3 years into foldables

Foldables... Since Samsung announced their very first Galaxy Z Fold, I was really pumped. I liked the idea so much, to have your phone AND tablet always in your pocket. Sure, the first version was laughable as fuck, but I immediately get the idea and was eager to see the ongoing generations. Every generation was a bit better, and the phones got more durable.

In the 4th generation, I thought I'd give it a try. I bought the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 nearly at launch for about 1799€. It was the most expensive phone I ever bought. To be specific, it was the most expensive tech product I ever bought, including computers. The phone didn't ticked every box I had for a smartphone, but I really, really wanted to try this new form factor and because it's something new. The phone took two weeks to arrive, because of the very great service Samsung offers on their web shop (that's a joke). If you buy multiple items (which I did), then Samsung only ships if all of the items are in stock. This means I had to cancel my order and order again only the phone and order the case on another online shop. I try not to rant that much about Samsung ^^ I will write an article about that sometime in the future and concentrate mostly on the phone and the phone category itself in this blog post.

The moment of unboxing

The day came... The phone arrived... I have to tell ya, I really love phones, to be specific, I own about 70 phones right now, and the number increases monthly. I think I can call it a hobby ^^ Therefore I couldn't wait any longer for that phone, and I was so excited to unbox and try my new phone. I opened the box, took the phone out, and I immediately got a feeling of regret. Thats weird, I never felt that way when I unboxed a phone. Why, you're asking? The phone was very heavy and very clunky, and everything felt like an unfinished product, and those feelings came in the very first 10 minutes I used that phone. I switched from an iPhone 13 Mini, which I used for a very short time, and before that, I had an OnePlus 7 Pro for a few years, and I was very happy with that phone.

Maybe I describe my feelings a bit.

It's heavy

Unlike any other phone you have, the Fold 4 is heavy. It weighs about 260 grams. That number appears to be small, but it's a LOT. I had the feeling to lose my pants if I stored my phone in my pockets. That's not the case, but the feeling is there.

It's clunky

The mechanism to unfold the phone is not that easy. And the frame of the phone is metal, so if you want to open the phone - it could be the case - that your phone slips out of your hand and falls to the ground. BTW: That happened a few times to me.

The crease is fucking huge!

The phone is in the box unfolded, this means you will be greeted with the crease. And you realize that's a bit more than you thought. Sure, everyone says they aren't seeing the crease anymore after a while. That's true, but this is the first time you see this phone, and in my case it was the first folding phone I owned.

Now, those are 3 points, which are not that small to ignore the fact, that this phone is the most expensive tech purchase I ever made. So the first days of use I had this sour taste that this phone might not be a good fit. But long story short, I used the phone until it died 2.5 years later, and I was mostly fine with it, but I would never buy this model again if I had to.

Things I learned after using my foldable(s) for about 3 years.

Cases are bad, even the original one for $70+

Cases are not cases. If you think you get a case like on every other phone, then you might get a surprise. Cases are glued... Yep, I'm serious. Only the back side of the case snaps on the phone. The front of the case is glued to the phone with double-sided tape. At first that worked well, but only after a few weeks the front of the case was loose. So I removed it and stuck with only the backside of the case. That was okay because it somehow fixed the slippery opening problem, which is mentioned in the point before.

Do not buy the S Pen

Yes, the phone screen is "large" when unfolded. But still to small, to write or draw comfortably with the S Pen.

A Galaxy Fold is simply NOT worth the money

You pay big-time money, but you don't get big-time specs. E.g., the Galaxy S25 Ultra still got the better specs. The better camera, it even includes the S Pen. And the next thing is, Samsung does not actually want to sell this phone. Let me explain: For years now, the customers have been complaining about issues they're having with their folds. The front screen is too thin, the crease, bad camera. That's all the issues other manufacturers already solved, and they solved these issues quite well. So why will Samsung not fix these issues? I know that's a bit speculative: Because they would sell a shitload of phones. How would this be a problem for Samsung? These phones are still in beta. Go to reddit and take a look at the GalaxyFold Subreddit, many users have hardware issues with the phone. Samsung will fix these issues within warranty (mostly, in my case not) one time, and they hope that the next defect does not occur within warranty again. In my case, I had to send my phone in two times, to get it fixed. And guess what? The second time it has not been fixed, which gets me to the next point. So, if Samsung sells way more phones than they currently do, the chance is higher to getting sued by the customers.

A foldable is not durable

The headline misleads a bit. The Fold 4 was durable as fuck, it fell down many times, even on concrete from high grounds. And it outlived this falls perfectly. Nothing cracked, and the displays outlived these accidents quite well, even without a case. BUT... Your phone will break, and that's for sure. Samsungs Fold has a flex cable within the hinge, and after a while this flex cable breaks. The symptom is mostly the same. If you open the phone, it immediately shuts down, so you can only use this phone in unfolded state. If you google for "Samsung Fold flex cable", you will shortly understand the defect and get the extent of this issue. It's massive. And it occurs on all Foldables - from Samsung. Currently, I can only speak about Samsung devices. I currently own an Oneplus Open, but I have it only for a few months, so I can not really speak about the durability of this device.

A foldable is a conversation starter

In any place, if you are out on a party, on a business trip, on lunch or even in a waiting room, if you open your foldable, the chances are high, that someone sees the phone and asks you something about that phone. Many people have seen these phones, and many actually think that these phones are pretty cool.

