Hands-On With the $1,700 'OnePlus Open' Foldable Smartphone

[patent10021]

My home screen jiggle, jiggles, it doesn't fold
I wanna see it wiggle, wiggle, for sure
It makes me wanna dribble, dribble, you know

 

[CarlntheCity]

I have the Oppo Find N2 Fold and the Vivo X fold 2. The durability of the Oppo/One Plus has been very impressive but the Vivo (same parent company as Oppo/One Plus) has been my favorite so far and the battery last for two days.

I use it as a 2nd device along with my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I considered the OnePlus but I like my Vivo X fold the best.

Coming from a Surface Duo 2, I can run the MS Launcher on the Chinese Rom and it works flawlessly.

I am going to wait to see how this OnePlus holds up after release, after buying the Google Fold (GARBAGE, broke in 1 week) I am cautious

 

[Abazigal]

No, todays Apple is about marketing and packaging. They aren’t trying to make the best of anything, they are trying to make the most profitable in each category and making something ”best” would get in the way of that. Why do you think barely anything new have come up in the last years? There are plenty of new things they could do that would benefit consumers it‘s just that the technology is still too expensive and would eat into their huge margins.

Apple spent loads of money convincing people that they “wait until they can do it right” when in fact they wait until they can do it cheap enough, at least when it comes to their high volume products. We didn’t have to wait ages to get 120 Hz iPhones because Apple was the only manufacturer that couldn’t figure out how to fit it in the phones, they just had to wait until even $250 phones could afford to have them included before it made sense to their margins.

Not all 120hz phones are created equal. My understanding is that when 120hz displays were first introduced, they were a massive battery hog, and android phones had to offset that with massive batteries which in turn made the phones that much bulkier and heavier. Apple specifically required that the refresh rate could go to as low as 10hz, which required LTPO screens (which Apple likely couldn't get ready in 2020). They also waited forever for OLED displays because the cost was higher at first, and for Samsung to be able to supply them in the quantities required (because Apple easily sells hundreds of millions of iPhones every year).

It's just the reality when you are manufacturing and selling at the scale that Apple does. I honestly don't see anything wrong with this and in my opinion, being the best (for my needs) and being the most profitable are not mutually exclusive.

 

[ofarlig]

Not all 120hz phones are created equal. My understanding is that when 120hz displays were first introduced, they were a massive battery hog, and android phones had to offset that with massive batteries which in turn made the phones that much bulkier and heavier. Apple specifically required that the refresh rate could go to as low as 10hz, which required LTPO screens (which Apple likely couldn't get ready in 2020). They also waited forever for OLED displays because the cost was higher at first, and for Samsung to be able to supply them in the quantities required (because Apple easily sells hundreds of millions of iPhones every year).

It's just the reality when you are manufacturing and selling at the scale that Apple does. I honestly don't see anything wrong with this and in my opinion, being the best (for my needs) and being the most profitable are not mutually exclusive.

So you don‘t think Apple could make a better product for the same price if they were okay with the same margins as other companies? So every year when they come out with something new it isn’t that the tech is cheap enough but instead that it didn’t exist before? their products aren’t the best they can make by a mile, they are just the best they can make with spending a decent amount less money than the competition spends.

Apart from FaceID and the SoCs Apple doesn’t have much hardware that is noteworthy in comparison to the competition. Apple is competing with marketing and the entire package with software that tries to make it harder to switch one of the units for something else.

I prefer iOS and the package I get with Apple too, but I am fully aware that the same features I like are made in a way to ensure maximum “lock in”, the hardware itself isn’t anything special but the package is nice.

But as someone that likes tech Apple is kind of forcing me to break out of it though since they are taking too long coming out with new hardware these days. Switching my 14 PM to a 15 PM basically gave me some weight reduction, a chamfer on the edges and a new button which wasn’t enough to not be bored with it instantly and start looking at alternatives.

 

[votdfak]

I was using Fold 4 for a year without a problem, most of the time I was using it without a case, survived winter and summer vacations. I want Apple foldable for sure.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

Apple usually waits until tech actually works.

The issue with current foldables is that they aren't durable. My friend went through 5 Samsung Folds in slightly more than 2 years.

They always break in one of 2 ways.
a) the plastic screen wears down, especially around the crease area, then the OLED panel itself starts breaking due to added strain.
b) the hinge wears down.

b) will be fixed sooner or later, someone will develop a reliable hinge, it's just a matter of time.

