ISSUE 68 • ANDROID ADVISOR 111teased a ‘radically different form factor’ with a
picture of a handset that looked more like a remote
than a phone. It showed off a few teaser images
with a tile interface, skinny apps, and a experience
built to ‘reframe your perspective’. Then Evan Glass
tweeted an image of what looks to be a folding
Moto RAZR reboot with, you guessed it, a seemingly
very tall inside screen.
I have no reason to doubt Samsung or Essential’s
claims. But that doesn’t mean I have to agree with
them. While a square handset would fit in more
pockets than something as big as the massive Galaxy
Note 10+, that doesn’t speak to how easy it is to use
when opened (or closed, but that’s another issue).
If there’s one universal fact to every phone that
released in 2019, it’s that we can pick them up and
instantly start using them. There’s no learning curve
and no confusion. Even Samsung’s Galaxy Fold
stuck to the same basic formula with its phone-to-
tablet transformer.
But this new folding Galaxy Whatever is
something else altogether. It doesn’t open to a
bigger screen that lets you be more productive.
It opens to a taller screen. I can’t even begin to
comprehend how to use it with one hand, let
alone the logistics of landscape mode. It’s a classic
example of form trumping function.
A tall order
Comparisons will immediately be made to the RAZR
flip phones and the Nokia 8110, two phones that
conjure nostalgia of the pre-smartphone days. Each