Multitasking

Multitasking is great, and it works really well. Just swipe with two fingers from the top to the middle of the screen, and the screen splits. Now, you can choose which app should be openend in the other half of the screen. I used this function so much, and it was really well implemented. Huge kudos to Samsung for this great implementation.

Do not buy a Smasnug Galaxy Fold

If you read the point about durability, you already guessed it - I can't recommend the Galaxy Fold. Not only because of the durability, there are many more reasons. First things first. The Samsung Flavor of Android is good, not perfect, but good. The new AI features with circle to search and the local AI features with live translation are really cool, but not that cool to justify a Samsung Fold. To be specific, I only found out how bad the Galaxy Fold was after I bought the Oneplus Open as a replacement. Oneplus does so much right that the Galaxy Fold feels like a MVP.

Oneplus Open

Actually, after the Fold, I didn't really wanted to buy another foldable. I wanted to wait and see how foldables are evolving, and maybe wait for the next generation of phones. I restore / repair for fun phones, and at the time I just finished a repair job on a Nothing Phone 1, and my plan was to use this phone as a replacement for the Fold 4. But... I got an email from Oneplus that the Open is on sale for 1399€ with a few extras. I think you got a watch as a gift, too. I thought that's a good price, so I wanted to log in and buy that phone. I tried to log in, but that didn't worked ^^ Oneplus sends a 2FA mail, but that mail never reached my inbox. So I googled a bit and found an offer for 1299€ on coolblue (electronic shop in NL). I wanted to order this phone, and then there was an ad on this site. Which went like "Do you want to buy this phone for 1299€ or the same phone for 800€ which is new, but the package was opened once?" I went fuck yeah. So I bought this new phone for 800€. And to my luck, it was really completely new, no fingerprints, no scratches, nothing - just the package was opened. I was lucky as fuck - 800€ for this phone was a no-brainer. Now, is the Oneplus better, or do I now have a better opinion about foldables? Absolutely yes. Let me explain:

Oneplus fixed the slippery unfolding of the phone.

Oneplus inclined the sides of the phone. So there is a small gap on the side of the phone when it's folded. So you can slide your finger in and open the phone easily. I had no feeling that the phone would slip out of my hand when unfolding.

Oneplus fixed the screen ratio or better said, the folded state

This was such a great experience. Really, I hated using the Galaxy Fold when it’s folded. But the Oneplus Open feels like a normal phone when folded. Sometimes you forget that you have a foldable, that is exactly what I want. It's not really that big, that heavy, and with a small front screen, it's just a normal phone when folded.

It feels a tiny bit lighter

This is really only a few grams, but it feels like more.

The ring slider is great

That's not really a thing of a foldable but more Oneplus. The slider to quickly change the notification settings is brilliant. I use it so often, and I miss it really on other devices.

The fingerprint reader acutally works

Oh god, this was so bad on the Galaxy Fold. The fingerprint reader worked - maybe - 70% of all the times. Sometimes your finger was to wet or you positioned it not right, or it just wouldn't work, and you don't know why. I set up face unlock, too, because the fingerprint reader was so bad, that I needed a second option.

.... And the position was not comfortable, the fingerprint reader is the unlock button on the side of the phone. I prefer much more a reader, embedded on the display. I know that this decision was mostly made to be able to unlock the phone while being unfolded, but really, who unlocks the phone when it's unfolded anyway?

On the Oneplus Open, the fingerprint reader just works. It's still on the unlock button, which is not a good position, but it works.

Now, where are the downsides of the Oneplus Open?

I really had to think about it because in general I really like the Oneplus Open. It fixes a few issues the Fold 4 had, and it works just great.

Software

If you watched some YouTube videos that reviewed the Oneplus Open you may have heard that the software is "not good". That's right, but not that bad, that they want to tell you. The software of the Galaxy Fold 4 is better, not way better, just better. I try to give you some examples.

With the Galaxy Fold 4 you can swipe with two fingers from top to bottom or from the side of the screen to split the screen. So you can open multiple windows with just a swipe. With the Open, you need a taskbar and move an app from the taskbar or the app drawer to a side to split the screen and open the app. It works, too, but it's not as fast as on the Fold.

On the Galaxy Fold 4 you're able to circle to search. Open Gemini, then you can circle something you want to know more, and Gemini delivers you answers. Very cool, very new - Oneplus doesn't have it - yet.

On the Oneplus Open, you need to swipe with your fingers from the very top to the middle of the screen to open the quick settings (to be able to enable Bluetooth and such settings). On the Galaxy Fold, the trigger is not on the very top, but a few centimeters down from the top. So you're able to open the quick settings with one hand.

Missing wireless charging

Something you need to know. The Oneplus Open does not support wireless charging. In my case, I can live with that, but if I had to pay full price for this phone, this would be a bummer, and I had maybe not bought the phone because of this fact.

Outro

Now, what do I really think about foldables? Foldables are great, fun to use, and useful, but at full price - nearly 2k $ or € - I would not buy a foldable again because the benefit is, in my eyes, not worth the extra money. With my current Oneplus Open, I'm super happy. Everything works as expected (sure, there is room for improvement), and the hardware is fantastic. I'm sure I'll keep it until it dies, and then I have to rethink if I buy a foldable again. If the phone dies again after 2.5 years, I'll surely switch to a normal phone again, if not, I think it would be the successor of the Oneplus Open.