You’ve been through two phones in just four years? That doesn’t sound that great for them…
I am on my second foldable phone, and on my fourth year using them. Not only does your statement is not true, you probably never even touched a single foldable.
Looks? Subjective. I personally love the form factor. Works like shit? In your dreams.
EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 4 days ago
PrincessKadath@ani.social 4 days ago
Upgrading every three years is pretty normal, I’d say. I know people that change phones every new iteration of their fruity ones. Unless you were trying to be funny, for which it may have gone over my head.
EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 4 days ago
Only three years for a premium phone sounds like rich people behavior, to be honest.
cm0002@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Nah, here in the US the majority of people buy through their carrier and typically put them on a 0% interest Equipment Installment Plan (EIP) that break the cost to a monthly payment typically spanning 2 years.
The carriers also have an upgrade path, for me on T-Mobile when the phone is 50% paid (so once a year) I can turn in this phone and upgrade. The remaining balance gets wiped and replaced by the new phone. Other US carriers should be similar.
I typically upgrade once a year
PrincessKadath@ani.social 4 days ago
I spend extremely little on myself. I have a good salary and no vices, every bill and payment is taken care of, and my family is well taken care of between me and my partner.
If I want to indulge myself with a new toy once every three years, I may very well do so without some guy having to complain about it. Sure, call me rich. I guess I’d live up that princess moniker I have on my nickname.roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
The large U.S. carriers have plans that are, I think, $20-30 a month and you get the newest phone as soon as it comes out, apple or Samsung. They also partner with manufacturers for discounts and trade-in deals, especially when a new model comes out. My last phone was 2 years old but when they offered me the newest one for something like $120 after trade-in (I think that was almost $1100 off, I don’t remember all the details) I upgraded everyone on my plan. I think they did the same thing this year but even with those discounts the pain in the ass of upgrading plus the price, even though it’s low, wasn’t worth the small year over year change. Probably next year or the year after. Assuming similar deals, that makes it $40-$60 a year to get a new phone every 2-3 years.
derg@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Which do you have? Genuinely curious, never used the modern ones, but assumed they’d be shit/very fragile
GeekySalsa@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Not op, but I have the galaxy fold 3 and it’s amazing. I’ve had it for 3 years and I can’t go back to normal phones. And I’ve heard the same from many others that got their first foldable.
echodot@feddit.uk 4 days ago
I’ve had both the Samsung Fold 2 and now the Pixel Fold
N cer had any issues with them
PrincessKadath@ani.social 4 days ago
Right now a Fold 6; the previous one I had was the 3.
bdonvr@thelemmy.club 4 days ago
The screens are pretty fragile, however they’re protected when folded. Just don’t drop them onto anything while open…
Other than that they’re surprisingly robust. I’ve had 2 Moto Razr models and a Samsung Z Fold. First Razr did break the screen by leaving it open in a stupidly precarious position and it hit a piece of metal below directly on the folding screen when it fell. But day to day use I never worried about it.
pycorax@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Same here. Got in with he Fold 3 and I’m now on the Fold 6. They’re fantastic and I can imagine going back. The convenience of having a mini tablet with you that you can annotate stuff on is too good to give up.
Elextra@literature.cafe 4 days ago
I know a few people at work that have foldables. Both are not going back and the crease really isnt noticeable.
One guy has the Google Pixel Fold. His kids share his phone to leave his wife’s phone alone when they are watching something. It makes it easier to share with his kids because its a larger screen. When it was smaller they fought more because they couldn’t all watch on a small screen. Hes reaping benefits too. Ive seen him have it open to watch NFL highlights lol.
The other person I know is a manager and its just really nice.
I don’t have one myself because its pretty $$$. If I valued phones I would pick one up myself. Year after year they have gotten significantly better with the crease and hardware. They’re often very beast with hardware features.
legion02@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Last time I looked, the aspect ratios for the unfolded screens were such that you didn’t actually get any more screen real estate than a normal smartphone so the kids analogy doesn’t make a ton of sense to me. For media it’s like you get the illusion of a bigger screen.
cm0002@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I’ve seen the same, but tbh in real world use on my Pixel 9 Pro Fold even with the big black bars on a full screen video it still feels like quite a large viewable area
legion02@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Doesn’t that “feeling” though kinda confirm that it’s an illusion of screen space when you can measure the diagonal image on a normal phone and see that it’s the same?
Elextra@literature.cafe 4 days ago
Unsure. I can only go off anecdotes and what ive been told but maybe that illusion works on the kids?
At 3:50 it looks like the phone is being opened to watch something. . Looks large to me
The tech specs here
Anyways, that was his reasoning. Lol its still a nice phone. Maybe he used same justification to get this nicer phone with his wife. He has the Google fold while the other guy has Samsung.