Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I’ve never been shy about the fact that I’m a Pixel fanboy. Pixels are the only phones I’ve ever bought with my own money, and they’re the reviews I most look forward to writing each year. I want to try the latest software wrinkles, and I just have to know what the new hardware feels like in my hand. And usually, I’m willing to give Google a lot of grace, because I almost always want to find a reason to like its latest updates.
For once, though, I feel like Google has taken the idea of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” just a little too far. Google had a perfect window to grace its book-style foldable with the right mix of updates, leapfrogging the Galaxy Z Fold 7… but it didn’t. Instead, it’s given the Pixel 10 Pro Fold the bare minimum, and I just can’t get excited about it.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s new software features just don’t fit my needs
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Usually, when I start a new phone review, I do so with a sense of almost-blind optimism. I try to go in thinking that it will be an improvement over the previous model and that it’ll be easy to find things I like. However, in the case of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, I’d already spent my wonder and mystery on the Pixel 10 Pro XL — I already knew what I was going to like and what was going to leave me wanting more. So, we’re already off to somewhat of a tricky start.
On the bright side, at least I knew what to look for; I knew which features I hoped would adapt best to life on the 8-inch Super Actua Flex display. I was eager to give Help Me Edit the space it needed to breathe, and I looked forward to using Google’s new 90:10 multitasking UI, which feels much more like the Open Canvas experience I loved on the OnePlus Open from a few years back. And honestly, both of those features were just as good as expected, as was the Instant View camera roll that populated on the left side of the foldable display as I snapped to my heart’s content.
I don't want to buy a new phone just for better multitasking.
Unfortunately, though, I’d already made up my mind on several of Google’s other shiny new features. I’d already figured out that I prefer a paper journal over Pixel Journal, and that it was much too hard to trigger Magic Cue in a way that I could actually rely on it for information. I knew the Camera Coach would only be useful for showing off here and there, as I’d basically forgotten about it on my Pixel 10 Pro XL.
But hey, the addition of NotebookLM is nice, and the My Pixel app consolidates all of Google’s best tips and tricks in one helpful place — surely that’s worth $1,800, right? Well, not to me, it isn’t.
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