We’ve made it through another week. I spent a lot of mine folding open a phone. More below on why the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 changed my outlook on foldables, and made me even more excited for Apple to join the fold.
Then, Google Maps has some new AI tricks—that work… sometimes. And happy birthday to the Apple Newton! 🎂
I’ve spent years making fun of foldable phones.
I’ve stuck a hot dog in one. I’ve complained about their awkward shapes and flimsiness. And I’ve wondered why anyone would pay nearly $2,000 for a phone that required its own cargo pant pocket.
Well, I have some news: I really like Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 8. Really like it.
For the first time, I’ve been using a foldable phone every day, and the reason I’ve finally fallen for one is surprisingly simple: It fits in my pocket. Actually, multiple pockets. My jeans back pocket. My blazer pocket. My small backpack pocket. Watch our latest video on the Fold to see it in all those pockets and more.
Previously, the foldable compromise was: big phone becomes small tablet. Now it’s more like: smallish phone becomes a good-sized tablet.
Samsung spent seven years making its foldables thinner, shorter and wider. The Fold 8 is now roughly the size and shape of a passport when closed, rather than the tall, skinny candy-bar shape of earlier Folds—and now the new Fold Ultra. That seemingly small change makes a huge difference. Here’s what else I’ve learned living with it:
The outside feels like a normal phone. The 5.5-inch outer screen is good for texting, email and all the usual phone stuff. One-handed typing can be a stretch on the square-ish screen because of the wider shape, but I rarely feel like I have to open it.
Then you get a tablet. Open it and there’s a 7.6-inch screen that’s great for reading, watching videos and running two apps side by side. This is the whole appeal: phone when I want a phone, tablet when I have both hands to spare.
The foldable weirdness is fading. It feels sturdier than Samsung’s early Folds, it’s water-resistant and the crease is much less distracting. Split-screen apps also fit really nicely and software overall feels polished. Sure, the cameras are a step down from Samsung’s best non-folding phones, but they’re still very good. Battery life got me through full days, too, often with around 15% left by bedtime.
The price is still absurd. The Fold 8 starts at $1,899. Nearly $2,000! (Remember Samsung points the finger in part at RAMageddon.)
But maybe the most interesting thing about the Z Fold 8 is its timing. Apple is reportedly preparing its first foldable iPhone for this fall, with similar proportions.
After living with Samsung’s version, I now know exactly what Apple has to get right: software, durability and, most of all, a design that makes it actually useful. The bigger challenge? Reports suggest the price could be as high as $2,500. An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.
Like my newfound love, Samsung’s Z Fold 8, Apple’s foldable may fit in all the pockets, but paying for it will require deep ones.
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Google Maps’ Gemini-powered “Ask Maps” feature gained some new agentic powers this week, including the ability to order food, book hotels and find event tickets.
It can also pull context from your other Google apps, including Gmail and Google Calendar, to personalize recommendations. That is, if you turn it on. (Tap your profile in upper right > Connected Content Apps > Select the apps you want to turn on.) Just know what you’re trading for that convenience: You’re giving the AI access to information in your email and calendar so it can use that data to personalize its answers.
But before you start letting “Ask Maps” do things for you, a word of caution: I asked it to find me IMAX showtimes for Spider-Man in NYC.
Gemini confidently returned two showtimes that didn’t match anything on the actual theater website. When I pushed back, the AI admitted it had made a mistake—and had actually given me showtimes for The Odyssey. So, yeah, I’m not quite ready to trust it to autonomously start buying things for me. (The tool does say below every result: “Gemini is AI and can make mistakes.”)
I also tried to order food. No luck. According to Google, Uber Eats ordering in Maps is “rolling out soon.” No AI-powered vodka pasta delivery tonight.
Slight change of plans for this week’s Old Thing. When we started the New Things x NBC News partnership, I thought it would be fun to dig through old NBC segments about technology. And, oh boy, did we find some things.
One of my favorites is a 1993 segment about Apple’s Newton, filmed a few months before the first MessagePad went on sale. (This week marks 33 years since its August 3, 1993 launch.)
You can watch the short video featuring the old segment on NBC News, but two pieces of Newton technology really jumped out at me. Both were pretty rough but turned out to be ahead of their time:
Transferring files. The Newton could “beam” notes to other Newtons. “The beam is infrared light, and it enables him to zap me a note he has written on his machine,” NBC News correspondent George Lewis explains in the 1993 segment. Sounds a lot like Apple’s AirDrop or Android’s Quick Share.
Handwriting to text. The Newton became infamous for its very bad handwriting recognition. But fast forward 30 years and the Apple Pencil now works across much of the iPad lineup, where your handwriting can be turned into typed text.
Turns out Newton was just about three decades early.
Fun fact: The Newton’s handwriting recognition was mocked so far and wide that it was included in an episode of The Simpsons and a “Doonesbury” comic.
This newsletter was written and curated by Joanna Stern and Adele Lowitz.
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