Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pixel 11 Pro Fold

blog.google

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 212 posts

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#91

Post by moritzwarhier »

cautiouscat wrote: post #15

I used to be a "cutting edge phone guy" where I'd get the latest iPhone ever year and the thought of having the older phone just didn't sit well with me. These days though the upgrades are so marginal I don't even care. I'm looking forward to upgrading my three year old phone this year, but not because I expect it to be more than "better camera, faster and thinner" but just because its time. These updates are so bori…

Nobody wants to cut the edge, when it comes to foldable phones, it seems.

Also, more than 5 yrs after Galaxy Fold (I've never seen or held one IRL):

is it really that valuable to have "marginless" foldable displays?

Often times, users will divide the screen into halves, at least, when using large resolution.

And users are also not too interested in curved or mangled output surfaces, the ideal is an evenly lighted 2D surface.

If you were working on military technology, that's irrelevant of course. Then, the consumer tech is just a small venture capital driver.

No "foldable" real currently comes close to two flexable screens placed close to each other.

Consumers have repeatedly rejected this hype.

The only interesting value is in completely flexible material with fixed-distance OLEDs on it, and that's a very complicated engineering problem approaching a digital "invibility coat".

In-between these extreme uses, I struggle to see the benefit of foldable screns.

A cheap and robust e-ink screen would be a welcome exception, but I have no idea how much the science overlaps with marginless, foldable LED panels.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#92

Post by tekwarder »

cautiouscat wrote: post #15

I used to be a "cutting edge phone guy" where I'd get the latest iPhone ever year and the thought of having the older phone just didn't sit well with me. These days though the upgrades are so marginal I don't even care. I'm looking forward to upgrading my three year old phone this year, but not because I expect it to be more than "better camera, faster and thinner" but just because its time. These updates are so bori…

And sometimes the updates are a step backwards. For example when Apple went to the Intel modem. Perhaps when they move to their own modem this year there might be a repeat, we'll have to keep our eyes peeled.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#93

Post by hanspagel »

cautiouscat wrote: post #15

I used to be a "cutting edge phone guy" where I'd get the latest iPhone ever year and the thought of having the older phone just didn't sit well with me. These days though the upgrades are so marginal I don't even care. I'm looking forward to upgrading my three year old phone this year, but not because I expect it to be more than "better camera, faster and thinner" but just because its time. These updates are so bori…

But you can fold it.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#94

Post by abeyer »

jerlam wrote: post #59
avidiax wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard that it was a COVID feature. I guess people thought you would be scanning your friend's foreheads before socializing. That sensor would be much better if it was integrated with the camera and LIDAR, so that you could "paint" a scene with thermal data by moving the phone around.

That's the only plausible scenario, but it also came out in 2023 and people stopped caring at least a year before. And it persisted for a few years so either someone thought they could salvage something from it, or no one had a better idea what to put there.

That probably means the board was being designed a year or two before that... so quite possibly they had put it in the design when it still seemed relevant and the cost/hassle/delay of a new revision of the board design and manufacturing changes made it easier to just leave it there and ignore.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#95

Post by dmitrygr »

rvshchwl wrote: post #30

These phones are getting larger each release, and it's the opposite of the trend I prefer now. I really am starting to miss the SE phone sizes and not feeling like I'm carrying a literal brick in my pocket wherever I go now. I don't think Apple is cutting back on the phone size either when their Fold comes out, and we're slowly just moving towards the point where a phone is just a mini tablet.

iPhone 13 mini -- the last mini is still supported, will be supported by iOS27, and, given continuation of trends, will be supported by iOS28. That gives you a three year runway. They are plentiful on eBay and FB marketplace, and for $79 apple will replace the battery for you with a new one.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#96

Post by layer8 »

the__alchemist wrote: post #33
rvshchwl wrote: post #30

These phones are getting larger each release, and it's the opposite of the trend I prefer now. I really am starting to miss the SE phone sizes and not feeling like I'm carrying a literal brick in my pocket wherever I go now. I don't think Apple is cutting back on the phone size either when their Fold comes out, and we're slowly just moving towards the point where a phone is just a mini tablet.

We don't even need to reverse the trend! Android is flexible, so it wouldn't be a big ask for one of the many models to be smaller! Each pixel is larger than the last. I was a Pixel 4 holdout until a few months ago when they stopped supporting tap-to-pay. The 10 is a monster, and the trend is as you say.

There are small Android phones, they just aren’t very premium: https://www.techeblog.com/bluefox-nx1-mini-iphone-hands-on-r...

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#97

Post by bhelkey »

dzonga wrote: post #32

seems the big phone makers are going with the phone-2-tablet fold. very few have gone with the ultra portable and pragmatic fold like razr-ultra. hopefully apple comes out with a razr-ultra like fold.

Phone manufactures have settled on the term "flip" for phones that start as a long rectangle and fold in half vertically to roughly a square.

The most popular flip phone is Samsung Galaxy Flip but other brands like Motorola and Oppo make these kinds of phones.

I didn't end up getting one but a friend with the galaxy flip 7 tells me he likes using the square screen when the phone is folded to help reduce his screen time.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#98

Post by tuxracer »

moritzwarhier wrote: post #91
cautiouscat wrote: post #15

I used to be a "cutting edge phone guy" where I'd get the latest iPhone ever year and the thought of having the older phone just didn't sit well with me. These days though the upgrades are so marginal I don't even care. I'm looking forward to upgrading my three year old phone this year, but not because I expect it to be more than "better camera, faster and thinner" but just because its time. These updates are so bori…

Nobody wants to cut the edge, when it comes to foldable phones, it seems. Also, more than 5 yrs after Galaxy Fold (I've never seen or held one IRL): is it really that valuable to have "marginless" foldable displays? Often times, users will divide the screen into halves, at least, when using large resolution. And users are also not too interested in curved or mangled output surfaces, the ideal is an evenly lighted 2D…

Foldable screens are amazing when it comes to looking at code changes in pull requests

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#99

Post by layer8 »

rvshchwl wrote: post #30

These phones are getting larger each release, and it's the opposite of the trend I prefer now. I really am starting to miss the SE phone sizes and not feeling like I'm carrying a literal brick in my pocket wherever I go now. I don't think Apple is cutting back on the phone size either when their Fold comes out, and we're slowly just moving towards the point where a phone is just a mini tablet.

Also weight. While the 11 Pro Fold apparently is a bit lighter than it’s predecessor, it’s still 239 grams. I miss the days of the 113g SE.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold

#100

Post by [deleted] »

netsharc wrote: post #72
shaftway wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a fix for the battery, but if you're on Android, enable developer settings and change your animations to 0.5x speed (there are three settings to change). Every OS animation will take half as long. It makes an aging phone feel much snappier.

Won't 0.5x speed make it slower (Driving 20mph instead of 40mph will get you somewhere in double the time). I just checked my phone, the phrasing is "Animation scale .5x" (Among other numbers), meaning it's scaled to take n times the time.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN