Lastly, Samsung has created a foldable cellphone I truly wish to purchase

Samsung lastly made a folding machine I can get behind. No, not a cellphone. I’m nonetheless unconvinced by foldable phones – doubly so by those designed so you may run two apps concurrently.

I feel one app working directly is usually an excessive amount of for a cellphone, given how a lot mine steals my consideration. And I’m additionally not speaking in regards to the Flexible Cabinbag, a large folding pill that may disguise itself as a briefcase, just like the world’s most silly Transformer. As an alternative, the folding gadget that’s caught my eye is Samsung Flex Gaming.

Let’s get one factor out of the way in which: the identify is horrible. Samsung Flex Gaming feels like a social media platform the place annoying folks endlessly bang on about excessive scores. However the machine itself deserves all the factors/lives/shiny issues, as a result of it reimagines the Nintendo Swap. Principally as if a Swap had suffered a horrible accident within the Star Wars trash compactor and ended up folded exactly in half. It even cunningly has holes in all sides so protruding joypads can slot into them whereas the machine is folded and stashed in a pocket. It’s a sizzling mess and I’m right here for it.

Above the fold

This isn’t me craving for the long run, although. It’s an enormous dollop of nostalgia as I fondly keep in mind outdated handheld consoles that folded in half. I spent numerous hours with my Sport Boy Advance SP, which might satisfyingly snap shut after I unfairly misplaced a life. Attempt doing that with a Swap or a Steam Deck! Truly, don’t. You’d injure your self fairly badly and set off a ‘THIS LUNATIC TRIED TO FOLD THEIR CONSOLE IN HALF – BAN THEM FROM ALL ELECTRONICS’ alert.

You may also argue handhelds have misplaced their approach and forgotten their roots. Simply as telephones morphed from bite-sized marvels to black rectangles crossed with surfboards, handheld sport programs are teetering on a tipping level past which somebody will sternly say, “Truly, no, you’re a laptop computer on to which somebody has sneakily glued a D-pad and buttons”. Lots of at present’s handheld gaming consoles aren’t a lot portables as luggables. They’re PCs masquerading as PSPs.

However am I simply getting carried away with the idea of Samsung’s gadget quite than the truth? Most likely. As a result of the Flex’s weirdness isn’t at all times in its favour.

The enjoyment of sticks

D-pads and buttons are conspicuously absent from the Samsung Flex Gaming, as a result of its joysticks want to cover when the factor folds. Which doesn’t strike me as a recipe for ergonomic pleasure. I’ve no concept how effectively they’ll work in follow. And neither does anybody else, provided that no-one was allowed to the touch the factor at MWC 2025.

There are different quirks too. Samsung’s flexible surprise nails the portability of an old-school folding console. However I’m much less satisfied it succeeds relating to display safety. With a GBA SP or a DS, you possibly can bung the factor in a pocket, protected within the information a display wouldn’t be attacked by your keys. With the Flex, there’s a non-zero likelihood one half of the display will rub up in opposition to the opposite.

And, regardless of the current hype about this new Samsung idea, it seems it’s not even that new. A prototype appeared in 2022. Again then, it was a case. Now? Who is aware of. Samsung remained silent on that and whether or not it could ever come to market. So I assume I’ll should ‘fold’ myself and purchase one more Anbernic retro console to fulfill my want for a contemporary folding handheld. However that’s wonderful. It folds. It’s actual. And it gained’t give me carpal tunnel from making an attempt to wrestle with buttons buried in a gap.