[solardev]

Personally, I'd just open my laptop or plug it into the desktop monitor.

Like even a giant iPad with a keyboard isn't productive for me. I just use my phone to check messages, read the news, etc. If I want to do something useful, I just sit down at the ultrawide and use a real OS with like four times the memory.

I played with those folding phones at the store last week and thought to myself "nah, just more shit to break. And what would I do with it anyway? Watch YouTube slightly bigger? It'd be much harder to type on too."

[The_Colonel]

Smartphones / tablets are for the most part devices for consumptions, and foldables are better at that than normal smartphones.

The improved reading experience on a device I have all the time with me is an attractive proposition.

The disadvantages (chiefly price and weight / thickness) currently outweigh the value for me, but I hope it gets better.

[simonblack]

Personally, I'd just open my laptop

Exactly. I refuse to use my phone for everyday computing. The screen is too small and/or doesn't have enough pixels to display enough data at a time. I normally use a 4K screen.

I liken using a phone for everyday computing to be like using 'keyhole surgery' for surgery on the heart. You need to be able to see a job as a whole not just a tiny portion of it.

And don't get me started on how big and cumbersome today's phones are. I went though several decades where mobile phones shrank from being a heavy house brick to a 'chocolate bar' that fitted easily into a shirt pocket. Only for the progression to start going all the way back to today's monstrosities.

[RestlessMind]

> Personally, I'd just open my laptop or plug it into the desktop monitor.

Most of the world doesn't have a laptop and are not interested in getting one. Even more so when it comes to a desktop. But they would be thrilled about a device which is as easy to carry as a phone but can have as big a screen as an iPad when watching Youtube or reading news or doing a video chat. I can immediately think of at least 5-7 family members who would love this kind of device.

[solardev]

Would they still want it at 3 to 4x the price of a generic phone and a generic laptop?

[dylan604]

Tell me you're a fellow boomer without using the word.

These kids today...might not even have a full computer at home. It is possible that they only use one at school/work. So the majority of the compute time is on a device. This is something I have to remind myself of a lot more often. The mobile first concept is real for a reason. So, just having an ultrawide and a system with an OS is pretty much on the lines of a class distinction.

[californical]

Idk, I’m a young millennial and I am in the same boat as GP commenter. I have an iPhone SE, any bigger just feels wrong. I can’t imagine wanting a bigger thing to stare at in my hands, and I’m typing this from the tiny old iPhone

[rejectfinite]

>might not even have a full computer at home

How awful. Do they play games, do work and watch TV on their phone?

[dylan604]

Yes. It’s mind boggling, but it’s what they have, so it’s what they use

[solardev]

Not a boomer but a millennial. I dunno if it's a class thing (my phone, computer, and monitor combined still costs less than some new phones these days). I need the computer for work because it's my livelihood. And I play video games on it (streaming, cuz I can't afford a real gaming PC).

But I can totally believe that for many people the phone is their only device. I still struggle to imagine what use case would be better on a slightly bigger phone, especially if it makes typing harder. I had a Steam Deck for a while and that size is similar, and it was so hard to interact with that keyboard vs a regular phone in portrait mode.

I have no issue with manufacturers trying new form factors. Somebody out there must want them. I just wish they also kept making smaller phones for the small-handed among us...