How useful are Fold-able phones in a day to day life

(credits: Creator:JOSEP LAGO, Credit:AFP/Getty Images)

How useful are Fold-able phones in a day to day life

I was excited when I first got to know about foldable phones in one of the renders released over internet. They called Samsung will be the first phone and a concept video was also surfaced for long time on the internet. Turning down all the speculations, Royole flexpai launched a foldable phone in CES start of this year which was an exciting news for technology followers like me.

Soon after most of them were not that equally impressed as how they expected with the real performance and outcomes from the phone launched. Below is the picture of the phone

(credits: https://news.maxabout.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Royole-Flexpai.jpg)

This phone was not a bad product, in fact it showed us a teaser of how the foldable phones or screens look like. I am excited but the way it looks when folded is not great. It looks as a glowing band. A month after that Samsung came up with their most impressive phone called Samsung Galaxy Fold. Take a look at it below,

(credits: https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231249/samsung-galaxy-fold-folding-phone-features-screen-photos-size-announcement)

This was not bad, it showed a better way of having fold and seamless experience when not folding the phone and open the fold as well. I like this approach but did not like the price tag which it came with, then with in days we got to know about Huawei Mate X which released in MWC 2019. ths was much similar to royole flexpai but it had a sidebar which is used for handling the phone when unfolded as well as for the cameras. Have a look at it below,

(credits: https://consumer-img.huawei.com/content/dam/huawei-cbg-site/en/mkt/press/news/2019/huawei-launch-mate-x-5g-foldable-phone/Mate-X-handset.jpg)

This was also not good but again the same problem with this phone as well, Price. It is priced at $2499 as per the sources and it has 5G in it. 

So as this article is titled as if I have experienced using foldable phones and the title image shows a different phone, Yes I have used kind of a folding phone.

I am not kidding, I am using a ZTE AXON M Z999. The name sounds crazy and I am sure you have never heard of it. But here's the thing this was released back in November 2017. It has top of the line specifications but of 2017. I have been using this phone since Galaxy Fold is launched and I wanted to know how useful a foldable phone is. It has good specs namingly Snapdragon 821, 4GB RAM, 64GB memory and a good 20 MP camera. Why late, let's take a look on it.

(credits:http://shekulli.com.al/admin/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/telefoni4-2.jpg)

This got a dual screen and both can be customized to a different modes as to use one screen, mirror, expanded or multi screen. One good observation we can draw from this phone is the bezel which clearly parts both the screens and reminds us that it is not a single screen. But, it was $720 when launched and now it is available for starting price of $189 on amazon and eBay. At this point of price, it is no loss to anyone who buys it. Snapdragon 821 is almost equal to Snapdragon 636 now and most of the phones which equipped with Snapdragon 636 are priced at $300 - $400 in today's market. We will get same performance, dual screens and less price which is a good deal.

Now coming to the actual part, Foldable screen and extra screen - how useful?
I have used for 20 good days for now and never really meant to hate that extra piece on my phone. Below are the good things which i observed,

• Extra display or unfolded mode is very very useful when reading blogs, seeing videos and playing games
• extremely useful in night before going to bed, if we have an habit of reading articles or blog. I love it as i go through many blogs
• convenient in multitasking, when have to use two apps fully. Not slicing them in a single screen. Below I have included an image where it better explains how it looks when using two apps

(Credits: https://i.computer-bild.de/imgs/9/9/5/2/4/0/3/ZTE-Axon-M-1024x576-3ebc60b6a9e85924.jpg)

Now I will come to downsides of foldable phones which I observed,

• Camera is the biggest negative aspect i felt with this phone and phone manufactures who ever aiming to save some space with having one camera should be really changing their decision. I faced a hard time with having one camera. I had to flip phone to use camera on the second screen. And if I immediately have to use selfie camera, it is again a flip distant. This was annoying me in start.
• Apart from night life, I never actually unfolded the phone in day time. 
• I was very scared of placing my phone on any desk as it would scratch my other screen when folded

I will also provide  a link for the phone to buy and few images here below

Amazon - Buy now

eBay - Buy now

credits - here

credits - here

Its been almost 20 days and I love using this phone, I expect using the phones upcoming will also have same experience and seamless as they wont have the black barrier in middle of two screens. Samsung did a clever approach by having two screens and invisible hinge in middle. 

These are my thoughts, please present your opinions in comments. 

Thank you,