But how would you address the screen issues? The screen can't be glass, because glass doesn't fold. But plastic is a terrible material for a screen...

From the Galaxy Fold 2 forward, and now the Pixel Fold, the foldable screens are ultra thin glass not plastic. They have factory screen protectors on the inner displays which are plastic, but the screen itself is UTG. I take the inner screen screen protector off as soon as I take mine out of the box because it isn't needed anyway and it feels much better touching the UTG. I've never had as much as a hairline scratch on any of my inner screens and I've checked them with a loupe.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

We read yesterday how Apple's relationship with China was a likely factor in the cancellation of Jon Stewart's show. I'm not sure anymore how buying Apple instead of OnePlus is really making much of a difference.



I'm 55, and very intrigued by this phone. The fragility of the internal screen is far less important when you consider it is encased in a clamshell when not in use. 100% of the damage on my iPhones (3, 4s, 6, Xr, 13) has been a result of contact with something else in my pocket. I suspect this is true for most people who haven't dropped their phones or gotten them wet.

I'm not buying either right now. I'm waiting until Cook is replaced to see if Apple can get back to its roots.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

Michael Fisher did a good video on it:

Perfect example of "you had to be there." This thing was HUGE when it was released. It was everywhere. On TV. Celebrities had it. It was given to sports figures. It was basically the Windows 95 on phone releases. Probably the first time a cell phone had a name that people would remember. And paved the way for the RAZR and other phones. But it really got the flip phone craze going.

I had the StarTAC. It was way ahead of its time. It wasn't the greatest cell phone, but it was great for what it was back then.

 

[I7guy]

I'm not buying either right now. I'm waiting until Cook is replaced to see if Apple can get back to its roots.

They are at their roots and supposedly looking at a foldable phone. I’m guessing apple will never return to where you want it to be.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

The Surface Duo is a better alternative to soft plastic screens, which wear and look bad at some point.
But it still has the hinge moving part and the screens are not seamless together.

I guess Apple might solve this the Apple way. I can imagine an iPhone Pro/Ultra (?) which bundles with new "Apple glasses" (like the Rayban glasses ) which magnify the monolithic iPhone's screen to e.g. 2x and trick the eyes with additional info-items outside the screen in visible sight.

Would sell another Apple item 🤑 and push VR glasses to the masses.

I'm not sure which country you live in, but the foldables being sold in America have ultra thin glass screens, not soft plastic.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

They are at their roots and supposedly looking at a foldable phone. I’m guessing apple will never return to where you want it to be.

Buah ha ha, you think Apple is like it was when Steve Jobs was at the helm? Surely you jest. I know, I know, you just like to argue on here. I get it. And if Apple never gets back to its roots so be it. While I will find this to be terribly sad, there are plenty of other options out there. So far, I've been just fine without them.

 

[I7guy]

So you don‘t think Apple could make a better product for the same price if they were okay with the same margins as other companies?

The margins apple makes is because people will buy their products at the price they offer. Apple doesn’t have to reduce its margins.

So every year when they come out with something new it isn’t that the tech is cheap enough but instead that it didn’t exist before? their products aren’t the best they can make by a mile, they are just the best they can make with spending a decent amount less money than the competition spends.

This same tripe is repeated often enough that people actually believe it. It really can’t be debunked or verified.

Apart from FaceID and the SoCs Apple doesn’t have much hardware that is noteworthy in comparison to the competition.

That is the differentiating factor. However to your point seems the consumer market is saturated with products that don’t differentiate themselves; including mid-level cars (except Tesla), TVs, etc. Tesla is the apple of cars.

Apple is competing with marketing and the entire package with software that tries to make it harder to switch one of the units for something else.

Because other phone manufacturers have little to no ecosystem they can call their own.

I prefer iOS and the package I get with Apple too, but I am fully aware that the same features I like are made in a way to ensure maximum “lock in”, the hardware itself isn’t anything special but the package is nice.

The package is the differentiator. All non-iOS phones try to differentiate on specs. Apple differentiates on experience.

But as someone that likes tech Apple is kind of forcing me to break out of it though since they are taking too long coming out with new hardware these days. Switching my 14 PM to a 15 PM basically gave me some weight reduction, a chamfer on the edges and a new button which wasn’t enough to not be bored with it instantly and start looking at alternatives.

