My favorite foldable phone is one that doesn’t exist yet

The book-shaped foldable phone is a gadget that poses one radical idea: What if you always had a computer in your pocket?

When you want to write a blog while your plane is taking off, and you have to store large electronic devices (computer)? When you’re sitting on the couch preparing your grocery order, and the computer is in the other room? When your job was to write blog posts, but you weren’t allowed to bring your computer into the main space? These are the real scenarios I used Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 During the past month.

Each offers a large internal screen that’s, at the very least, plenty of space to watch videos, read posts, and whatever you normally do on your phone. But I’ve been pushing them into the computer realm recently, with pretty excellent results. The experience made me greedier. I now see the different strengths and weaknesses of the Z Fold 7 and Pixel 10 Pro – and I’m convinced that the ideal foldable device falls in the middle.

The thing about gluing two phones together is that the resulting device usually weighs as much as two phones stuck together. This applies to the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which is heavy enough to constantly remind you that it’s in your pocket. But the 10 Pro Fold has a secret weapon: Qi2 with built-in magnets, which allows you to use it with Pop Switch magnetic holders. I held it using the Google Pixelsnap-branded circular handle, which helps alleviate the weight issue when you hold the phone for a while. It also works as a stand, shouldn’t a phone that is also a tablet have a way to support it? I’m starting to believe it the more I use these things.

The 10 Pro Fold has another feature that influenced my decision to bring it on my family’s holiday trips and at CES in Las Vegas (an actual desert!): dust resistance. Any phone that would be my daily driver would need to withstand the harsh environment at the bottom of my bag, where goldfish crackers would crumble and die. It’s the only foldable phone with a full IP68 dust resistance rating, which gave me real peace of mind every time I put it in the bag.

But after a few weeks of carrying it, I was ready to replace the 10 Pro Fold with something lighter. So I switched to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Samsung’s thin, light, foldable phone. It weighs a little more than a regular phone, making it more comfortable to hold and hold. It doesn’t seem like much on paper, but I promise it’s a difference you feel in a hundred little ways.

Since you can’t have it all, the Z Fold 7 lacks full dust resistance (it’s only sealed against larger particles), so I felt a little more nervous with it day after day. Also missing: built-in Qi2 magnet. Samsung offers a couple of smaller cases that add a magnetic loop, but I’m not a fan of the cases. And the thing about adding even a slim case to the Z Fold 7 seems like a contradiction to the whole deal.

Maybe this was just a comment, though I can’t help but feel that a simple circular stand I could place on the back of this phone is exactly what it needs. Raising the case when I want to reap the full benefits of the Z Fold 7’s ultra-slim profile feels unnecessarily difficult when there’s a simpler option. position would also Address shake caused by camera bumps when using the phone on a flat surface; I always prop the phone on a drink holder to stabilize it. I realize that status will help here as well, but please see my previous points about sensitivity to statuses and wanting to easily dispose of a support mechanism at will.

While I’m here doing my phone fantasy draft, I’m having some thoughts about software as well. I like the simplicity of the Pixel app for Android, but I prefer Samsung’s easy tolerance when it comes to running multiple apps on the internal screen. I installed Gboard on the Z Fold 7 and uninstalled most of Samsung’s overly preloaded apps, which was a much more enjoyable experience than the one you get out of the box.

I realize I sound like a real complainer here. “Woman unhappy with $2,000 phone” is not a revelation anyone needs right now. And yes, I know tablets exist, I don’t want one in addition to the phone I already carry. So, if you’ll excuse me for a minute, I’m being greedy here because I’ve seen a lot of potential in these devices over the past few months. Foldable phones have been great since the beginning, but I was never as convinced of their usefulness in the real world as I am now.

I wrote Full blog post From the Pixel 10 Pro Fold On my way back from CES when my laptop refused to connect to the plane’s Wi-Fi, but the phone obliged. I have our weekly Amazon purchases open in a tab on one side of the screen and my Paprika shopping list on the other. I’ve made a quick post on this site from within Sphere! Being able to get away with that on a device that’s also water and dust resistant, thin enough to fit in my yoga pants pocket, light enough to fit a regular phone, and with a handy magnetic grip that makes it comfortable to use all day long? That’s the promise of a foldable phone, folks. I wish there was one The device that can fulfill all those desires.

Photography by Alison Johnson/The Verge