Is it time to look at a foldable smartphone?

The Android phone, which is water-resistant, has a 10-megapixel (MP) selfie camera, rear 12MP ultrawide camera and a 12MP wide-angle camera. A megapixel is 1 million pixels, the dots that

make up an image.  It is also compatible with Samsung’s custom S Pen stylus, which you can use to take handwritten notes, annotate PDFs, write memos, draw and more. Despite the high price

of the phone, the S Pen costs extra. WHAT’S IN THE PIXEL FOLD When folded in half, the Pixel Fold is a half-inch-thin candy bar-shaped device with a 5.8-inch organic light-emitting diode

(OLED) display that looks like the silhouette of other Pixel smartphones. You’ll find OLED displays in some ultrathin TVs, too. The Pixel Fold’s rear triple camera system includes a

10.8-megapixel ultrawide lens, a 48-megapixel main lens and a 5x folded telephoto lens. Two additional cameras — one on the outside, another on the interior — are also on board. It includes

artificial intelligence-driven features found on other Pixels. One lets you easily remove photo bombers and other unwelcome objects in the background of the pictures you shoot. Another can

automatically sharpen blurry images. The inside screen is the tablet-sized 7.6-inch OLED panel. As with the Galaxy Fold, you might notice a visible crease on that inner display, though some

reviewers didn’t seem bothered. Everyone cares about battery life, which Google claims will exceed 24 hours. Everyone cares about longevity, too, especially when shelling out the big bucks.

“How long will that fold work?” Entner asks. “That’s a mechanical failure point.” Google says it has extensively tested the multi-alloy steel hinge you’ll inevitably put through the wringer

when opening and closing the device, calling it the most durable on a foldable. Samsung’s newly improved hinge on the Z Fold also promises to be more durable. ANDROID SOFTWARE CHANGES TO

ACCOMMODATE Recent iterations of Android operating systems have been tailored to take advantage of tablets and foldables. When one is opened like a book and in split-screen mode, you can

drag a pair of apps from a task bar to use them side by side. If you’re watching a video on the outer screen and open the phone, the video will instantly expand to appear on the larger inner

screen. When the device is propped up in tabletop mode and folded at a right angle, you can watch video on the top and have playback controls on the bottom. The software on the Z Fold5

lets folks easily switch among up to four recently used apps. Samsung says someone might watch a movie full screen while chatting with friends in a floating pop-up on the side. A notable

feature coming with an Android 14 update in the fall for the Pixel should resonate with older adults visiting other countries. It’s called interpreter mode and leverages both the inner and

outer displays so the screen you and the other person are seeing shows a real-time translation of what the other is saying. If you’re a frequent foreign traveler, perhaps that will get you

into the fold. _This story, originally published May 11, 2023, has been updated to reflect the launch of the latest foldable models._