Sony Xperia 10 Mk VII

I haven't had a 10-series Xperia in-hand since the Sony Xperia 10 Mk V in 2023 and in my blog review from July that year, I reflected that the 10 Mk V certainly had an audience - though probably not with me. It was a lovely device for the right user, but with no wireless charging, no Always on Display, no HDMI-Out support and more, the 5-series was much more for me. The landscape has somewhat changed since then however, as the last 5- Series Xperia was launched in 2023 (and you can read my review of the Sony Xperia 5 Mk V via this link) but the only other option for the Sony faithful since then has been the much more expensive and sophisticated 1-series.

So my thoughts here will be slightly shifted because, well, there's now not that choice - it's expensive and better-featured 1-series or mid-range (at best) 10-series and nothing between. I do still have the 5 Mk V here, so that will be useful in terms of comparison too, but the 10 Mk VII will much more appropriately be compared with previous 10-series models. The most obvious change since the last generation, incidentally, is something Sony did with the 6th generation of the 1-series, moving away from the 21:9 letterbox screen and more into what most others were doing, providing a less tall, but wider 19.5:9 ratio screen. So yes, this is the first time it's been done on a 10-series phone.

I did have hands-on for a while with the Sony Xperia 1 Mk VI, so saw the difference in the screen ratio there, but it was an altogether bigger phone - so this will be the first time I've seen that screen ratio on one of the Xperia lines' smaller devices. It would have been nice to see it on a 5-series device, but I guess Sony know what they want to do, and their audience, so I don't think there's much chance of that for the foreseeable. Image here, showing the difference between the 10 Mk VII and 5 Mk V with thanks to GSMArena.

But anyway, the big question for me will be about whether or not the battery is good enough to get through the day with a 3rd Party Always on Display app and whether on not I can hide my 3rd Party Qi Coil under the case nicely. So, brace yourself Salmon - lower expectations again, from the heights of the 1-series and invisibility of the 5-series, and let's see if it remains another 'not for me' phone.

The first thing that hit me when opening the (empty apart from the phone and legal papers) box was the stunning turquoise colour. It really is a smashing shade and so much more preferable to the dull-sounding charcoal (black-into-grey) and white. It's cheerful, vibrant and fun-looking and I can't imagine why anyone would not choose it over the others! But yes, as usual with Sony, there's nothing else in the box except for claims of eco-friendly materials used, the same for the plastics that the phone are largely made of - instead of the aluminium and more glass of the grander Xperia models. On first handling, particularly with this colour, it reminds me of colourful phones of years gone by - many from Nokia and there was that iPhone 5c thing too.

Plastic is OK with me at this price-point. A price-point of £399 (though deals will snag it cheaper almost always). This price raises eyebrows amongst the tech-savvy, pointing out that for this price buyers can get 'so much more' from other brands, certainly from China-based OEMs. More features, better components, faster chipsets, more RAM - 'better' everything, except for the Sony name of course. Sony knows their audience, as I say, and they know they have people who are staunchly brand-loyal and would much rather pay a bit more than elsewhere, feeling reassured and confident about what they are buying. In terms of supply and demand, there's very limited scope in America for people to buy Xperia phones, so they know that they are limiting their audience to other regions - which must be reflected in their bottom-line pricing too. Anyway, we'll see if the extra cash is worth it. Well, at least, for me! Incidentally, I picked mine up second-hand for much less than this RRP so do jump around online for options.

When you take out the SIM Card Tray you can clearly see the effort that has gone in for the IP65/IP68 rating for ingress. There's a rubbery loop around the door which offers huge confidence that it's sealed, tight, when pushed in with a finger. The payoff for this is that it's a bit tougher than previous Xperia models to get the thing open! The 'fingernail' slot seems to be smaller to me, so don't cut your nails too short! Inside is the nanoSIM card slot on one side and microSD Card slot on the other. This unit does not seem to be Dual SIM but the phone does support eSIM if a second is needed. The microSD Card slot will support up to 2TB Cards and is playing very nicely with my 1TB version. The card on which I keep pretty much all my data as there's only 128GB storage onboard of course, as usual for anything outside of the 1-series. There was apparently a 5 Mk V with 256GB but I never saw one - probably just in Japan. Once all my data/media is on the card and initial indexing is done by various apps, it works just like the internals storage really, so that can be kept for system resources with plenty of breathing space.

