Being the age I am, I’m just old enough to remember flip-phones.
A relatively simple concept that has been on my mind lately for reasons I’ll get to. Widely considered obsolete unless you just want a cheap phone to make calls etc., these phones featured a screen on one side, a keypad on the other, with a hinge joint between the two.
The reason that this device has been dragged back to the front of my brain in recent weeks is because I am reminded of them every time I see this:
To be clear: I’m aware that this foldable iphone is not the first foldable modern smartphone (I know Samsung released them years ago also).
But I’m also left wondering: what is the point? I think I can perfectly understand the use of flip phones as they were when they were popular, but foldable phones I just can’t see the benefit. As far as I can see, these foldable type of phones offer little to no benefit that you couldn’t get from, say a regular iPhone or Samsung phone, in terms of the consumer and how they are used in general life. I get that the hardware/software may be different, but that’s not going to be a factor in most people’s daily lives (you’re not going to care about the type of core, or the screen resolution when you make a phone call, etc.) It seems like it’s more of a gimmick from the companies making them to try and make more sales, but even if that’s the case, the product must have something unique to offer, so what is it about foldable phones that are so unique besides the gimmick of folding?
Lots of tablets can be used as phones, if they have a baseband modem.
Yes but iPads run on IpadOS, where as iPhones run on standard IOS, which is less powerful.
That’s an Apple problem. There’s plenty of Android tablets that can be used as a phone
If you want to move the goalpost, sure, but standard tablets don’t fit in your pants pocket.
To be clear, I’d never spend that much money on a phone or tablet and it’s fucked up that this is supposed to be the new standard iPhone.
I mean I suppose it’s possible that they could integrate the iPadOS into smartphones at some point, but we all know why they’re not going to do that…
What the actual fuck are you talking about?
It’s the same thing with a different skin. It’s the hardware that’s powerful or not, not the software.