Not long ago I was sitting in the TechRadar office, talking to one of my colleagues about how book-style foldables like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold didn't make much sense. me.
I just couldn't see the usefulness in a medium-sized square screen with a smartphone operating system: I had been an iPad user for almost a decade, and spending almost half my life using large tablets convinced me that nothing could beat them. for media consumption, reading and light multitasking. The news of the upcoming Huawei Mate XT, the world's first triple smartphone that expands to a 10-inch tablet, further fueled this suspicion. But even as I watched my vision of the future unfold, my curiosity about mainstream folding phones remained simmering.
The thing is, I hadn't actually used a foldable device for more than fifteen minutes at a time, usually while passing by a busy Samsung store. The idea of coming out with a Z Fold of my own had never really occurred to me thanks to the $1,899 / £1,799 / AU$2,749 asking price, but I've always been impressed with the build, design, and possibilities. Maybe – just maybe – my cynicism had arisen from unresolved curiosity.
When I had the opportunity to test a foldable phone long-term, I felt this curiosity rekindled. My first hour with the OnePlus Open was spent in a technology-driven trance as I opened it, then closed it, then opened it again, completely enthralled by the engineering on display (both literally and figuratively). A few weeks later, I'm happy to report that I was wrong to doubt foldable phones: these things are absolutely brilliant.
More screen, less problems
The core conceit of the OnePlus Open can be described in two words: big screen. Placing two phones side by side, as Samsung suggests with its Try Galaxy feature, gives some semblance to the Open's 7.82-inch internal display, but using one quickly reveals that it's more than just the sum of its parts.
Videos embedded in articles and other web pages become actually visible when the device is unfolded, rather than being something to bookmark for later or simply scroll past. The form factor makes multitasking realistic, with two apps side by side and a third in a floating window. You still won't be doing complex work on a device like this, but cross-referencing web pages or watching a video in the background seems a lot more practical than sophisticated.
My first hour with the OnePlus Open was spent in a technology-driven trance
The OnePlus Open's internal display makes the smartphone a true option for media consumption, rather than a compromise. Passing through the airport on a recent trip, I could unfold my phone to look at the penguin at each stopping point before simply closing it and putting it in my pocket when things started moving again; I never would have bothered with the smaller screen of a slab phone or the unwieldy size of my 11-inch iPad Pro. The mini tablet's size also means more room for decent speakers – the Open is rivaled only by the larger iPhones for the best smartphone speakers I've heard.
I think there's also something to be said for the level of intention that goes into handing someone a device that they have to hold with both hands. In fact, the Open inspired me to think about the way I use my phone. The cover screen is still useful for checking messages, performing quick Google searches, and taking photos, but even knowing that the internal screen is waiting for half a second of effort makes me consider whether it's worth showing what I'm doing on the big screen, and if not, should I hang up the phone and return to the real world.
A couple of commitments
Of course, there are some disadvantages to using a foldable phone. It is generally accepted that battery life takes a hit, which is understandable if you drive the large interior screen more often than not. I found myself needing to charge several times in the middle of the day with the OnePlus Open, but I was able to make it late into the night most of the time. Additionally, phone makers tend to equip foldable phones with objectively worse camera specs than their flagship counterparts. For what it's worth, I found the Open's camera setup very impressive, but photographers may be tempted by the sleeker specs and snappier ergonomics of a traditional phone (check out the Galaxy S24 Ultra or iPhone 16 Pro Max ).
The Open inspired me to think about the way I use my phone
There are also a couple of problems that come with being foldable. I found some apps, especially older games like Professor Layton either Plague Inc. – didn't respond well to folding or unfolding the phone while in operation, and I even experienced some crashes on Instagram when using Open unfolded. It's up to app developers to optimize their apps for the foldable platform, but there's little incentive for them to do so as long as foldable devices remain a very small niche. And even as someone with big hands, the Open is undeniably big and heavy: I sometimes felt like it was weighing down my wrist while using it one-handed, and its unique geometry isn't always the most comfortable to hold.
Still, these seem like small prices to pay for access to a unique, adaptable and gorgeous device. What surprised me about the OnePlus Open, and what I think probably sets it apart from some of its contemporaries, is how good it is as a regular phone. The 6.31-inch cover screen isn't much narrower than that of my trusty old Huawei Mate 20 Pro and it certainly feels much wider than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6's cover screen strip. The Open's front front is a bright, high-resolution, high-refresh-rate panel, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset gives the Open fast, reliable performance.
Do you need a foldable?
The folding experience is not based on need. There's no real need for Instagram to take up six horizontal inches of screen space, to read articles with two hands, to see such a vast smorgasbord of apps in the app drawer, but there is. nice.
Arguably, when it comes to modern ultra-premium smartphones, we're already past the point of thinking about necessity anyway. Do most users really find the Bottlenecks in the A18 Pro chipset of the iPhone 16 Pro? Do photographers use the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra's 100x zoom as often as the 1x wide-angle lens? Is anyone impatient enough to need the Realme GT5 240W's namesake charging speed? Much of the joy that comes with upgrading phone hardware is how much it improves the little things, the things we've been doing for years and will do for years to come, and having a mini-tablet screen available with a literal flick. from your wrist* improves everyday web browsing, social media, videos and music much more than I expected (*don't open it like this).