The SIM Card Tray incidentally is on the side, top-left, which I think is a 10-series thing. Most Xperia units that have come through my hands have this on the bottom, left. There's an XPERIA branding on that same side, low down, embossed, which feels like a nice touch in the same colour, rather than an advert. Easily missed. There are various microphones around the phone's edges and up-top that 3.5mm audio-out socket, which I'll come to later. On the right, there's the first appearance of a shutter button on a 10-series Xperia. It's not the 2-stage focusing button that grander Xperia phones have, but you can invoke the camera app (even with screen off) by long-pressing it (or turn that off in settings). Once the camera is open, you can short-press it to take a photo or long-press it to switch to video-shooting mode. Or, in photo mode, you can set it to start recording a video with a long-press. Or turn the long-press off (which is what I have done). Wherever else you are in the phone, a short press will take a screenshot - which is really handy. Or you can turn that off. The button is much higher up the side than on 1/5-series models, apparently because the 10-series is aimed much more at people who are likely to be shooting in portrait. Apparently. Says a lot!

On that same right side there's a very slightly indented power button which doubles up as a capacitive fingerprint scanner, which is quick and easy to set up. By default it's touch to unlock (which is why I think it's slightly recessed to avoid accidental touches). If you don't want that to be the case, then tough luck! There is no 'press to unlock' option here that 1 and 5 series Xperia have. But it works well for me here as-is. I guess you can just not register any fingerprints then 'press any button' to wake the screen then use a pattern or PIN instead. Or not, if you're feeling brave! Above this button is the volume rocker which works well. The volume rocker and shutter button are coloured the same as the phone and the power button, black. Down the bottom we have a USB-C slot, central. On the back, the camera-bar has been turned through 90-degrees since the last model and is now spookily similar to the Pixel phones running across most of the width in a 'long pill' shape. Great for putting down on a surface - and even provides, like with Pixels, a 'finger ridge' (for those not using a case that levels the back) and for styling, much like the XPERIA on the side, there's a similarly embossed SONY on the 'long pill' to the right of the cameras.

The front of the phone is flat. The plastic edges coming around from the 'trough' that the phone's works sit inside are slightly proud of the surface of the glass which might help with not getting the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 micro-scratched (or worse)! And then, there are those bezels. Sizeable all-round but particularly, by preference in design for Xperia, top and bottom - where sensors, selfie-camera and speakers have room to breathe. I've always been OK with this on Xperia phones. The modern trend is to go as bezelless as possible of course, but I like the space for fingers, avoiding accidental screen-touches.

It's a really nice phone in the hand. The plastic is just fine for me (and I'd argue anyone) staying away from the risks of dents and breakages of metal or glass. I know it saves them money, but I think it works well and keeps the weight down - here to 168g. You hardly know you're carrying it. Overall, the dimensions are 153mm tall x 72mm wide x 8.3mm fat - and that feels very much in proportion. The 19.5:9 ratio screen is the big change here from previous models' 21:9 and I think it was the right decision. On the bigger 1-series, I wasn't so sure as it made it jolly much wider than the models before, but here, it feels right. More space in the width for typing than my narrow 5 Mk V and as for consuming content at 21:9 - well, most of it is 16:9 still anyway, frankly. With media created in different formats, nobody is ever going to get it perfectly right. As for scrolling through data and social media feeds benefiting from the taller 21:9 I really haven't noticed that to be much different (in practice). I come away from this wishing that my 5 Mk V was 19.5:9 too.

