Huawei unveils world’s first tri-fold phone, the Mate XT Ultimate Design

do not want. want removable and replaceable batteries and storage, also a headphone jack because fuck you.

Motorola has ⅔ of that on many models.
Removable battery not an option though.
- I could complain about my experience from a few motos the recent years but let's just say I would no longer recommend getting a moto.
And while we're at it, a physical tactile keyboard.
- I'll happily settle for any amount more physical buttons. It sucks to listen to music using my phone because I can't skip, replay or pause songs without using the touch screen.
That ain't gonna satisfy the shareholders so fuck you instead
I like removable batteries, but I like waterproofness combined with thin more.
Easily serviceable batteries are a great compromise IMO.
- Why is there a "but"?

I don't understand the folding phone thing. It feels like tech now is all about creating ridiculous features and tech companies trying to convince us that we want them while ignoring things that would actually be worthwhile like repairable phones, headphones jacks and minimal bloatware.

I can actually see the value in a trifold like the one pictured. In your pocket it’s a phone. When you unfold it, it’s an iPad. You’re consolidating devices.
That said, I’m not a fan of folding lcd screen tech used today. It creases. I’d rather see three separate bezel-less screens that magnetically join to make a larger surface.
- I see it the same way. I would love a tablet I could fit in my pocket.
- Agreed. I have a Tab 9 next to the bed that would be great to not need. That being said, I also use it for sketching plans and as a full PC for VScode-server, and I'm pretty sure a folding phone won't have that modularity with an attached keyboard. Bluetooth keyboard with stand may solve that, though.
Not many people get it until they get one. I got a fold 3 when it came out and have just upgraded to a fold 6 because i just couldn't go back. Its a better form factor for a mobile computing device. Its a phone thats also a small tablet! I gave my old one to my wife who was always averse to getting a fold and she has told me multiple times since then that its her favourite phone shes ever had.
- and she has told me multiple times since then that its her favourite phone shes ever had.
  Doesn't mean much because of loved one bias.
It is pretty useful and convenient if your use case suits it but I don't think that fits the majority of people. For me my Fold 6 replaced my Kindle and Surface. It's nice to able to open it up to read ebooks and manga since opened up, it's pretty much the dimensions of a typical book. Also makes things a lot easier when I need to remote into a PC or SSH into stuff and is a really convenient sketch pad for ideas.
It's also really neat that it's not ridiculously wide like every other phone out there nowadays since I have small hands.
My Fold 3 lasted 3 years with no issues until I traded it in so I think they're fairly well built.
In this case with the trifold, I personally think it's way too big but I'm someone who's never seen the point of tablets that were larger than 7 inches anyways. Always preferred a laptop at those sizes.
I've used a Z Fold 4 for two years now and it's been the best phone I've ever had. Desktop versions of websites, on my phone, without feeling cramped. Two apps side by side, both roughly the size of a usual phone screen. Huge screen for retro emulation using a Bluetooth controller. All with still having a small screen for one handed use and more traditional scrolling.
Games like Hearthstone, Gwent, Chess, Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic, feel way more playable.
At this point, using any other device feels limited and cramped in ways that a big screen doesn't.
My only complaint has been price, and I only got mine because my company paid for it
- Same but with z fold 5 for one year. I am a sysadmin and its glorious for remoting into servers. You get plenty of screen space to have a keyboard and widscreen view of the desktop at the same time.
- Same, the only downside is that I can never go back.
It's really not bad, especially for reading, especially if your eyes aren't what they used to be.
Phone companies, listen to me, BUILT-IN KICKSTAND
- Hey I actually like my phone kickstand. I use it... sometimes.
- HTC glory days.
  Three are lots of cards that have built in kickstands now, why not just get one of those?
I didn't get it either til I came across a Galaxy Fold demo unit at the mall.
It's light, the expanded screen gives you lots of extra screen real estate without feeling too big or unwieldy, and when folded up you get a normal aspect ratio, at a thickness that's comparable to other phones.
I never really felt like a tablet would be useful for me, filling the "gap" between a laptop and a phone with essentially a 'bigger phone' I'd have to charge and carry always seemed silly: I'd rather just keep using my phone instead.
But when you merge both devices into one, it works. It really is a 'bigger phone', with the benefit of being able to choose when you want to use the extra screen real estate without having to swap devices.
As someone who often tries to juggle multiple tasks on a phone*, I want one.
Shame they're so expensive where I live. Looking at the used market, even the folds multiple generations behind are still too expensive.
Side note: Stock Android's split screen implementation is shit.
The floating windows Xiaomi and other OEMs have is light-years ahead, Google should be ashamed.
All the things that used to break phones got fixed, mobile OS changes got smaller and smaller, designed obsolescence required something that would get people to buy a new phone every 18 months. So here's a hinge. Here's TWO hinges!
- Three hinges! Hinges everywhere... unhinged.
More screen space in a smaller portable form is of tremendous use to some people - until projectors come of age at least.
- Soon... Any ... Day.... Now.... https://youtu.be/KbgvSi35n6o
When the page doesn't fit on the phone, it's really stupid to zoom and scroll around to get stuff done.
I control my qBittorrent with a web interface and it's way easier with a bigger screen. I don't have to go grab the laptop, I can unfold the screen that's already in my hand
Phones have honestly flat lined. Back in 2011 me and my buddy were heavily into phones upgrading what felt like every few months to try the latest and greatest new features. Nowadays you get a marginally bigger optimized battery, upgraded camera, and a mildly upgraded screen, however you pay significantly more. The only people I know who upgrade on schedule are iPhone users. I'm upgrading every 5-7 years now and my next phones probably gonna be whatever I can get cheap enough
Companies don't make as much money when it's repairable. Washers and dryers used to last 20-25 years with a few repairs here and there. But companies weren't making any money, so they started making unrepairable junk instead.
- That has a name: built-in obsolescence, and it's bad.
The all new Apple shoe laces! Because now we got you bitch! You thought you could escape ads while tying your shoes? Think again you sonobabich! It's a Walmart October.....sale! Everything...... must go!.... bananas!... $3.56/lb.... American cheese 🧀..... 56c/lb! ....blowout sale....blowout prices!.... Walmart......
Hey! Get out of the way dude! It's the elevator entrance! If you need more time with your laces take a seat over there!
.... In other news, tree elderly cops were run over today while tying their shoes! The CDC suggests banning shoe lace ads unless they are about guns. The republican Senate has put forward the new constitutional ammunition amendment law that includes this and the deportation of anyone who isn't a white guy. Women disagree entirely!....
Exactly my feeling when everyone was jumping into touch screens.
(I was able to type SMS in my pocket, using one hand, while walking. Sure, it took a 100 meters a sentence but it worked.)
Anyway, a smartphone comes with many other differences, mostly advantages. This is another leap of quality for gaming, watching movies, filling government forms on old websites, etc.

