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Video calls have become a fact of life for many of us, and when the time comes to hop on a call, I’m glad I have a foldable. It sure beats lugging my old laptop around. If you have not seen a video call placed from a foldable, allow me to break down what it’s like.
Phones Beat PCs for Most Calls
Firstly, I’ve come to preferplacing video calls from a phoneover using a laptop. They can be carried around anywhere, so I’m not confined to the same desk or table every time someone schedules a meeting on Zoom or Google Meet.
I can take the call from outside or from various comfy chairs throughout the house. And if, as a parent, I need to tend to the kids while a meeting is on, it’s easy to plop a phone onto the kitchen counter while I cook. If your wireless plan has enough data, you can easily listen in while driving, as long as you’re not trying to see the screen.
Book-Style Foldables Have a Larger Screen
There are certain calls that are no fun on the small screen of a conventional phone. Anything involving a slideshow or spreadsheet is too difficult to follow along. You can pinch and zoom, but that quickly becomes an exercise in patience. Not only are you blocking your own view, but if you’re on camera, other people may be able to see you reaching across your screen all throughout the meeting, and it’s not obvious what you’re doing.
A book-style foldable phone like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 or the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold has significantly more screen space than large phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. While they’re still not as ideal as a large monitor, they’re large enough to be much more legible than a conventional phone. It’s more like using an iPad Mini.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Samsung’s thinnest and lightest Fold yet feels like a regular phone when closed and a powerful multitasking machine when open. With a brighter 8-inch display and on-device Galaxy AI, it’s ready for work, play, and everything in between.
Foldables Can Prop Themselves Up
Typical phones are easy to carry from room to room, but they either have to be held all throughout the meeting or must be propped up in some way. I’ve tried leaning them up against books, pillows, or whatever else may be nearby. I eventually came toview a cheap phone stand as my favorite phone accessory.
Ever since getting my hands on a foldable, that problem has disappeared. My Galaxy Z Fold 6 props itself up during video calls. Samsung’s hinge can hold the phone open at any angle, so I’m able to leave the screen unfolded at whichever position allows me to best see the screen and keep myself within view ofthe (much beloved) under-display cameraunder my phone’s inner screen.
See Face and Chats at the Same Time
One of my favorite aspects of joining a video call from a large foldable is the ability to follow the chat while also seeing the grid of faces at the same time. If my phone is propping itself up like a laptop, I can have the participants occupy the top half of the phone while the chat fills the bottom half.
When I’m carrying the phone, I prefer to hold the device vertically. In that orientation, faces fill the left half of the screen while the chat fills the right.
I actually prefer this experience over that of my laptop, since no window management is involved. I don’t have to move the chat window somewhere less obstructive. Plus, the chat window is closer to the camera, so it’s less obvious where my eyes are focused.
I Can See More While I Type
Conventional phones don’t allow you to see much while you’re typing. The virtual keyboard can occupy half of the screen, making it hard to see much more than the words you’re typing. This is part of the appeal of accessories likeClicks, which allow you to type with an unobstructed screen.
On my Z Fold 6, whenever I type, I can still see more on-screen than I would on a regular phone regardless of whether the latter’s virtual keyboard is active or not. This is a godsend during video calls. I don’t have to shift my focus away from the faces of participants and from what’s already been said in the chat to enter my own words. Like on a laptop, it’s possible to see it all at once.
There are certain calls that will still be better to take from a PC. A foldable isn’t going to fit as many faces on screen during those calls with large numbers of people. Likewise, presentations will occupy most of the display, so keeping the chat open becomes a problem.
Still, I wish I had this phone back during the pandemic when so much of life was conducted over Zoom. As the name suggests, a foldable would have been a much more flexible way to take part in it all.