As for the screen tech, it's a dinky, Triluminos 6.1" OLED, same as last year's phone but, as I say, shorter and wider with that shifted ratio. It's a perfectly good 1080p with a generous 422ppi and for the first time on a 10-series, has a refresh rate of 12oHz. Can't say that I particularly notice the difference still (and have mine on 60 to save battery) but yes, for those with younger, sharper eyes, they'll no doubt be pleased with the smoother flow. This is either on or off, by the way - no fancy auto-mode! The panel is bright, colourful and vibrant as we'd expect from Sony. The tech figures show nearly 700 nits on manual and just over 1,000 in auto. Looks great to me and unless one is basking in the daytime sun in Alice Springs, outside is good too! Worth noting that this is a hike up from the brightness levels found in the previous models in the line.

I was expecting the speakers to be a bit rubbish, to be honest, but actually, I am pleasantly surprised. They are stereo and both forward-facing, one at each end, common now to all Xperia phones. I'm comparing the sound output with my 5 Mk V (tweaked with whatever tools are available on either phone). Incidentally, the 10 Mk VII doesn't have Dolby Atmos baked in like more expensive Xperia phones, but for my tests here and these tools, I employed-if-available - so as to make the listening experience meaningful as to what you'd get in the real world. It does, however, have some audio settings of its own from Sony - 360 Reality Audio and 360 Upmix (which you really need to use specific music apps/services to make the most of, some behind a paywall) and DSEE Ultimate which "upscales compressed music using AI". I found that generally the speakers sounded better with that toggled on. Slightly more body and richness to the output, but not more volume.

So, the results, for my ears, are closer than I feared they might be distant. Yes, the 5 is louder by, maybe, 25%, and the quality (once tweaked, as above) is richer and there's more bass by, say, a similar amount - or maybe a bit more. There's no sign, or even hint, of 'tinny' on my 5 but yes, on maximum volume, there is a hint with the 10 with certain music sources, certain mp3 media files that I use. Introduce Wavelet to narrow the gap perhaps? Usually, the payoff with this excellent app is that you get better quality with a reduced volume - but strangely here that is not the case. There is a very slight improvement in quality across tracks but not the usual hike this app brings - tested with various settings, the best EQ being 'Dark'. As I say, I was really not expecting the speakers to be this good and overall, I think that the vast majority of target users will be delighted and impressed. Yes, there are much better out there (and even in here!) but it's better than many for sure and perfectly usable. What you don't get, that the grander Xperia models do, is Dynamic Vibration which we at Phones Show Chat have reported on and wow'd about over the years. Many dismiss it as a gimmick, but we like it and think it makes for immersive and bass-like enjoyment of (particularly) video than without. All smoke and mirrors, no doubt, but I'll vote for jolly psychology!

The 3.5mm audio-out port again, I tested against the 5 Mk V and using my Sony XM4 headphones, wired, obviously! I started off with the 10 and again with tweaking, it sounded really, really bass-orientated and bonkers loud. Stupid loud! Nobody could safely listen at maximum volume, I'd content. But the quality, of course, also down to the headphones, is rip-roaringly fab! Switch to the 5 and I'd say that the only real difference was that it's bonkers, stupid, nutty loud! So yes, the volume for me seems to get even higher, but the quality sounds pretty level on both. I think I've damaged my ears now! I'll have a lie down in a dark room! Tested also with non-Sony gear - my Marshall headphones and even simple, cheap earbuds - and I really don't think anyone would need to consider a more expensive Xperia in this department. Bluetooth is the same bonkers-loud and fabulous on, well, both of these phones with various Bluetooth-enabled earphones and headphones. Again, nobody could complain about the sound here.

Another reason for getting a more up-to-date Sony Xperia is that all the units I have here are outdated now with no Android OS updates left to come - and even the most-recent 5 Mk V is stuck on Android 15 with quarterly Security Patches now, the last of which being this autumn. Sony seem to have upped their game a bit now moving from a paltry 2 OS updates and 3 years of Security to 4 OS and 6 security. So double. (See how I worked that out?!) A much better prospect, meaning that this 10 Mk VII will get Android 19 and security to September 2031, having launched in September 2025. Hurrah! It's currently on Android 16 April 2026 Security in the first week of May. Sony are good at keeping to their promises of updates and they're much swifter to push them out, usually, than many others.

