People who know me, including my coworkers, know full well that I was all about small phones back in the day. I simply hated carrying around a huge brick of a phone, even when everyone was already into them. I didn’t feel like the display increase can make up for the ease of use of smaller phones, the difference was simply not that significant to me. One-hand use was high on the priority list for me, and despite the fact I could use large phones with one hand due to the sheer size of my hands, I opted to make life simpler for myself. That was the case until I started using foldables, but not just any foldable. I gave up small phones for a specific foldable and then continued using foldables after that.
I’ve used foldable since the beginning but didn’t fall in love until 2021
I’ve been in touch with foldables since the beginning, basically, since 2019. Those initial models, like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, simply did not appeal to me all that much. The inner displays were very plasticky, the crease was extremely noticeable, plus I didn’t really like the TV remote look that specific phone delivered. On top of that, the outrageous bezels around the cover display did not help.
That lasted until the very end of 2021, when the OPPO Find N reached the office. This was the very first foldable smartphone that I was immediately connected with, and there are a number of reasons why. It was very compact. When folded, it was a small phone. Granted, it was thick, but it was small regardless. That 5.49-inch cover display was perfect for one-hand use, and when needed, a 7.1-inch one waited on the inside. That inner display didn’t feel as plasticky as some others I’ve used, not to mention that the crease control was at a high level. The overall design of the phone also helped, it was… a great step by OPPO.
OPPO had me hooked from the start
I was hooked on this form factor until the OPPO Find N2 arrived, which had a similar design and form factor but also delivered some improvements. I was convinced that this is the way for foldables. Keep the outer display small, and give people a large(r) inner display to use for multimedia and multitasking.
Unfortunately, OPPO decided to change things up with the OPPO Find N3 and offer a much larger smartphone. Luckily, though, the phone was thinner and a combination of vegan leather (on the back of my review unit), and a large camera bump on the back, made it extremely comfortable to use. It was nowhere as slippery as glass phones are, and that huge camera bump was an outstanding index finger anchor. The phone was notably bigger than the Find N2, but it was still not as tall as most flagship slab phones out there. It was a good balance. That phone managed to keep me hooked on foldables despite the change.
The OPPO Find N5 changed the game
Then, in February 2025, OPPO managed to shock everyone with the OPPO Find N5. It was an even taller phone, but a notably lighter device, and a much thinner phone than the OPPO Find N3. Those changes make this phone feel like a regular slab phone in the hand. I have to say I did not like the added height increase here, but… OPPO did offer plenty of improvements here that managed to keep me hooked. This phone feels unreal to use, as it simply doesn’t look or feel like it should be able to open up into an even bigger phone… but it does.
I did use plenty of other compelling compact and foldable smartphones as part of the job in the meantime. Devices such as the ASUS ZenFone 10, Xiaomi 14, TECNO Phantom V Fold 2, HONOR Magic V2, and more. All of them had their positives and negatives, but OPPO managed to keep me hooked on foldables for over three years now, I never looked back. With each iteration, the company did something I didn’t like, but managed to counter-balance that with some benefits/improvements, which kept me attached to the Find N series. So now I find myself using a foldable phone that is not small at all, but it’s… kind of unreal when you think about it. That hit me a couple of days ago, the fact that I was… transformed.
There are a lot of benefits of using foldable smartphones
There are so many benefits of foldables smartphones these days. They’re still not perfect, mainly on the software side of things, but… they’re outstanding in general. The sheer amount of work I can do on a foldable is great. I could never do that on a regular phone. Writing long emails or chatting is not a problem at all. Juggling two-three applications at the same time for some productive use of your time is also a piece of cake. I also find a huge benefit of using foldalbes to consume multimedia. Watching YouTube or anything else in a horizontal form simply feels weird to me. Rotating a phone into a landscape format just to watch a video actually feels weird, despite the fact that I still do it while I’m reviewing devices.
Things have changed a lot since the early days
Foldable phones had plenty of downsides at first. Quite frankly, I do believe that the initial iterations were not worth it. However, the hardware has been improving over the years, and it’s now outstanding. Many people are still worried about the inner screen breaking, getting caught in the rain, and so on. Well, yes, the main screen can break, as it can on regular phones. It’s not prone to breakage. While you have to be more careful with foldable phones than with regular devices, they’re far from being delicate. That, in combination with the fact some of them are as compact as regular slab phones now, and the fact they offer great software and app support improved a lot… well, I’m all into foldables and can easily recommend them. Just to be clear, I’m talking about book-style foldables, flip phones are a different story entirely, I was never sold on them, but that’s a whole other thing.
So, to wrap things up. Why I gave up small phones for foldables? The simple/easy answer is, the productivity. But the real answer is far more complex, and that’s why this article exists. It’s all the improvements we’ve seen and the benefits you get with such a hybrid phone.