People that like tech doesnt necessarily translate in ghz is better. It translates into usefulness is king.

Buah ha ha, you think Apple is like it was when Steve Jobs was at the helm?

No, clearly not. Apple is a bigger and has a more diverse product line up..

Surely you jest. I know, I know, you just like to argue on here. I get it.

No, there always is an opposing point of view and generalized negative opinions such are easy ones to debate.

And if Apple never gets back to its roots so be it. There are plenty of other options out there. So far, I've been just fine without them.

Perfect. You are buying the products that have the most value to you. What’s the issue?

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

The margins apple makes is because people will buy their products at the price they offer. Apple doesn’t have to reduce its margins.

This same tripe is repeated often enough that people actually believe it. It really can’t be debunked or verified.

That is the differentiating factor. However to your point seems the consumer market is saturated with products that don’t differentiate themselves; including mid-level cars (except Tesla), TVs, etc. Tesla is the apple of cars.

Because other phone manufacturers have little to no ecosystem they can call their own.

The package is the differentiator. All non-iOS phones try to differentiate on specs. Apple differentiates on experience.

People that like tech doesnt necessarily translate in ghz is better. It translates into usefulness is king.

No, clearly not. Apple is a bigger and has a more diverse product line up..

No, there always is an opposing point of view and generalized negative opinions such are easy ones to debate.

Perfect. You are buying the products that have the most value to you. What’s the issue?

Of course Apple has grown. It is following the trajectory set forth by Steve Jobs. I'll leave this here, in case you've forgotten: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/08/09/apple-most-valuable-company-anniversary/. Having a more diverse product lineup in this case isn't a positive thing in my opinion. I'd rather have less products that are great that more products that are less than great. We will just have to agree to disagree on this one. If profits are your thing, Cook will be great in your view. Even though I own many, many shares of Apple, I'd trade profits for innovation any day. That doesn't mean I don't want Apple to make money of course, I just don't appreciate a greedy miser running the show. I'd rather have a product and design person running the show and have Cook back in his Ops role.

 

[tshrimp]

I remember using a Compaq iPaq back when they first came out and they had a plastic coated screen, made for touch and stylus input. Loved using it for a couple of months, then the screen started taking on indents and scratches and ultimately became unusable. I would say that just because a folding device closes the internal screen it’s not sealing it from dust, sand, or other detritus from getting in there, nor is it going to do anything for just normal touch damage. The ultra thin glass is not like the slab glass you find on non-folding devices.

This is not new tech. Samsung has been making foldables for years and they have been reliable.

 

[I7guy]

Of course Apple has grown. It is following the trajectory set forth by Steve Jobs. I'll leave this here, in case you've forgotten: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/08/09/apple-most-valuable-company-anniversary/. Having a more diverse product lineup in this case isn't a positive thing in my opinion. I'd rather have less products that are great that more products that are less than great. We will just have to agree to disagree on this one. If profits are your thing, Cook will be great in your view. Even though I own many, many shares of Apple, I'd trade profits for innovation any day. That doesn't mean I don't want Apple to make money of course, I just don't appreciate a greedy miser running the show. I'd rather have a product and design person running the show and have Cook back in his Ops role.

Of course Cook followed the trajectory set by Jobs. Cook while under jobs brought jobs’ vision to reality, and cook is now doing the same.

I’m a products and profits person. And while I trimmed my apple holdings to a reasonable level I want the stock growth.

There will be life after cook just like there was life after jobs.

 

[Abazigal]

So you don‘t think Apple could make a better product for the same price if they were okay with the same margins as other companies? So every year when they come out with something new it isn’t that the tech is cheap enough but instead that it didn’t exist before? their products aren’t the best they can make by a mile, they are just the best they can make with spending a decent amount less money than the competition spends.

Apart from FaceID and the SoCs Apple doesn’t have much hardware that is noteworthy in comparison to the competition. Apple is competing with marketing and the entire package with software that tries to make it harder to switch one of the units for something else.

I prefer iOS and the package I get with Apple too, but I am fully aware that the same features I like are made in a way to ensure maximum “lock in”, the hardware itself isn’t anything special but the package is nice.

But as someone that likes tech Apple is kind of forcing me to break out of it though since they are taking too long coming out with new hardware these days. Switching my 14 PM to a 15 PM basically gave me some weight reduction, a chamfer on the edges and a new button which wasn’t enough to not be bored with it instantly and start looking at alternatives.

