Google Pixel Fold: The 5 Best Features in Google's First Foldable Phone

Nov 01, 2023

The Pixel Fold is Google's first ever foldable smartphone. Here are the features that make it stand out from the competition.

Google's Pixel Fold marks the company's official entry into the foldable market dominated by Samsung. The Google Pixel Fold uses an identical book-style design that we've seen on other devices, with a smaller 5.8-inch exterior display and a larger 7.6-inch internal display.

Although it doesn't come cheap, starting at $1799, the Pixel Fold has some outstanding features that might make you consider it as your next device. Here are the best features we love about the Google Pixel Fold.

The book-style mechanism is not unique to the Pixel Fold but stands out for its magnificent curvy design. One major impressive design aspect is that the hinge closes flat, making both halves of the interior display touch each other. This gives the Pixel Fold a thinner side profile when closed, measuring just 0.5 inches. For comparison, it's smaller than the 0.6 inches on its direct rival, Samsung's Z Fold 4.

On top of the impressive aesthetics, this design choice also helps protect the inner display from damage if debris gets inside. So, expect little to no debris getting between the inner display after pocketing the Pixel Fold, which can't be said for its competitor.

The back is ceramic with a matte finish that protects against fingerprint smudges, and it ships in two colors, Porcelain and Obsidian.

The hinge is a major weakness for foldables because it's the main support point that the phone depends on for hiding and revealing the inner tablet-size screen. But, if you had doubts about getting the Pixel Fold, you'll be happy to hear that the hinge should be stronger due to its build material.

Google's Pixel team settled on stainless steel, which, thanks to its natural robustness, they say makes the phone's hinge durable for both short-term and especially long-term use. That should also translate to less wear and tear and help the hinge maintain its shine in the long run.

Additionally, the hinge provides support at all angles from zero to 180 degrees so that you can open the Pixel Fold at different angles for watching videos, taking photos, and so on. The phone won't automatically snap fully open or closed

Behind the Pixel Fold's hardware lies Google's Tensor G2 chipset, the second generation of the company's custom processors. This is the same chip powering Google's impressive Pixel 7 Pro that scored a solid 9/10 in our review.

For number nerds, the Tensor G2 chip is built on Samsung's 5nm process with eight CPU cores made up of two high-performance Cortex-X1 (2.85GHz) cores, two Cortex-A78 (2.35GHz) cores, and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 (1.80GHz) cores. The Mali G710 MP7 GPU handles graphics-related tasks.

Although Google's Tensor G2 is not the fastest mobile chip you can get your hands on as of May 2023, raw speed doesn't matter as much, considering how powerful modern smartphone processors are. What makes Tensor G2 unique is its machine learning chops, which enable the Pixel Fold and other Pixel smartphones to perform unique tasks that you can't find on other smartphones.

If you're going to pay $1799 for a smartphone, you'd want to know that it will serve you for an extended period. One of the big reasons why you shouldn't buy a foldable phone is the price, but with durability and long-term software support thrown in the mix, it's worth a second thought.

The Pixel Fold will receive software support from Google for five years from the official launch date, so expect updates till 2028.

The software update policy guarantees at least three major software updates and five years of Android security updates. And Android 14 will bring some Fold-specific features, too.

One of the key things that have held back tablet-sized Android devices is poor software integration. As expected, the Pixel Fold has all the cool features that aim to improve user experience on Android tablets, like the new taskbar (tweaked to be accessed by swiping up), drag-and-drop support, a two-panel notification shade, and more for better multitasking.

However, Google has gone the extra mile to ensure the hardware and software function as one piece. One of the coolest features showcasing this is the ability to seamlessly switch the camera feed between the external and internal displays. You can also switch from watching a video on the exterior display to the inner display by simply opening the phone.

Dual Screen Interpreter Mode is another core contributor to the phone's seamless hardware and software integration, allowing you to use both displays simultaneously. And this is just the beginning. Google plans to optimize the software experience as time passes.

Being the first foldable smartphone from Google, the Pixel Fold is off to a great start. It includes impressive-looking hardware and a well-thought-out software experience, making the two displays function as one unit. Durability has also been considered, which has been a major setback to the entire foldable smartphone segment, especially in the early days.

If the device lives up to all its early promises, it could provide real competition to Samsung and its market-leading foldables.

Alvin Wanjala is a Senior Writer for Android at MakeUseOf and a software developer. As an avid Android user who fell in love with the ecosystem after getting his first device in 2013, he focuses on helping users get the most out of their devices. But being a tech enthusiast who uses multiple platforms daily, he also covers iOS, Mac, Social Media, and other topics in the wide spectrum of consumer technology.Alvin started writing in 2018 on his personal tech blog and professionally in 2019 at TechTrendsKE, where he covered general technology news and product reviews. Since then, his work has been featured on XDA Developers and several other technology websites.Aside from writing, he's pursuing a second degree in IT, focusing on software development.