The chipset employed here is the SnapDragon 6 Gen 3 (4nm) which, yes, up against the 5 Mk V shows a little lag here and there, particularly on meaty tasks like processing 100 app updates, the setup procedure, copying data from the PC and so forth, but if it's not doing any heavy-lifting, day-to-day, ordinary tasks that the target buyer will be doing, it really is perfectly good and fine. I threw Asphalt 9 at it and yes, alright, there may have been a judder here and there, but nothing to be upset about. It depends on what's going on in the background too, as with 8GB RAM some stuff can, eventually, be shut down. I'm being picky but once or twice, switching between social media apps I've noticed that some of them have had to start up again - and during that process of firing up and getting going, yeah, maybe, a judder or two. But once in flow, it really is fine. Again, for target audience, they probably wouldn't even notice. The SD 6 Gen 3 is compared on testbenches with the MediaTek Dimensity 7300, in the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus I have here, or some mid-range Oppo/Vivo devices. Or Samsung's Exynos 1480 which is used in, for example, their A55. It's not the fastest out there, it is good for low power consumption, which we'll come to now in terms of battery. Sony’s UI is so light that the mid-range chip actually punches above its weight. On a Samsung or a Xiaomi, that chip would be gasping for air under the weight of the skin. On the Xperia, it’s perfectly good and fine - precisely because the software stays out of the way.

The battery is yet another 5,000mAh one which Sony love so much to use in Xperia phones, regardless of their size, power or market position. Which is good for these mid/lower-end devices and chipsets, as depicted above. It charges at 30W with the appropriate cable and plug and in my tests I've been able to get a full charge from flat in just over an hour and half. A part charge, say to 50% takes about 40 minutes or so. Sony have not gone off like others with Silicon-Carbon or super-fast charging speeds, prioritising rather their 4-year battery health promise. It shouldn't drop below 80% health until after 4 years of 'daily use'. In my 10% Reading Test I have got decent results of about two and a half hours - not the best, but far from the worst - and my average daily use test, well into Day 2 if needed with about 40% left at bedtime. As long as I don't have my Always on Display app on...

...if employed however, and I've played with a lot of them, I have found the best (with least impact on battery) to be AOD XPath by aodlink set to a simple readout of basic information and brightness to about 33%. YMMV but I have tested about half a dozen other apps and this is the best I can get. The hit is about 5% per hour, so it depends on whether or not that's worth it for you. You can always set it to go off in the pocket to extend life - and grab yourself a Moto Watch Fit. Kinda 'dumb' as it maybe, it keeps you well informed, takes less of a hit on battery with Bluetooth on than a WearOS watch - and here, means that you can keep the phone in the pocket more. With the screen off. There's no wireless charging here, sadly, so short of adding a 3rd party coil to the back for a tenner, which is a bit messy and annoying when it half covers the lovely turquoise back, it's wired only.

I've run the phone through the usual connectivity tests and can report that 5G and 4G work well in my decently-covered location, for phone calls by voice, VoIP and data. No drop-outs and good data when needed away from WiFi/routers. Speaking of which, I've tested 3 networks for that and again, they come up trumps - no issues at all - and WiFi 6e is supported. Maybe all this down to that really good EE cellular network and good domestic/commercial fibre-optics, but I do think we have entered an era where connectivity is good and can be relied on. Yes - of course, that won't be true everywhere for everyone, but for me, yes! Bluetooth v5.4 here works reliably and well, as I said above, but also in terms of range and stability. Bluetooth just gets better! GPS for tracking in various apps I've tested and again, good signal, good hold and good fixes. NFC works like a charm too, paying in shops with Google Wallet and hooking up with other hardware, as tested. USB-C OTG cable connection is solid, even if there's no Display Port output, HDMI-Out as there is on 1 and 5 series Xperias. So it's the 2.0 version only - but to be honest, latency over wireless sharing and sending is so good these days it's probably no wonder OEMs are saving the pennies and not including it.

