Foldable cell phones have never been so fashionable before. We could say that it all started in 2019 with the arrival on the market of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which suffered from the typical problems of a first generation product.
The problem was such that the terminal was withdrawn from the market shortly after its launch because the folding internal screen of the first devices began to crumble in the hands of the first users.
Thankfully, three years later, most manufacturers seem to have overcome the initial hurdle of foldable smartphone durability.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4for example, has successfully survived the durability tests to which it has been exposed JerryRigAllincluding forcibly bending the phone backwards or getting dust and debris on the screen and hinges.
Samsung foldables are one of the few phones of its kind to have IPX8 certified water resistance, which ensures that you can text or handle the phone in the pouring rain without any worries (beyond getting wet too).
But over the years, the foldable phone market has grown by leaps and bounds with some great models including the Huawei Mate X2the Xiaomi’s Mix Fold 2 (sale in China), and the Oppo Find N.
These devices aren’t perfect yet, like if you look at the screen you can see the crease along the hinge on most screens, but the hardware is now at a level that many buyers will find themselves in comfortable investing. a foldable smartphone, in particular the
My advice, however, is to wait. The hardware may be ready, but after using the Oppo Find N and the Galaxy Z Fold 4there is still a lot of work to do on the software side and to adapt the execution of applications.
When I used the Oppo Find N Back in April, I noticed that some of my favorite apps weren’t displaying properly on the main 7.1-inch screen. What was it due to?
It almost certainly has to do with the square 8.4:9 aspect ratio, which most developers haven’t optimized their apps for. After all, how many devices have a screen with this format? Not much really.
The Oppo Find N has not been officially released in the West, so developers are in no rush to develop apps in this form factor for other countries or languages.
On the other hand, Samsung sells these phones globally and the company has specifically worked with developers to add support for the somewhat unusual form factor.
Basically, if there’s a foldable phone maker that can deliver a top-notch foldable experience, I figured it would be Samsung. But I have to admit I was wrong.
Samsung offers a rich list of apps that use the Fold 4’s big screen, including Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Microsoft Office, YouTube, and Google Meet. And it works really well.
The problem is that outside of this relatively small list of apps, others just don’t work in this square aspect ratio. Most apps work well, but since they’re not optimized for the aspect ratio, they don’t provide the widescreen experience you expect.
As with so many Android tablets, the apps stick to a user interface designed for the tall, thin aspect ratio that the vast majority of phones have today. But there are still applications that do not work.
For example, use Instagram. The app’s inability to match the square aspect ratio of the Find N and Fold 4 meant that up to 2/3 of video content was cropped, and it’s not the premium experience that the buyers are waiting.
We saw a similar situation with TikTok on the Find N, but Samsung worked with the developer to get the app working properly with its foldable phone. The bottom line is that app developers aren’t adding support fast enough.
In fact, Oppo’s president of international sales and service, Billy Zhang, cited the lack of app support as one of the main reasons why we still haven’t seen a foldable Oppo outside of the box. China (although this may change soon).
It seems we’re still in a no-win situation in the foldable market: developers are waiting for more manufacturers to produce foldables before spending time and money developing specifically for the form factor.
It’s also not hard to see where the developers are coming from; while Samsung claims 10 million foldable devices were sold industry-wide in 2021, that’s a drop in the bucket from the 1.38 billion total smartphone sales projected for the same year .
I should probably clarify at this point that this issue doesn’t really apply to clamshell foldable smartphones like the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Huawei P50 Pocket.
The fact that these models fold out into something like a traditional smartphone formatted in portrait mode means developers don’t need to optimize apps for a new aspect ratio.
So, the so-called clamshell phones might be the best option for manufacturers to introduce more foldable smartphones in the near future, instead of working on the other style of foldable which requires a lot more work from developers.
Could we see the big foldable screen disappear in favor of flip phones in the next few years, or something handset from Xiaomi, Oppo, Samsung and co? We will have to wait to know the final solution.
Original article by Lewis Painter published in TechAdvisor United Kingdom.
