- [Michael] I wanted to start this series on foldable phones
with a followup review
of the one I've been carrying since new years,
the one that official made foldables a thing
nearly a year ago, the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
But when I got the chance to spend a few days
with the newest, hottest,
most polarizing foldable phone in existence
I took a page out of Will McAvoy's book.
- Let's throw out the rundown.
- Oh boy.
- Welcome to life on a folding screen,
Mr. Mobile's exploration
of the biggest revolution in smartphones in over a decade.
Episode one, the four kinds of foldable explained.
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Now most folks don't own a folding phone yet
and for good reason; they're fragile, they're expensive,
and they're so new that they're also unproven.
In fact, whenever someone sees me in public with a foldable
I usually tell 'em you probably don't wanna buy this one
but the next generation, that might be worth a look.
Now because the category is so new
some companies aren't jumping with both feet
into actual literal folding screens yet.
Instead, they're making what I call faux-ldables.
Faux-ldable, it works better on paper.
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This is the category that's been around the longest
because it's the simplest.
These are phones or tablets with two screens
joined by a hinge.
The first time most of us saw one of these
was the Kyocera Echo from 2011
followed by Sony's Tablet P the year after.
The category went quiet for a few years after those failed
until ZTE revived it with its Axon M in 2017.
Well, tried to revive it anyway.
Until Microsoft launches its Surface Duo and Neo,
the only company flirting with this dual screen approach
in a big way is LG with removable cases
like this one here for its latest V60.
LG has some good ideas here.
You can launch any app you want automatically
on the second screen so every time you open it up
you jump right into Twitter or your calendar
and you still got a whole other screen
to do with what you want.
If you wanna use LG's keyboard
you can devote a whole screen to it
and make your phone into a mini laptop.
There's dedicated software for gaming
which I've yet to try out but it looks pretty cool,
multitasking is obviously easier,
and because there's not bleeding edge folding display
it's a more durable design.
The phone half has actual dust proofing
and water resistance.
The thing is, well just look at this thing.
I'm sorry but LG has taken a lifeless lump of a phone
and strapped on a brutalist brick of a case.
It looks like a shrunken netbook from 2009.
And more to the point,
I can just never stop seeing that seam between the screens.
Dual screen diehards will argue
that it's made specifically for multitasking.
You put one app over there and one over here
and they're meant to be kept separate and I get that,
but that argument breaks down once you admit, as you must,
that you can do the same exact thing on a folding screen.
That's why for me a true foldable is the superior option.
See when I look at a foldable, tablet-style smartphone
I see the product all those dual-screen smartphones
are trying to be.
I can run two apps side by side on my fold,
in fact I can run three
and give each one it's own little slice of this big canvas
or I can use the entirety of that canvas for one app
and if I do, I only have to put up with this little seam
that I can barely see not the big bezel gutter
of the dual screen design.
As you'll know if you're a subscriber,
that versatility pays off.
At this point
I think I've done four or five Galaxy Fold videos
so you've heard me talk about how the fold was great
for juggling StreetEasy and Google Maps
on my Brooklyn apartment hunt.
Now because it's almost exactly the size of an Amazon Kindle
it's my new preferred reading companion.
How wonderful it is
to have a tablet-sized screen when you want it
that breaks down into pocket size when you don't.
A word on nomenclature here.
We call this broad category an innie
to distinguish them from the Huawei coming next.
With an innie the primary display folds over onto itself
so when the phone is closed
its outer casing envelops and protects it.
Now that is crucial
because folding screens are extremely fragile
and it also means you need a secondary outer display
to be able to use the phone while it's closed.
The need to fit two screens into 1/2 the device
means the phone gets thicker or the display gets less useful
and in the case of the Galaxy Fold,
unfortunately both are true.
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That's a problem the outie display solves
by taking exactly the opposite approach.
See, the Huawei Mate XS doesn't have an outer display
on its casing, its casing is the outer display.
Yeah, instead of wrapping the screen
in a protective chassis it wraps the chassis in the screen.