Security is handled by the usual Android baseline stuff, PIN or Password, pattern etc. There's also that aforementioned capacitive fingerprint scanner which works first time, every time. There's no face unlock (like all Xperias to date) but sadly there's also no lift to wake or nudge to wake or tap to wake or double-tap to wake or shake to wake or whack to wake at all! You need to press a button to wake the screen or touch the fingerprint scanner. Tap to wake can be added with an app, like most things with Android. I've been testing various AoD apps (as above) and the main problem is that they tend to drain the battery, OLED or not, faster than I'm happy about, as mentioned. They also seem to interfere with the simple route-in via the fingerprint scanner - they want the screen to be tapped first, then finger on the scanner - making for a double-action always. I am beginning to think that I should abandon my festish for an AoD and live without it. Following on from what I was saying about the Moto Watch Fit, armed with Moto's app, it works perfectly well if set up properly - with an AoD on the wrist and Notifications too (as there is no notifications that pop up on the phone at all - without an AoD app - or at least the Lock Screen live) that I can find. When the phone's screen is off, the phone really is on life-support only, though to be fair it does push notifications out to the watch (without any signs of life on the phone)!

The software is the lovely, clean, near-vanilla version of Android that we've come to appreciate from Sony. No bells and whistles much, virtually no sign of any AI, a real old-fashioned experience. All that M3E stuff that Google has been working on and re-worked Notification Shade icons and more - nope, Sony ignores all that and goes its own way! Which is now refreshing to be honest. An oasis in a sea of OEMs copying bleedin' Apple in whatever way they can regardless of whether the ideas are crap or not! Everyone jumping on AI like much of it isn't just a bunch of gimmicks and toys. There's a sense in which Sony, taking a bit of a middle road, is just right. Enabling users to use core Google tools like Gemini, whatever is in Google Photos for all, and Circle to Search - but drawing the line on bolt-on tools which enable content creation for the lazy and ignorant, for example. Layers upon layers of so-called 'smart' functions have made their way onto today's phones - and for what? Techy folk to have a play with them, amusing themselves and friends down the pub, then never to be seen again? (Not the friends - the functions!)

There's the usual stock feeling layout of pages right, Google's Discover/feed to the left (if you want it), App Drawer with a swipe-up which can be arranged by name or whatever order you fancy with an editor, Notification Panel with a swipe-down and nice, blocky icons, pull down again for more, a Status Bar with the good old basics like clock and icons - and a battery percentage readout in numbers without a stupid pill or bubble behind it and lots more which many will called 'dated' but I say fine! Side Sense makes an appearance, but to be honest, I never use it! You can put a marker on the edge of the screen and assign actions to it which open up a bar with apps on it for quick access. Straight out for the Side Sense 'Dashboard' which is all-but the same as pulling down the Notification Shade, an App Launcher, yes, which is no quicker really than having apps on one's home screens on in the app drawer - and Multi-window where apps can be dragged for 'split screen' top and bottom. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this on such a tiny screen. I get it to some degree on, say, a big foldable phone or tablet - but this? By the time you've fiddled about executing the function and getting it set up and realising that you need a magnifying glass to continue, you could have just found some other ways to do what you want to do. Probably on a bigger device!

Anyway, Wallpaper and Style is present with Themed Icons (or not), the Colour Contrast setting which arrived on Android 16 to assist with those finding it easier to focus on screen elements and an App grid option for anything between 4x6 to 5x8. Then there's Lock Screen clocks to choose from, just like other Xperia phones - except here there are only two and they are stuck in the Lock Screen and don't make it out to an AoD. Which it doesn't have. Did I mention that?! Strangely, but maybe in keeping with the retro vibe, 3-button navigation is on by default, but there is a prompt during setup to change it. There's also a bunch of apps - some of them Google core apps funnily enough, which the user needs to tick or not to install or not, again, during setup. Oh yes - there's also FaceBook and LinkedIn installed and uninstallable. As usual. Force Stop and Disable is your friend. To be fair, that's pretty much all that irks. The only other ones seem to be the useful Sony Music Player and Sony Pictures Core (for their TV users), both clean uninstallable, if you want to. Somehow it doesn't seem so bad if they're Sony's own apps. It's 3rd party dross that's annoying.

