the purpose of the fold function is quite different. Galaxy Z Flip does not allow you to take your tablet with you. Compared to the Fold’s 7.6-inch display, it makes perfect sense at 6.7 inches when the Flip is open. It’s the same as the iPhone Pro Max and slightly less than the Galaxy S22 Ultra. As of 2020, it’s not a phone with a huge screen.

But the ability to close it, put it in your pocket, and take it with you has broad appeal. It helps that Galaxy Z Flip is a good product. Sounds good and makes sense – it has a practical purpose after the initial novelty wears off. We were testing genes in the early days of the phablet. In short: Whether the device fits in your jeans pocket makes all the difference. In an age of unstable body-to-screen ratios, the answer is surprisingly no.

Fortunately, while the screen sizes continue to increase, the tech has managed to shrink the phone around the screen. It’s easy to see that folds are the next step in this evolution. We have less and less stuff in our pockets. Cell phones do a lot of work; as credit cards, identification and more and more keys. For those of us who still carry our wallets (criminals), weight loss is very important. Samsung may not have noticed at first, but it was developing solutions to the huge mobile trend that led to its creation.
Foldable objects offer such a future. Aside from the initial complaints about the first Galaxy Fold, the two most pressing issues were 1) the very limited display on the front and 2) it was big and heavy. The company pretty much covered the first point (I’ll save that for my foldable review), but the second issue persists.

One of the selling points of foldable devices is their relative portability and this shows itself in a different, bigger, heavier way. It’s easy to see that future updates address the Fold’s relative weight, perhaps changing the overall perception of the hardware, but for now, the Flip is easily beaten. It’s too early to say whether the clamshell form factor is the future of foldable devices, but it seems safe to say that the future is now.

The device still suffers from a mostly useless front display. It still has 1.9 inches and a resolution of 512 x 260. At first glance, the limitations of the hardware are obvious. Used almost exclusively for notifications – weather, clock and calendar reminders. You can add some widgets, but this is a way to check the information at a glance without having to unlock your phone.

I appreciate the design language the company has nailed here, and the matte finish on the outside of the glass feels good in the hand. Samsung is also ahead.