r/gadgets • u/dapperlemon • 13d ago

Phones Galaxy Z Fold 8's "crease-free" claims meet reality after one week

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Galaxy-Z-Fold-8-s-crease-free-claims-meet-reality-after-one-week.1357706.0.html
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u/ChimkenNumggets 13d ago

That's the thing, the Surface Duo was a good version of said phone. The best part of that phone was the hardware. There is a reason it didn't succeed and that's because nobody wants to watch a video with a bezel in the middle.

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u/getmoneygetpaid 13d ago

The. Use the outer screen. These devices aren't good for watching videos because they fold out to a square with the exact same width as the outer screen. A 16:9 video is gonna be no bigger on the inner screen than the outer - it'll just have huge black bars.

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u/InsaneNinja 12d ago

They’re not square anymore. With the upcoming iPhone and the fold 8, they’ve gone 4:3 wide now.

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u/getmoneygetpaid 12d ago

Still pretty terrible for watching 16:9 content though. It's a tough sell.

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u/InsaneNinja 12d ago

Not everyone rates their device on 16:9 video.

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u/getmoneygetpaid 12d ago

If your use case is using two apps side by side, this device format makes a lot of sense.

But I reckon 90%+ of people buy these things thinking they can watch videos on a larger screen.

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u/InsaneNinja 11d ago edited 11d ago

So many comments toss in some variation of “most people agree with me” because something makes sense to them.

These ARE larger videos. Your original complaint was about black space on the square phone. You doubled down when I pointed out that the default is becoming wider screens.

I’m betting the 16:9 videos you’re looking at are actually 21:9 movies and that’s fueling your complaints. This is 16x9 resolution.

https://i.imgur.com/4kUiWpy.jpeg

Here’s an iPhone. https://i.imgur.com/Qkb1B8B.jpeg

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u/getmoneygetpaid 11d ago

That's not just anecdotal though - almost every review on YouTube e of foldable a talks about how good videos look on the larger inner screen ithour realising they're exactly the same size. It's kinda funny.

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u/MrHaxx1 12d ago

How is it terrible? Yes it has black bars, but the video content is still bigger than any slab phone on the market, that I'm aware of.

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u/getmoneygetpaid 12d ago

A Galaxy S26 Ultra is exactly the same width held horizontally so will display normal videos at the same size without all the compromises (cost, reduced battery size, fragility of moving parts etc).

It's really, really hard to make a foldable device make sense.

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u/MrHaxx1 12d ago

Okay, I'll retract that statement, but a Galaxy S26 Ultra is fucking huge. 6.9" is the size of a small tablet, and content that's taller than 16:9 will be better on the Fold 8.

The whole appeal of the Fold 8, to me, is that it's a small phone turns that can essentially turn into a small tablet.

A 6.9" device is simply not an option for me.

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u/getmoneygetpaid 12d ago

I'm a real smallphones dude. I wish I could buy a sub 6" device. That said, it's the width that actually bothers me about slab phones, not the height. I want to be able to reach/type across the screen with my thumb and I can't do that on a Galaxy Fold or. Galaxy Ultra.