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Posted by thm 2 hours ago

Google launches Pixel 11 Pro Fold(blog.google)
52 points | 48 comments
cautiouscat 44 minutes ago|
I used to be a "cutting edge phone guy" where I'd get the latest iPhone ever year and the thought of having the older phone just didn't sit well with me. These days though the upgrades are so marginal I don't even care. I'm looking forward to upgrading my three year old phone this year, but not because I expect it to be more than "better camera, faster and thinner" but just because its time.

These updates are so boring now!

Insanity 30 minutes ago||
Why is it "time" after 3 years? They should hopefully still be getting software updates, at least security updates.

I'm on an iPhone 13 since launch (almost 5 years ago) and still see no reason to upgrade. There just hasn't been anything 'exciting' in phones in many years.

EDIT: should add, I've only used 50% of the 256GB storage and battery life is still fine (comfortably gets through an entire day+night). But I'm not a heavy phone user so that's perhaps atypical for a 5yo phone.

gniv 6 minutes ago|||
Same here. Battery health is 84% which is not disastrous. But charging is a chore. The charging port doesn't work half the time (a problem in the car especially). I would also like it to be lighter, which I probably won't get.
cautiouscat 27 minutes ago||||
It’s a fair question. The battery is on the border of needing to be replaced, which is a $79 repair and would probably buy me another three years or so. But at this point I want something a bit snappier and I’ll probably replace the battery and use it as a backup phone.
Analemma_ 12 minutes ago|||
If you like taking pictures with your phone, the cameras are still improving steadily enough that you'll see meaningful improvements if you upgrade every three years
lebca 5 minutes ago||
Anecdotally, every iphone I've tried since my iphone 11 pro seems to take worse photos. I do take a lot of photos with a standalone camera though so I imagine I am biased.
Someone1234 40 minutes ago|||
I agree; but I'm not sure it is fixable. Without some technological advancement to actually move the needle, most manufacturers are just stuck with marginal hardware changes and then some cheesy software-locked exclusive to the latest models.
JMiao 12 minutes ago|||
it is a phone. you use it to look up content and maybe endlessly scroll. i am very sure a new iphone is not boring to a young person getting their first phone. i am sorta sure that phones feel they've plateaued because present day app store policies no longer support high quality ideas.
testing22321 34 minutes ago||
> but just because its time

If you already know the new phone isn’t going to do anything better for you, why is it time?

NDlurker 31 minutes ago|||
Might be cheaper than replacing the battery. Might want more storage.

I have a Pixel 7 I'm still happy with other than 2 issues. Battery wear is starting to be noticeable. There's a loose cable or something that causes the screen to go to static sometimes. If I press firm on the bottom it's good again. With the cost of getting these issues repaired, I just started looking into getting a new phone instead.

oslem 30 minutes ago|||
I’m also getting ready to upgrade from my 3yo iPhone. For me, my phone is running out of storage, starting to feel a little slower, and the battery has less capacity. I’m sure I could wait another year, but I’d rather be a little ahead on updates than be behind on updates where my phone is creating problems for me.
delecti 4 minutes ago||
I'm looking forward to when "fold" is not so equivalent to "premium". I'm interested in a folding phone, but I don't think I've spent a cumulative $2000 on my last 4 phones. I'd have a hard time justifying spending even $1000.

I'm also looking forward to nomenclature settling so the horizontal-folding passport-style folding phones (like this, which I find interesting) can be more clearly distinguished from the vertical-folding flip-phone style folding phones (which don't remotely interest me).

cobolcomesback 1 hour ago||
I am so amused at the “HiLight” feature (lighting up colored LEDs for notifications so you can see them “at a glance” without looking at the screen). This is a feature that was on the Android phones of old (including the original G1) and I loved it, but it got phased out in favor of “always on displays”… which apparently now we want less of!

It’s funny how trends like this are a circle sometimes.

eufouria 44 minutes ago||
This is precisely why I left Android.

Google can't seem to decide on a direction and stick with it. Years of new features that inevitably ended up abandoned 2 versions later resulted in a constantly changing and unpredictable user experience.

It was fun while I had free time in college and enjoyed flashing ROMs, but as I got busier with life this lack of refinement pushed me away.

The RGB leds were one of my favorite features of early Android phones. I even backed a terrible Kickstarter campaign that synced those colors to an RGB wristband (this was before smartwatches were a thing).

jerlam 4 minutes ago|||
Conversely, I was surprised to learn that the temperature sensor introduced on the Pixel 8 Pro in 2023 was only removed this year. No one knew why it was there in the first place.
entropie 12 minutes ago||||
> The RGB leds were one of my favorite features of early Android phones. I

Right man. I had forgotten that my nexus 7 had this kind of LED and I really liked it and missed it later.

