I’ve always loved the idea of a clamshell foldable phone. Ever since the reveal of the original Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, I’ve been enamoured by the prospect of having a second little screen – almost like a smartwatch built directly into your phone.
Being able to see the time at a glance without picking up your phone is a massive convenience especially if, like me, you sit at a desk for hours a day and don’t want to constantly be reaching for your phone.
When you’re out and about it makes quickly switching between your music an absolute breeze too, and is a crowd pleaser if you’re taking photos at a social event. Seriously, I’ve never seen some of my friends more excited than when they realised they could use the tiny little screen like a mirror for the perfect shot. Unfortunately, actually living with the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra for multiple weeks, brought all my rose tinted hopes crashing down.
It’s not a bad phone, don’t get me wrong, but the clamshell design leads to so many inevitable compromises. The battery life was pretty poor, especially compared to my Honor Magic 7 Pro daily driver at the time, as there’s only so much you can cram into such a tiny form factor. The folding screen itself also feels like a disaster waiting to happen, with a fragile hinge that could come to a violent, crunchy end thanks to just one wayward speck of sand.
Throw in the infamous crease, which is distractingly visible while you’re trying to watch movies or play games, and you end up with a product that’s cute and cool, but not very practical for day-to-day use.
But what if I told you that there was an upcoming flagship with all my favorite features of a clamshell foldable, without any of the big drawbacks? Meet the Xiaomi 17 Pro, the phone that’s shot straight to the top of my most wanted list.
You don’t have to know much about the world of phones to see what’s special with this one. It’s business up front with a conventional 1220 x 2656 AMOLED display and a very, ahem, iPhone inspired overall look. Turn it over to reveal a party in the back, though, with a little screen in the camera bump that can be used for all kinds of cool features.
You can customize it with your own wallpaper and a range of handy widgets that do everything from telling you the time with your choice of clocks to displaying the local weather and your next calendar appointment.
Media controls appear automatically when something is playing too, letting you flick through songs without having to reach for the phone when it’s face down on a table – reducing the chances of you getting pulled away from your current task by the allure of your TikTok feed.
Of course, it can display notifications and incoming calls too. If your phone vibrates, you don’t need to wake up the main screen to see if it’s actually something worth responding to. Open the camera app and suddenly it’s a little viewfinder, finally letting you take proper selfies with the mega triple 50MP main camera rather than the single selfie lens.
The gamer in me is also very excited by the ability to play small games on it. It’s definitely a gimmicky feature, but Xiaomi is even selling a sweet official case with buttons like that of a Nintendo GameBoy so you can control these tiny challenges more easily.
Ultimately, I’m just glad that one manufacturer is releasing something that makes phones feel fun again. In a world where companies like Samsung and Apple seem devoted exclusively to making increasingly thin generic slabs, I’ll take something a little more whimsical like this any day.
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