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even if most products get forgotten by the media after the review period is done there are a few that stand out gadgets that people still ask about months later some that we even decide to hold on to is daily drivers and that we get to see age over time the Google pixel fold is one of them this might just be one of the most interesting foldables of last year that's already going Beyond this refresh cycle if you're wondering if it's still worth considering this video is for you I'm ha Mar with pocket now and this is Google pixel fold after the buzz I think foldables have made a case for how difficult it is to have one product be good at two things surely smartphones have done a great job over the years at helping us cram a portable
computer with a great camera into our pockets but most of the magic is actually software based it killed the MP3 player with files and an app and the lack of physics in the camera sensors and Optics were all solved with computational photography this whole idea of combining a tablet into a phone is only as good as how well it's implemented but right now it seems only Chinese companies are getting it right Samsung on one end is still struggling to get the phone part right with its narrow design but then Google well let's just say the pixel fold has its own set of struggles like the find n and find n 2 Google's decision to make or follow on a more passport like design was rather interesting because even Oppo decided to
move away from it with the findin 3 and OnePlus open three generations helped Oppo learn how to make generation 2 lighter and then Generation 3 even more lighter and taller all while Google tested this design for nearly the same amount of time and with different results visually I'll admit it's hard not to like this phone even nearly a year later from its Chrome accents to its matte back and its wider aspect ratio place this phone on a table and you're totally getting noticed there's just nothing like it surely nerds will complain about its hinge bordered not being symmetrical with the curved display but seriously who cares it looks crazy elegant while off or with a dark wallpaper my problem with this design is
really when you pick it up it's a whopping 30 G heavier than the zold 5 and 50 g heavier than the OnePlus open so using this phone while closed was not necessarily the most pleasant experience stainless steel truly is a better material from a rigidity standpoint for the hinge which aged gracefully along with the aluminum rails in the gorilla glass fius but yeah at a heavy cost now the genius with this design is that this proved to be a far more conventional phone this larger cover screen meant I rarely had moments where I felt like opening the phone if anything I'd call this one of the best one-handed phones of last year given how easy it is to reach each corner at least with my freak
hands it's not exactly 16x9 but close enough to also make this the ideal YouTube watching experience while propped on a table and by the way this is either using the outer display or the inner one it also allowed it to be a better multitasking tool while open since the wider panels made apps fit better on each side now would I have preferred a better inner display yes and no I actually praise Google for using the thicker Border in order to fit some of the internals and shed thickness off the phone's body so no the bezels don't bother me the punch in the color from this AMOLED and its refresh rate are also proof that the quality in this inner panel is superb for all kinds of content consumption even the combination
with the speakers meant you could binge watch anything without a problem coverage on blogs to and that coveted invite code and all of that was crucial in sustaining interest in OnePlus for its first messy year of existence but then my problem is uh just how reflective the material is on it making it complicated to use Outdoors I'm not even the guy who will complain about foldables with a crease but uh even that's more pronounced here now one of the reasons I was most excited for this phone is because hey if Google made a foldable it only gave me hope that it meant Android would be more committed to this form factor a year later I'm not going to say the experience has been perfect but uh it's been a step in the
right direction sort of see in the past foldables we're always pretty late to Essentials like software updates this pixel fold is running Android 14 since day one and we've seen competitors like Samsung match the behavior pretty closely I've also enjoyed that this is a broader experience at using a pixel from the live and free transcription in the voice recorder to knowing what song is playing on the lock screen to the add a glance widget and easy access to Google search you get the same experience you know but on two different versions of the canvas better yet is the inclusion of all the AI features we've praed this year like Circle to search or the fact that I'm already running Gemini Advance
without a problem about my only issue is that over time I've also realized that both these aspect ratios are not necessarily the best experience for Android ever since phones got tall back in 2017 well so did the apps some don't fully adapt and others just feel crammed once you pop up the keyboard which only makes them look worse when you're working in tablet mode flipping the phone on its side does help a slight bit but even this is a dated aspect ratio that's the one thing I expected this phone to fix with its deployment but we're still not there yet now a net positive is that all my original complaints with tender G2 on this phone have sort of been addressed through software updates I deal with no more
overheating during day-to-day use and all the rest of the specifications included remain on par with what I'd expect from a flagship even the occasional stutters I noticed when this phone launched are now gone in favor of a very fluid experience I think a lot of it is due to optimizations in this phone's connectivity because that's far better and phone calls sound a tad less muffled than they did at launch heck even battery life is now leaving this in all day phone category though I wouldn't count on it for a second day but above all this one of the biggest reasons to be excited about this phone is because pixels know how to do photography even on the lower end and boy do foldables
need that Google might not have bestow this phone with the Pro Optics we see on flagships but uh when it launched these were far better than anything else out there and I'd say they've held up pretty good so far see any phone can take good photos during the day but this fold does a very good job at honoring the pixel Legacy with its added character the amount of contrast and depth that you get from these photos makes the results feel like if this was taken with a bigger camera sensor leaving very little to be desired sure I would have loved there to be a wider Ultra wide or that the zoom capabilities went further than 20x through Super S but all these results have far more of a stylistic approach than most foldables
what didn't really improve with software updates is just how long it takes this phone to take photos at night surely the results are great but regardless of which focal length you pick be sure to not be on a rush because it is slow and I also feel a lot of these photos are far brighter than what my eyes saw at the moment so forgive me if I think that most of these are overdone that said I love how features like long exposure here to be able to take Pro level photography with a simple swipe as a Joy surely I wish the rest of the features were here like on the pixel 8 Pro but hey I'll take it selfies and portraits were then another example of a phone that does too well for its Optics giving
results a much warmer look the added contrast is still here like on previous pixels but instead of the old sharpening in excess results are far more artistic today playing in its favor when it comes to how it plays with lighting sadly this is the pixel I'd least recommend for video or at least I would recommend you disable HDR even in good light it falls apart with the ultra wide and then over dust color with just too much on the standard clearly SDR video here is more true to life even if you lose so much of the useful information you get from an iPhone for example this is another case where phones with tensor G3 are just far better though yeah at least this phone gets stabilization right selfie video is
then just too tight in the crop though far more stable than you think while you're filming it's what I'd call okay but not something I'd use this phone for 4 oddly even the far cheaper pixel 8A chews it up and uh that's really because of the new chip to conclude let's just say this might be one of the most complicated after the buzz episodes I've ever had to do here you have the N shining armor that comes to validate the existence of foldables that comes to confirm that Android is here to stay in this form factor and yet it's hard to not feel like this is a first generation product even while gole spent as much time perfecting the craft as OnePlus did for example I could easily award this is probably one of the best first
generation products I've ever used sure it's not half-baked at all the problem is that it's not navigating the market Alone by any means it costs the same as pretty much every other foldable or if not more if you compared it to the OnePlus open and yet with the exception of photography I can't say that it's better in anything else in comparison it leaves me on the ropes because as much as I personally want to love this phone it wouldn't be the product I'd recommend you consider a year later if anything it leaves me very optimistic for a pixel fold 2 if we're going to get one this year but as it stands right now I'd hold off and waited out if Google takes extra steps in refining this hardware and
getting even more creative about it software all match with camera tricks and AI that are this good and a pixel fold 2 would be an easy recommendation in the near future if it ever happens let me know if you agree with our assessment in the comments down below and while you're at it follow us on social media and subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one you also follow me on my personal hand those to see me want to love this phone more than ever please give this video a thumbs up if you like what you saw I'm ha thanks so much for watching we'll see you on the next one