ValentineC 41 minutes ago|||
> Google can't seem to decide on a direction and stick with it. Years of new features that inevitably ended up abandoned 2 versions later resulted in a constantly changing and unpredictable user experience.

I'm guessing cultures that reward shipping new products (e.g. 67 different messaging apps) don't turn out great for consumers.

krackers 46 minutes ago|||
They had it as a hidden feature up till the nexus 5 or 6 I believe. Someone bothered to include hardware for an LED even if the stock software never supported it.
jm4 6 minutes ago||
I remember having this on a Sidekick in like 2007.
rvshchwl 26 minutes ago||
These phones are getting larger each release, and it's the opposite of the trend I prefer now. I really am starting to miss the SE phone sizes and not feeling like I'm carrying a literal brick in my pocket wherever I go now. I don't think Apple is cutting back on the phone size either when their Fold comes out, and we're slowly just moving towards the point where a phone is just a mini tablet.
codemac 1 minute ago||
To be clear, this is slightly smaller than the pixel 10 by ~1mm in each direction, but they are still too big.
rtkwe 4 minutes ago|||
Are they? The Pixel 11 Pro and regular screens are only a tenth of an inch larger than the 3 year old Pixel 8s. The screen sizes have largely stabilized IMO with people who want any larger screens being pushed into the folding phone category. I get it's larger than the mid 2010s normal but they're not really getting much larger in the last couple years.
the__alchemist 24 minutes ago||
We don't even need to reverse the trend! Android is flexible, so it wouldn't be a big ask for one of the many models to be smaller! Each pixel is larger than the last. I was a Pixel 4 holdout until a few months ago when they stopped supporting tap-to-pay. The 10 is a monster, and the trend is as you say.
silisili 47 minutes ago||
Why is Google averse to larger batteries? The Chinese makers have been stuffing 8000ish mah batteries in rather diminutive phones for two or three years now, and Google is releasing one in 2026 with about half that.
SirMaster 15 minutes ago||
Because those are a different kind of battery, silicon-carbon and they wear out much quicker. I am sure they will eventually though.
plantain 45 minutes ago|||
Shipping regulations. >20Wh can't go by airpost in the west.
atraac 39 minutes ago||
Oppo doesn't have that issue in EU and ships 7500mah just fine though. Some also split batteries into two just to accommodate this.
Lord-Jobo 37 minutes ago|||
Split batteries are also better for efficient space usage (depending on the chassis) and longevity.
plantain 25 minutes ago|||
They split it up into multiple smaller cells to do that. Or don't ship by airmail.
onli 21 minutes ago||
Might be longevity concerns. Those new batteries are impressive, but the concern is that they will degrade a lot.

Also, remember the exploding Samsung phone. Experiments with batteries are risky for those companies.

onion2k 16 minutes ago||
Maybe I'm being too cynical, but all the benefits in the video intro are either things that aren't benefits of the hardware (screen calls without looking, Gemini, tap less do more) or they're compensations for the foldable screen (30% more durable, 20% brighter ... than the last Fold, but likely still worse than non-folding phones.)

I don't see that as a product video that's telling me why I need one. It's just telling me that they've iterated on the last model. I mean, congrats, well done, but why should I buy it?

sawjet 55 minutes ago||
You know, maybe cameras are good enough, and I don't want a tumor at the top edge of my phone that gets tiresome to hold after 5 minutes.
Johnbot 55 minutes ago||
I was looking forward to this one because of the IP68 dust and water protection rating, but the fact that it has the same cameras as the base Pixel 11 instead of the Pro is very sad. I also wish the HiLight feature was more used at launch - for example, having it glow red while recording.
mark_l_watson 1 hour ago||
I am only 75, but in a few years I have thought of downsizing to one device (and a VPS for a little coding). A future version of this phone that is triple fold would work for me.
is_true 29 minutes ago|
Does anyone had a good experience with foldable phones? The only people I know that bought one had them broken near the 2 year mark.

My phone from 2018 it's still working perfectly.

guyzero 8 minutes ago|
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold had a lot of warranty replacements due to a failing internal cable. The 10 seems to have resolved the issue, but time will tell.

Other than that, the Pixel Fold has been a great phone. It's like having a tiny tablet with me everywhere I go.

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