(It's late, I have to work tomorrow, and am turning in after this post, so forgive me if it doesn't turn out as coherent as I would like). 😛

That’s just part of it, the main things they do is create an eco-system around their products. Most companies are not patient, most like to push things out when it's not ready just to say they are first (and by definition, innovative). Apple’s approach most of the time is to keep things in the oven a bit longer, which some think is boring. As the saying goes, "Rome was not build in one day."

Look, I get your frustration. You think that Apple is deliberating holding back every year just so there is something in store for them to upsell their customers on for the following year. You think that Apple is deliberately gouging its customers with high prices while also drip-feeding them with a slow pace of incremental improvements to their products. You make it sound like we are prisoners trapped inside a walled garden, stuck with "inferior" hardware and incapable of leaving. I have heard variations of this argument ever since I became an Apple product user in 2011. Cnet. Engadget. Theverge. Macrumours. The list goes on.

Maybe I can get better hardware elsewhere, but the whole point about Apple products is that the end experience is more than the sum of its parts. Maybe there's an android phone with a better camera, with better battery life, with a higher-res display, with some gimmick like a thermometer or the ability to double as a weighing scale. The point is that there really isn't this one mythical android smartphone that somehow amalgamates the advantages of every android handset out there, while somehow being immune to their collective drawbacks. Smartphones are a bundle of compromises. What I pay (and trust) Apple to do is find the best combination for me that simultaneously maximises the benefits while minimising the associated drawbacks.

The entire argument can therefore be summed up with one word - trust. I buy Apple gear because I trust Apple to make the right call in what to prioritise in their devices, and I feel this is one of the really important aspects of Apple that people really don't understand. That Apple really goes the distance in building a strong relationship of trust with their customers.

This doesn't mean that Apple is perfect or beyond reproach. Far from it, but I feel that Apple has been very good in the areas that I do care about, while I find I can still tolerate the areas in which they are weak in. Their relatively few competitors are the inverse (again, for me) and I think you will find that while a lot of Apple users may struggle to articulate this point, it will nevertheless come out along this line of you poke them the right way.

It's the same as how people connect with their babysitter or hairdresser. I don't evaluate them solely on objective metrics. Instead, we connect based on how well we communicate, whether we trust them to be truthful and fair with us, how well we approach a given problem, and so on. That doesn't mean I am a cultist to the 40-year-old down the street who cuts my hair out of her apartment; it just means that my mom and I trust her and have built a rapport with her, and that's about 90% of what we're buying as part of that service.

To sum it all up, Apple users buy trust, not specs. You can wave your S23 and its 20x zoom in my face all you want. That's not what I look for in a phone.

It’s also said, and and somewhat hinted to by Apple, that they plan ten years in advance. It’s why they usually don’t bother to copy features from others if they don’t think they have staying power, but do come up with features that at first don’t seem to do too much, but over the years become part of a major ecosystem. I think if you look along this line, what Apple does (and chooses not to do) will also start to make more sense.

 

[tshrimp]

Funny thing, with all this cool foldable talk I would settle for getting rid of the notch and island. The other companies have done it, so can’t imagine why Apple can’t (or maybe it is won’t?).

 

[darngooddesign]

(It's late, I have to work tomorrow, and am turning in after this post, so forgive me if it doesn't turn out as coherent as I would like). 😛

That’s just part of it, the main things they do is create an eco-system around their products. Most companies are not patient, most like to push things out when it's not ready just to say they are first (and by definition, innovative). Apple’s approach most of the time is to keep things in the oven a bit longer, which some think is boring. As the saying goes, "Rome was not build in one day."

Look, I get your frustration. You think that Apple is deliberating holding back every year just so there is something in store for them to upsell their customers on for the following year. You think that Apple is deliberately gouging its customers with high prices while also drip-feeding them with a slow pace of incremental improvements to their products. You make it sound like we are prisoners trapped inside a walled garden, stuck with "inferior" hardware and incapable of leaving. I have heard variations of this argument ever since I became an Apple product user in 2011. Cnet. Engadget. Theverge. Macrumours. The list goes on.