That means the Mate XS
actually feels like a full-on smartphone when it's closed
instead of some watered down approximation.
One handed, two handed, portrait, landscape,
in pocket and out,
the Mate XS is a phone you already know how to use.
And then you push the button and it becomes a tablet
you also already know how to use.
I gotta give Huawei credit.
The polish with which it's executed this design
is impressive.
Sticking the cameras and USB port into this chine
mean the rest of the thing can be impossibly thin
and you get a nice handle to hold it one handed.
I mentioned the Kindle before.
This is an even closer analog to that e-reader.
Unfortunately, the very thing
that helps the Mate XS stand out from every other foldable
also reinforces the fundamental truth
about all foldables, compromise.
No, I'm not talking about the fact
that you can't buy Huawei phones in the US
or the problems you'll have trying to run Google Apps
on this device.
At this juncture I think we all understand
that this is a foldable for those who don't need Google
and if you don't understand why I'll link you
to Daniel Bader's excellent article on the matter.
Rather, the compromise I'm referring to is that display.
You remember how I said foldable screens
are incredibly fragile?
'Kay, now remember how I said the Mate XS's screen
is its outer casing?
Okay now put those together, yeah.
Where I can just drop my fold on a table
without thinking much about it,
the Mate XS demands a higher level of care.
Thankfully it does come with a bumper case in the box
that offers limited protection
and maybe I should've used it
before my review sample developed these mystery scratches.
Seriously, I've been babying this thing
like you wouldn't believe and it still got gouged, ouch.
So then maybe it's no surprise
that our final category is also an innie
but instead of a phone that turns into a tablet
this is a phone that turns into a smaller phone.
I could spend a whole video
talking about why I love the clamshell category
and I'll give you a concession here, yes,
some of it is nostalgia.
Certainly Motorola's resurrected Razr
is laser targeted at those of us
who wouldn't mind a quick trip back to 2005.
For a few years there in the mid aughts
almost every phone you could buy in the US was a clamshell
and that wasn't just for the benefit of those of us
who privately called our cellphones communicators,
it was a reflection of the fact
that a device that could be small enough to pocket
but also big enough to comfortably use it,
well turns out that makes a lot of sense.
So it is, for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
and that Motorola Razr.
Both are innies that instead of folding on their y axis
instead bow at the waist.
Open, each feels like a typical if tall smartphone.
Closed, they stow away their fragile screens
inside their metal exoskeletons,
collapsing down to half their deployed size.
In the case of the Z Flip
you basically can't use it while it's closed
thanks to that tiny external display
but you do get more functionality.
You can fold the phone into an L shape for selfies
or those video calls
we're all doing a lot more of in these days.
So which, if any of these, categories is right for you?
Well, it depends on your lifestyle and I do mean if any.
Look, with four folding phones on shelves already,
more on the horizon for Microsoft and TCL
and even a folding screen laptop coming from Lenovo,
it's easy to forget that all this has happened
in barely over a year.
It's still insanely early to tell
if these things will get traction
and between $1,300 and $2,700
for the true folding screen phones,
it's also still too early
for all but the most zealous early adopters
to actually buy one.
But despite their many drawbacks at this embryonic stage,
I still believe foldables will make up a big part
of our mobile tech future
and I'm excited to explore that foldable future further,
delights and drawbacks alike, in the year to come.
Episode two preview.
The Galaxy Fold had pretty much the rockiest start
a product can have
with defects bad enough to prompt a recall
and as a result its reputation suffers even today.
Well I've carried the redesigned version
of Samsung's first foldable since January 1st,
how it's held up and how it hasn't on the next installment.
Make sure you're subscribed to the Mr. Mobile on YouTube
so you don't miss it and hey, Android Central
just did a boatload of articles on foldable phones,
some of which came from suggestions by yours truly
'cause I just can't shut up about foldables.
Check 'em out at the links in the description below.
As always, no company featured in this video paid a fee
for inclusion or had any editorial input
or early preview of this content.
That means they're seeing it for the first time
right alongside you.
Until next time,
thanks for watching and stay mobile my friends.
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