Google and Samsung, Please Copy Huawei’s New Flip Phone Design

We don’t talk about Huawei that often these days because they don’t really operate in the US. They’ve essentially been banned from the world of Android since 2019 and that takes them out of our radar. However, they’ve continued to develop their own in-house operating system and still release phones pretty regularly. While the release of new devices wouldn’t really catch our attention if they aren’t Android-related, they have a new foldable that I would highly encourage all other foldable makers to take a look at.

The Huawei Pura X was announced today and it is basically a flip phone, but when unfolded it showcases a larger screen than we find on most flip phones and has a unique aspect ratio that might make the most sense. Hear me out on this one.

I’ve seen a bunch of press describe this new Pura X as weird or unorthodox for a flip phone, and maybe that’s because when folded shut it is just that. When shut, the Pura X has a smallish 3.5 flip phone-esque display with a camera array above it. This is probably the worst part of this phone. Had Huawei moved the camera to the backside and expanded the screen from edge to edge on the cover, we might be happier. You could probably do just enough on this cover screen if it expanded to each corner.

That said, it’s the inside screen that shines. Huawei understands that bigger screens are typically meant for content viewing, like videos, not necessarily for the guy who claims to multi-task on his square screen. No one is doing that, bro – we’re watching videos. I grabbed my Pixel 9 Pro Fold just last week to take another dive into the world of foldables and I lasted about 8 hours. Why? Because bigger foldables – like the ones Google and Samsung make – don’t make that much sense.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is fine as a phone when you spend most of your time on the cover display. It basically looks and works like a traditional phone, which is what Google said they were going for when designing it. It’s thick, sure, but it mostly works like a normal phone would. The problems then arrive when you unfold it. Google put a square display on the inside that almost no content properly displays on. You can’t run apps in portrait because you get black boxes on the left and right sides or apps that stretch and look awful. Has anyone looked at Instagram on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold display? It’s such a horrible experience. Same with reddit. Same with countless other apps.

Of course, this square ratio also means that watching video sucks. Video on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold spreads itself across the screen, leaving massive boxes above and below content in a way that really should push you to just shut the phone and watch it on the cover display. The square ratio doesn’t work. It’s no fun to type on, apps look bad, video looks goofy, games often fit awkwardly, and the usability of it isn’t optimal.

And by the way, this goes for Samsung’s Fold too. Some apps may look better on their inside displays being more vertical, but videos look equally as bad, even if you flip the device sideways.

The Pura X’s internal display measures in at 6.3″ with an aspect ratio of 16:10. It’s close to 16:9, which is classic for video viewing. In other words, you get this chunky flip phone and a weird cover display that opens to a screen that is almost perfect for doing what we all do on our unfolded screens. And let’s be honest, if you own a flip phone, you own one knowing that you’ll have to unfold the damn thing all day anyway because flip phone’s have worthless cover screens. So if you have to unfold, you might as well unfold into a display that does more.

I say that as the ultimate flip phone hater, who can’t stand having to constantly unfold into a screen like you have on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip series. Those screens are super narrow and long, which often makes for a similarly frustrating user experience. They are too thin to watch video on and too tall to reach top areas without shimmying the device in your hand. They may display two apps side-by-side in a neat way when landscape, but again, how often are we doing that into tiny little square dual screens? Not often.

Huawei’s idea for a flip phone looks like it would be a big improvement for typing, gaming, video watching, reading, and just using most apps on. It might be wider in hand than we are used to, but it could be worth it.

I don’t know, man, but I think Huawei may be on to something here. Also, why did I just spend all this time talking about a Huawei flip phone? Good question. Let’s move on.

Read the original post: Google and Samsung, Please Copy Huawei’s New Flip Phone Design