In the Gestures settings, there's an item called Smart Call Handling. If you turn this on, it means that when someone calls, you can just lift the phone to your ear and have the call auto-answered so you're ready to speak, screen-on. So, if it can do that, how much more would it take for a simple lift-to-wake to work, I wonder! That's basically what it's doing anyway! So yes, these frustrations are mine, coming from a higher-end Xperia I realise. Most users wouldn't even think about this stuff, no doubt, not start whining - and get on to enjoying the phone!

The cameras provided are a main 50MP f/1.9 unit with OIS and a 13MP f/2.4 wide-angle. That's it! Apart from the 8MP f2 Selfie round front. You can shoot 4K video from the main at 30fps and 1080p at 120, both with OIS too. The Selfie will do you 1080p@30. The supplied Camera App's UI is simple, very much like many other phones out there, not with the depth of the Xperia 1 or 5. It's clearly designed for casual snapping and shooting - that the vast majority of buyers/users here will be posting to their mates on social media. So that's pretty-much the pitch. Simple and straightforward for the masses, not complex for the niche photographers. The main choices are on the usual side-swiping carousel of words, horizontally, across the bottom, in portrait, or sideways, on the side, in landscape. There's a choice up-front and centre to switch between the wide-angle lens (0.7x), the main 1x and digital 2x. Worth noting that yes, the dedicated 2x optical zoom has gone from the previous model, but Sony claims that their 'in sensor zoom' makes up for it.

The rest of the controls switch orientation when the phone is turned, by the way. Bear in mind though that if you do, and want to use the shutter button, it's pushed a long way towards the middle, ending in finger gymnastics. There's a 'Bokeh' mode (presumably replacing Portrait Mode) which actually does a nice job in my tests here. Quite a bit of it seems to be 'automatic' so it will switch to Night Mode when it thinks it needs to (unless you toggle it off and force its hand). As usual with Night Modes these days, it grabs light from places that the human eye can't (at the expense of noise etc.). Dig into the menus for a bunch of other options like Soft Skin Tone Effect, Hand Shutter - take a shot with a wave, AI Super Resolution Zoom which is "digital processing that preserves more of the original image quality". YMMV with that! Gridline and sound options and so on - the usual stuff.

It's a nice and simple UI which will please the target audience and not confuse casual users like the 1 and 5 series will be guaranteed to! Then, yes, there's the shutter button on the side, as described above. Nice and useful if you're (very likely) shooting in portrait. The rest of the camera stuff and deeper dive on all things digital photography, as you will probably know by now if you read my stuff, is something I don't have much interest/expertise in - so instead of bangin' on about something I don't understand, I'll hand you over to our friends at GSMArena for their blow-by-blow, samples and analysis which starts here. Please do support them - a really useful resource with huge amounts of data scooped up over decades now.

The previous owner passed on a simple, soft, clear TPU case - which, as almost always, is the perfect way to case a phone and make it grippy-not-slippy! Also sent over was a wallet case, nice and cheap on Amazon UK and defies the fiver cost by being well-made and useful for those who wish to go that route.

The Xperia 10 Mk VII is a testament to Sony’s steady as she goes philosophy, even if the boat has been steered into slightly wider waters! By abandoning the 21:9 letterbox for a more conventional 19.5:9 ratio, Sony has made a phone that finally feels natural for typing and daily scrolling, even if it loses a bit of that unique Xperia silhouette. In many ways, this is the most 'grown-up' 10-series device yet. The leap to a 120Hz refresh rate and a significantly brighter OLED panel brings the display into the modern era, while the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 provides enough 'oomph' for the average user, despite some occasional stutters under heavy load. The addition of a shutter button is a lovely nod to the brand's heritage, even if its placement is clearly skewed toward portrait shooters.

However, the 10 VII still carries the weight of Sony’s classic compromises. The 30W charging is slow by 2026 standards and the lack of native Always on Display or Qi Charging remains a baffling omission for a device at this price-point. The camera setup is capable but uninspiring - the main sensor does the heavy lifting well, but the ultrawide feels like an afterthought. 

