Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era • Hacker News Board

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#81

Post by nicman23 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 4:49 AM UTC

cpeth wrote: post #7

I'm tempted to get one to replace my very cracked Pixel 9 Pro XL. With all the incentives Google offers for Google Fi customers it's not all that expensive. Comes out to about $1100 after trade-in and includes a free Pixel Watch 5. I'm foldable-curious and Samsung just includes too much overlapping bloat "features". Gemini is bad enough, I don't need Bixby and whatever else. Not to mention I would have to pay full pr…

just a heads up, the gpu is actually terrible. it is not even the actual gpu that is the issue but the software

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#82

Post by YarickR2 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 4:51 AM UTC

Well. I, for one, picked up Moto Z Fold, as soon as it has been out, and can't get enough of it. Won't be moving back to candybar phones. Content consumption feels so much more natural, and context window I'm able to see while reading is dramatically larger. And I'm not talking about Youtube etc; regular work or family chats, browsing sites, reading books with Kindle , that kind of stuff. When I was deciding to pick this formfactor, I wanted to read more books. I can't read on a regular phone, too small of a page being displayed is somehow a blocker for me. Not anymore; I'm unfolding my MoFo every now and then.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#83

Post by DANmode » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 4:51 AM UTC

Grombobulous wrote: post #23

cpeth wrote: post #7

I'm tempted to get one to replace my very cracked Pixel 9 Pro XL. With all the incentives Google offers for Google Fi customers it's not all that expensive. Comes out to about $1100 after trade-in and includes a free Pixel Watch 5. I'm foldable-curious and Samsung just includes too much overlapping bloat "features". Gemini is bad enough, I don't need Bixby and whatever else. Not to mention I would have to pay full pr…

Just be careful about what your actual use case is. For example, this form factor of foldable doesn’t give you significantly more screen real estate for 16:9 video content since it’s such a square aspect ratio. They also generally aren’t large enough to take advantage of tablet layouts, while tri-fold designs fold out to be almost identical to a tablet size. You have to really want to use two apps side by side in my…

The ability to get server-side checks to clear me for tablet mode of PWAs is worth any price, honestly.

I’ll never go back to tiny thin rectangle.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#84

Post by annzabelle » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:00 AM UTC

frollogaston wrote: post #72

annzabelle wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've looked seriously into doing this, and there are just too many situations where I'm expected to have access to a particular app or website on my phone in day to day life. Maps are also a killer feature, and I use instagram messaging with some friends here (expats with unstable phone numbers). The best I've had was to turn my phone greyscale, which really helped me cut back on any short form video consumption, but…

You could get a bad smartphone. For a while the iPhone 6 Batterygate Edition really made sure I'd only use it for essential stuff, cause even typing on the keyboard was a waiting game.

I tried switching to iphone briefly (lifelong nexus/pixel user) because I hate using iphones. I didn't end up holding out very long and I switched back to android after a couple of weeks, and in the switch back, apple screwed up my texting and I wasn't able to receive texts from iphone users for over a month.

Maybe I should go back and do that again. The typing experience on iphone is so poor that it made commenting on reddit (my main vice) painful.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#85

Post by crote » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:09 AM UTC

duxup wrote: post #59

I feel like smartphones are just evolutionary items now, there will be ups and downs in terms of upgrades and that's it. With google the added question though is, are they losing interest again?

They have been for years. Almost all smartphones have roughly the same set of features, with fashion-like differentiators. You pay more for a premium one and it lasts a bit longer before the never-ending app bloat inevitably renders it obsolete.

The real question these days is: how badly does the software stack screw you over?

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#86

Post by _345 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:09 AM UTC

nomel wrote: post #26

smashah wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get covers that shield/protect the hinge

At least for Samsung, when you first turn it on, you get a nice big warning that says the phone is not dust or water resistant, and that you can damage the screen with sharp objects, like your fingernail. [1] I tried one and permanently dented it on accident with the stylus. Can't image what would happen if you did something crazy like go to a beach. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyFold/comments/1vhhow0/because...

I've taken my OnePlus Open to the beach and it was fine. Multiple times. I don't use any case for my phone

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#87

Post by princevegeta89 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:11 AM UTC

rf15 wrote: post #25

> trapped in a shape everyone else seems to be moving on from. Really not sure if we were ever there. Foldable phones still feel like a novelty that is expensive and fragile, among other tradeoffs. Also moving on to what, exactly? The regular slate form factor is what people buy, and have been for years at this point.

Folding phones aren't going away; they're becoming more mainstream. The initial versions of folding phones that came out five or six years ago had issues and some aspects that weren't addressed. But we are literally in the sixth or seventh generation of folding phones, and Samsung has basically perfected them. If you think the durability is bad, think again, because they are very, very durable. I use a Z Fold 6, and it is built like a tank. The next ones are even tougher.

In terms of usefulness, they are actually more useful than the bigass phones like the iPhone Max or S26 Ultra, and other comparable ones from various manufacturers. The outer screen is pretty small and very usable with one hand. There are a few multitasking options you can choose from once you unfold them. you can have two or four apps open at once if needed. They are also very good for watching videos. A huge number of smartphone users do spend a lot of time watching stuff on their screens.

The latest Samsung Z Fold 8 has become a huge success... its size appears to be even more ideal for one hand. the thinness and overall size of it once opened has essentially seemed like the perfect form factor for the latest generation of smartphone users.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#88

Post by princevegeta89 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:12 AM UTC

VCFundedGenYer wrote: post #52

frollogaston wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused, what is everyone else moving away from, folding phones? The same article said Samsung is still making folding phones and Apple is about to release one.

The younger generation is moving back to 2000s style flip phones with no smartphone features. Which honestly I support. I still have my LG VX8100 and wish it would work on modern networks.

This is likely a small side track that emerged recently..... but i'm afraid that's not really the situation. the younger generation utilizes a ton of social media, and they would need to rely on smartphones just for that.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#89

Post by TheDong » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:14 AM UTC

frollogaston wrote: post #71

Dylan16807 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a shallow way to judge a device. Especially when bad bubbles are Apple's fault.

Texting is the single most important feature on a phone. Also it's not Apple's fault that MMS was terrible for years and now RCS is still terrible. Google also tried to make their own proprietary chat and failed... like 10 times. But more importantly, I don't care, this is not my battle. I'd use WhatsApp if that's what people did here, not that I like it any better.

Yes it is Apple's fault.

The iMessage app does both SMS, and the iMessage protocol. Apple could have released an android app to let you have blue bubbles on android and communicate securely without any of the constraints of SMS by simply releasing "iMessage for Android".

Somehow Signal, Whatsapp, Telegram, Discord, WeChat, LINE, KakaoTalk, etc etc all manage to have both iOS and Android apps that can message each other, but for some reason the richest company in the world, Apple, cannot manage to port its chat app to one additional platform?

It is 100% Apple's fault that messaging between iOS and Android has had so much dumb "green bubble" friction.

Apple's conflation of the SMS and iMessage protocols has also made it harder for people to realize what's happening. Frankly, Apple should have had two apps from the start (Text Message and iMessage), one of which only spoke SMS, and the other of which only spoke iMessage.

Re: Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era

#90

Post by _345 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:14 AM UTC

acdha wrote: post #49

Does anyone use one of foldables for more than a year? I know a couple of people who have them and the massive creases seem like they’d be really hard to get used to.

you get used to it almost instantly like within 1 hour of use. But I also have the OnePlus Open which has probably the best hidden crease you can buy besides Oppo which is just the company OnePlus came from