Foldable Phone Cover Displays Should Be One-Handable
I have spent time with just about every standard book style foldable on the market, from the Galaxy Z Folds to the Pixel Fold, and models from Honor, Oppo, and OnePlus. I have found something to enjoy in all of them, but there has been one common annoyance present across almost every device. No matter how much I like the tech, I constantly find myself needing to use a one-handed mode or an app like Quick Cursor just to reach the top of the cover display.
When you open up to that big inner screen, you expect it to be a two-handed experience. That is the time for sitting down and really diving into something. The cover display should be different. You really shouldn't need a second hand involved just to navigate your notifications or tap a button at the top of the glass.
Which one looks easier?
Look, I fully understand that there are people out there with much bigger hands than mine who probably don't run into these issues. I have relatively small hands, but I think even people with average hands are going to struggle reaching the top of these screens with one hand without doing a significant grip shift. That shift is the dangerous part because it puts your device in real jeopardy of a drop.
You could use a grip on the back of the phone, and that is something I have done quite a bit, but you really shouldn't have to. These devices are foldables, so they are already a bit thicker than a standard flagship. Adding a grip just piles on even more thickness and weight to an already beefy device.
Ultimately, I feel like this is just a flaw in the design. These cover displays are simply too tall. You could argue the same is true for standard slab phones, but the difference there is that they only have one screen. If you want a massive canvas for video, you have to have a big physical footprint. A foldable is different. It has the potential to be a perfectly one-handable device with a smaller cover screen that opens up into a large tablet only when you actually need it. Foldables shouldn't be evolving from a big giant phone into an even bigger giant phone. They should start as a sort of miniature flagship that is super easy to use with one hand, then transform into that large screen experience.
Of course, just like there are people with bigger hands who might not have an issue with any of this, I leave plenty of room for people to disagree with my analysis. I do feel quite strongly that this approach makes the most sense for the form factor, but I realize not everyone is looking for the same thing in a mobile device.
What has really driven this point home for me has been spending the last three or four weeks with the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite. This is a device that is quite small, coming in at 117.8 x 75 x 10.6 mm. After really allowing myself to get used to using a device of that scale, picking up my Pixel 10 Pro Fold or my Honor Magic V6 feels like a shock to the system. Those devices suddenly feel incredibly unwieldy. When I try to reach the top of those screens, it feels like the status bar is a mile away. It has made me realize just how much extra effort I was putting in to navigate these modern aspect ratios.
You shouldn’t need to do this.
Let me take a moment to combat some of the comments that I know are going to show up. Anytime I talk about how reaching the tops of these screens is difficult, I get comments implying that you don't really need to reach that area all that often. That is just completely wrong. There are tons of apps that put vital UI elements at the very top of the screen. So, before you start typing that comment about how you can just swipe down on the home screen to get your notification shade, stop right there. That is not what this is about. I am talking about actual interaction within apps, not just checking the time or your alerts.
Despite the fact that we're looking at trade-offs on the rumored Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide, like the potential removal of the already mediocre telephoto camera and both speakers being crammed onto the left side, meaning no stereo audio without headphones, I am still more excited than ever for this shift. This experience has me genuinely looking forward to that wide aspect ratio device that is reportedly coming later this year. We are also hearing that Honor and Vivo might be headed down this same road, alongside Apple, whose shadow looms large over the entire category.
Personally, I hope these brands continue developing the traditional book-style phones we already have, the ones that open up into a square inner screen. There is certainly a place for those. However, I am extremely excited to see more OEMs adopt a design similar to the early Oppo foldables and the original Pixel Fold. Having a cover display you can truly use with one hand changes everything. Yes, they are a little bit wide, but I can tell you from experience that even with small hands, the width is not the problem. It is the height that causes the real issue, and having that top inch or so cut off makes a massive difference in daily use.