It's not impossible for them to do. They just don't want to do it.
- I don't want to cure cancer, I want to turn people into dinosaurs!

Holding out for the Anne Frank Trapper Keeper phone.

Do you mean Lisa Frank, the artist for colorful animals on school supplies, and not Anne Frank, the famous diarist who was killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust?
- Shit. That's a big oops. Been a very long day.
- I was really wondering if I had missed something about Anne Frank.
- Or, perhaps a mashup of both???
I kinda always wanted Penny's computer book from Inspector Gadget.

I can hear the sand crunching.

My tender palm hurts just looking at this. I can feel the pinch.

Clearly, so they could make an !oddlysatisfying@lemmy.world animation. I mean, practicality is obviously not a factor here.

this is going to be like the Gillette blades

That'd be cool. Buy one cheap phone frame, and a pack of 8 screen+electronics assys for $20,000.
They already stuck a screen on the back

Gimme a fucking keyboard instead of extra screen size

they actually made one for this and it folds 🫨
Exactly, if you're going to add mechanical elements that will break it better be a keyboard
they also give a keyboard for that extra screen size
Amen brother
The paragraph with prices says it includes a foldable keyboard. I would have loved to see it... It's probably shit but I'm enticed..
https://youtu.be/e2n2ftM-MwI?si=F_1PfmfYQadCr9Zl
Clicks keyboard?

