Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Google

Google To Reportedly Launch Foldable Phone in June (theverge.com) 43

An anonymous reader shares a report: The Google Pixel Fold could be available as soon as the second week in June, according to WinFuture's Roland Quandt. The reliable leaker tweeted on Tuesday that the phone will come with 256GB base storage and that you'll be able to get it in either a black / dark gray color or white. The foldable has been rumored for a long time, and there have been whispers that it would be announced sometime in the next few months. However, a January report from The Elec threw some cold water on that idea, saying that the screen wasn't even set to go into production until July or August.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Google To Reportedly Launch Foldable Phone in June

Comments Filter:
  • Why foldable? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by iAmWaySmarterThanYou ( 10095012 ) on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @01:51PM (#63370367)

    Ok, a folding phone is kinda neat, I guess, but is there some actual real world value or purpose or functionality a folding phone provides?

    I never understood why this was always touted as an important feature for a phone.

    Can someone please explain?

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You tell me, you're way smarter than me!

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Careful, he might have another meltdown:
        https://news.slashdot.org/comm... [slashdot.org]

        • Idiot AC has saved link where a bunch of people stupidly shill for a corporation. Corporation says, "we don't kill birds, we have data no one else has verified that says so, buy our shit" and you swallowed it.

          Ac was a good idea for you.

          • by Anonymous Coward

            The meltdown comment was a bit too spiteful, and I regretted posting it after hitting a submit - i.e., a bit too late. My apologies for that.

            But you are completely misrepresenting what happened in that thread. The condensed version:
            - You: The summary says X happened, and that's bad.
            - Many others: No, the summary says Y.
            - You: I'm going to double down on my incorrect reading of the summary, and add some insults.

            It was interesting. But not interesting enough to bring up again ... this is just Slashdot, afte

            • That's a high level interpretation which ignores the story itself. The summary is about how the same people who own the wind mill want us to trust them about how many birds they kill. What other companies would we trust with no third party independent verification?

              The cigarette companies told us smoking was safe.
              Car companies had to be forced to install seat belts.
              Ralph Nader made his name going after the fucked up practices of the meat industry.
              And on and on and on.
              Yet we like wind mills so whatever they

      • You missed the irony. But no surprise. Being smarter than you was a low bar.

    • Re:Why foldable? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Snard ( 61584 ) <mike...shawaluk@@@gmail...com> on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @01:59PM (#63370391) Homepage
      Um, it can have a larger screen and still fit in your pocket? (If it's a true "folding screen" and not a "two screens side by side" like the Surface Duo)
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • because foldable phones are easier to launch. I wait for a phone that can be crumpled up and launched farther than a foldable phone...
    • Most people want the biggest screen they can have. Foldable screens let them pretend to have a bigger screen some of the time, but also easily transport a smaller version.

      Software is brain dead. Rewriting apps to use 2 separate screens takes a lot more work than adapting to 2 sizes of a single screen, which they already do for tablet vs. phone.

      I keep wondering if we're close to changing that with AI. Where our tools adapt to our wants and desires without someone else creating (and copyrighting) the recip

      • It's funny that we seemed to have forgotten how everything works when we went to mobile devices. Desktop applications have had to deal with variable screen sizes since the first windowed operating systems came out. Web sites have also always had to deal with variable screen sizes, although a lot of websites didn't deal too well with this, but are getting better now.

        It seems so weird that we can't have phone apps that deal well with different screen sizes. I have a tablet, and even though the ratio is the sa

    • Well, I can tell you it is advantageous to have something that is compact in your pants that can become much bigger at the time you need to use it.

    • I never understood why this was always touted as an important feature for a phone.

      It may be more of a gimmick at the moment, but if/once vendors get this right, a foldable phone may make a nice replacement for a tablet, especially for people that only need/use one periodically.

    • The only purpose is to have a larger screen, but still fit in your pocket. Note that they could do that much better with a projector, but then it wouldn't be a touchscreen.
      • by vux984 ( 928602 )

        not just your pocket, but also small purses & clutch bags. My wife wants a foldable primarily so it will fit in a small clutch.

        I can't see her wanting a projector at all, ever.

    • by holloway ( 46404 )
      A tablet that folds in half to be a conventional phone size (ie Samsung Fold) means you get a much larger screen folded inside, and the outer sides can still have screens themselves to act like conventional phones. Making phones thiner has been pointless for a while now, but with foldables doubling the thickness (and slightly more due to the hinge) the folded mode is no thicker than a phone from a few years ago, but with a much larger screen. So do people need bigger screens on their phones? Well for peop
    • Can someone please explain?

      No we can't. Explaining something as simple as wanting more screen space to consume content without taking up more space in your pocket requires a minimum IQ. Come back when you have the capability to understand such a basic concept and we'll explain it to you.

    • by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 ) on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @05:17PM (#63371135)

      You want someone to explain to you why a larger display on a mobile device is desirable? How'd you even find this site?

    • As an (assumed) male, you have pockets and such in your available fashion choices.

      Women very often do not get those, or if they do, the pockets are much smaller.

      A folding phone may actually fit in smaller pockets. Not saying that's a market-busting feature or something, but it's definitely something that my 5-foot-3 wife has to contend with.

    • Novelty. People now buy new phones less often, because what they already have is good enough to keep using for longer. And when they do, it's usually cheaper midranges rather than flagships, because again, those are good enough for most users. So manufacturers are pushing gimmicks like this to convince people to get the flashy new, expensive stuff.

  • How soon (Score:5, Funny)

    by know-nothing cunt ( 6546228 ) on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @01:53PM (#63370371)

    before it folds?

  • by GeekWithAKnife ( 2717871 ) on Tuesday March 14, 2023 @02:29PM (#63370479)

    Every since I used my first phone; back when they the rotary dial was a thing I always thought "This is nice but too bad it cannot bend!"
    • Every since I used my first phone; back when they the rotary dial was a thing I always thought "This is nice but too bad it cannot bend!"

      That phone may not bend, but Will It Blend? [youtube.com]

  • had clearly visible imperfections right around the fold.

    Maybe just an aesthetic issue, but didn't inspire any confidence in the screen quality. Have they gotten any better?
    • They're better, they aren't perfect. The crease is less obvious and most of the time it's no big deal. But you can feel it swyping over and occasionally it will catch the light at the right/wrong angle. I don't think it's fair to call it a quality issue, it's just a tough problem.

"jackpot: you may have an unneccessary change record" -- message from "diff"

Working...