Maybe I can get better hardware elsewhere, but the whole point about Apple products is that the end experience is more than the sum of its parts. Maybe there's an android phone with a better camera, with better battery life, with a higher-res display, with some gimmick like a thermometer or the ability to double as a weighing scale. The point is that there really isn't this one mythical android smartphone that somehow amalgamates the advantages of every android handset out there, while somehow being immune to their collective drawbacks. Smartphones are a bundle of compromises. What I pay (and trust) Apple to do is find the best combination for me that simultaneously maximises the benefits while minimising the associated drawbacks.

The entire argument can therefore be summed up with one word - trust. I buy Apple gear because I trust Apple to make the right call in what to prioritise in their devices, and I feel this is one of the really important aspects of Apple that people really don't understand. That Apple really goes the distance in building a strong relationship of trust with their customers.

This doesn't mean that Apple is perfect or beyond reproach. Far from it, but I feel that Apple has been very good in the areas that I do care about, while I find I can still tolerate the areas in which they are weak in. Their relatively few competitors are the inverse (again, for me) and I think you will find that while a lot of Apple users may struggle to articulate this point, it will nevertheless come out along this line of you poke them the right way.

It's the same as how people connect with their babysitter or hairdresser. I don't evaluate them solely on objective metrics. Instead, we connect based on how well we communicate, whether we trust them to be truthful and fair with us, how well we approach a given problem, and so on. That doesn't mean I am a cultist to the 40-year-old down the street who cuts my hair out of her apartment; it just means that my mom and I trust her and have built a rapport with her, and that's about 90% of what we're buying as part of that service.

To sum it all up, Apple users buy trust, not specs. You can wave your S23 and its 20x zoom in my face all you want. That's not what I look for in a phone.

It’s also said, and and somewhat hinted to by Apple, that they plan ten years in advance. It’s why they usually don’t bother to copy features from others if they don’t think they have staying power, but do come up with features that at first don’t seem to do too much, but over the years become part of a major ecosystem. I think if you look along this line, what Apple does (and chooses not to do) will also start to make more sense.

This is a second very good post.

One thing I’ll add is that Apple usually waits until the technology has been perfected enough because its users are simply intolerant of the teething pans which come with true innovation. For example, people who hate the then notch and now dynamic island want an under-display camera and FaceID sensors, but as of yet those are impossible to hide completely and they always have worse image quality. If Apple released it without solving those issues there would be non-stop something-gate hashtags about how you can still kind of see the camera and sensors and the photos aren’t as good. So Apple isn’t going to released a transforming phone until durability and screen issues have been solved.

 

[darngooddesign]

Funny thing, with all this cool foldable talk I would settle for getting rid of the notch and island. The other companies have done it, so can’t imagine why Apple can’t (or maybe it is won’t?).

Because no company has been able to implement an underscreen camera which you can’t see when not using the camera; there is a usually a visual artifact like a shimmery circle where the camera is, and doesn’t have worse image quality than the same camera without a display layer over it. Apple users would complain endlessly about those issues and that is why Apple hasn’t done it yet.

 

[tshrimp]

Because no company has been able to implement an underscreen camera which you can’t see when not using the camera; there is a usually a visual artifact like a shimmery circle where the camera is, and doesn’t have worse image quality than the same camera without a display layer over it. Apple users would complain endlessly about those issues and that is why Apple hasn’t done it yet.

I didn’t mention an under screen camera. But I don’t recall any other company other than Apple having anything matching the size of the notch or island, but I could be wrong here. It definitely isn’t typical in high end phones outside of the iPhone.

 

[Aston441]

I do. My prediction is it will come out in 2-3 years. Then it will become the dominant form factor by the end of the decade. Somewhat akin to how the iPhone X was proof-of-concept, and its form became standard by iPhone 12 or so, about 3-4 years later.

I guese you don't have a direct line to AppleHQ any more since you quit MS, or you could just call and find out.

 

[marzbarz]

And you promise to never buy a folding phone from Apple?

yes. I promise to never buy a folding phone from apple. I stand by what I said.

 

[marzbarz]

I can see the foldable phone be much more used than the Vision Pro. It 100% depends on the person and what they are looking for and are into.

not sure of your point. never said anything about usage. a phone is obviously one of the most used products in everyone's lives, even if its a terrible phone.

and a vision pro is not a high bar to clear lol

 

[marzbarz]

You write like someone who's ever tried one.

tried one. didn't like it.

your point now?

 

[marzbarz]

Except when Apple makes one, right?

nope.
will never use an apple foldable phone.

folding iPad however is interesting to me.