Is it stupid? Yes! Yes it is certainly. But I's it fucking stupid? It certainly is fucking.

Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Folds.

Y'all are so stuck in the old linear thinking. Be brave, expand your mind. Rubik's cube phone when?
Screw that, I want a phone that folds into a fucking origami crane

This technology gets interesting, when I can unfold a full 27" 2k screen.

LG has a roll up screen. (prototype). More practical.
- Cue the Scroll Phone^TM.
  I can’t even imagine the nightmare UI that would accommodate that type of screen.
  Mechanically, I could see a device that has a slide down keyboard and a roll up screen. Functionally, I can’t see how it would be useful for daily smart phone actions like one-handed use or swipe-gestures.
- Should just be a roll up projector screen and you wear the projector on your forehead like a lamp. Also it's a lamp and you can project directions on the street when you're lost at night.
  Fuck Elon I got this. Give me money!
- Expanse hand terminal so close. Can have the iPhone rectangle kind or the slap it on your wrist kind.
  What we really need is decentralized data and computing. Make phones super basic screens/radio hardware and all your data and computation done remotely. Makes hardware more renewable because you don't need to buy one every 2 years, cheaper, and since it has so much less hardware you can do really cool designs like a single transparent glass chassis.

https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/

Plastic screen on the outside seems nice when my gorilla glass screen still manages to scratch

Gorilla produces two main categories: high drop resistance, and high scratch resistance.
It's not really possible to have both (hard vs flexible).
I honestly would prefer plastic screens coming back. The issue with scratching in the pocket is solved by screen protectors and my phones always hold the longest after they had a crack that didn't damage the display (internal stress is gone).
In that case there's no downside then

Westworld here we come!

Whilst I agree the technology is awesome, £2,000 for a phone, wow, no thanks.

Phones are becoming the new wallets to the point we need something slimmer to pay with soon again.

I already pay with my watch.
I don’t need anything that is between my phone and my laptop in size.
- My concession here would be wink devices, kindle voyage and an A4 device Fortnite taking. Don't need them, but they are handy AF.
Phones are becoming the new wallets…
Now I want a phone case with a chain that attaches to my belt.
(Like the kind bikers and punks used to wear.)

This is dumb and stupid

Shit will get REALLY real when we reach five-fold! Or better yet, touch-papyrus! Just roll that meter-long flab of screen up, and you're good to go!

i can only get so fucking soaking wet.. literally can not wait.
The iScroll!
Going to 4 is just playing it safe, you gotta go to 5!
https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036/
Like razor blades, Mach 5!

some origami sheet

Just… why…?

I pick the category 'Things no one Asked For", for $25 Mr. Trebek.

Someone said the same about touchscreen when you were still a kid. If you don't want it, don't buy it.
- I was an adult when touch screens properly took off, and I doubt this is in the same league.
  There was some practical purpose to touch screens, whereas this thing is just unnecessary. I doubt it would have the same effect.

I wish this was closer to cheap than bat shit expensive.

Also, the only reason I'd want this is for native x64 emulation (which isn't out of infancy) I had a laptop, my cellphone and my work laptop sprawled out today and this all could easily be 1 phone and 2 vms...

The CEO was just conspicuously spotted with one of these a couple weeks ago, looks like it was a marketing scheme as we suspected.

I would be scared to drop this thing

This is cool but what I really want are rollable screen phones like from Earth Final Conflict.

One time foldable phones where already fucking stupid, whats the usecase for tri now

I can see this having some advantages over two-folds. The unfolded screen has a better aspect ratio, there's no need for a "back"-screen and all folds have only one screen on them, allowing the full thing to be thinner.

Price is an issue of course, as well as it having HarmonyOS instead of Android (less app compatibility).

Pedantic nit: this thing doesn't have three folds, the name is nonsense.

- And two fold is how many screens ?
The suffix “fold” in this instance refers to the number of parts, not the number of folds. As confusing as that is.
Trifold wallet tho

yay, it solves every non-existent problems!

Coming soon, they will unveil the Huawei xxMatexx XTX Pro X design.