Ultimately, if you value lightweight phones with durable build, good battery life and the trilogy of legacy features (3.5mm jack, microSD and no notch), the 10 Mk VII stands alone. It isn't a powerhouse, but with a revamped 4-year OS update promise, it’s a reliable companion that won’t demand a lifestyle change - just a bit of patience while charging. So yes, a solid, sensible mid-ranger for the brand faithful, but unlikely to lure the spec-sheet hunters away from the competition. And this turquoise is gorgeous!

The Last Days on Mars (2013)

This film is essentially 'zombies in space', with the offender being a bacterial infection! Great fun and pretty well done, I reckon. We join the scientific crew of a base station (Tantalus) on Mars on the final day of their research mission as they await their transport home to Earth.

One of them goes off in the last hours to get some final samples and discovers a microscopic life form in some soil - a black, fungal-like bacterium. He keeps it secret so he can claim the glory later, but while collecting more samples, he falls into a sinkhole and is killed/infected himself. The bad news for him is that the bacteria is a biological parasite that reanimates dead tissue. Once a crew member dies, the bacteria takes over their motor functions!

At this point, it started to remind me very much of The Thing (1982) which, as we know, is a quite brilliant and fun film too. We now have a race against time in a situation where those going to rescue the fallen do not know the danger they face (because of the secret) and end up getting infected themselves, with the inevitable domino effect as time goes on.

They start to twig what is going on by taking blood samples from those impacted, which becomes tricky as our Martian Zombies are highly aggressive but retain basic intelligence - they are able to use tools and airlocks, for example. They also don’t need air, so they can go outside in the Martian vacuum without suits. One of the clues much leaned on in the narrative is that they get very thirsty at first!

The infection spreads rapidly through scratches and bites, so one by one, the crew is picked off. The question is, can any one (or more) of them avoid getting infected, flee the base in one of their rover vehicles and get to the landing site where the rescue ship (the Aurora landing craft) is inbound? It’s a race against time and contact with the infected. As I say, it is very much The Thing, with splashes of Alien and one of 1,001 zombie films back on planet Earth!

The acting is decent from the main players - Elias Koteas, Liev Schreiber, Romola Garai, Olivia Williams, Johnny Harris, Goran Kostić, Tom Cullen and Yusra Warsama - and the special effects of the Martian landscape and dust storms are pretty convincing, too. Director Ruairi Robinson created quite slow-burn for the first half hour as we get to know the characters (probably in more detail than we need), but it picks up after that, as the action starts, and from then on, it is pretty well-paced.

I’m guessing the film didn't have a huge budget like, for instance, The Martian, but it does well with what it has and the story is somewhat imaginative and fun. Being made 13 years ago, as I write, I think some of the facts about Mars that we know now were not known then, so it is probably best not to pick it apart for detail in that respect. It ends up being a satisfying space/sci-fi/horror flick which I’m sure most people would enjoy for the 1 hour and 38 minute runtime. It’s available on various streaming services in the UK.

Stranded (2001)

Also known as Náufragos in its native Spanish, this science-fiction drama certainly prioritises tension over high-octane action and thrills! Director María Lidón leads a cast including Vincent Gallo, Maria de Medeiros, Joaquim de Almeida, Lidón herself and Danel Aser in this grim depiction of a crew crashed on Mars with apparently no chance of rescue.

The first manned mission to Mars ends in disaster. During the descent, the landing craft crashes, leaving five of the six crew members stranded on the surface. While they have a pressurised place to stay inside the craft - complete with air, food and water - they quickly realise that the craft is irreparable. They are millions of miles from home with supplies that will eventually run out.

Back on Earth, Ground Control delivers the devastating news - a rescue mission will take over two years to arrive. Based on their current life-support readings, the crew calculates they only have enough oxygen and food for two people to survive until help reaches them. Consequently, the film becomes a claustrophobic 'lifeboat' scenario. If they all sit and wait, everyone will die in just over a year. If three of them sacrifice themselves for the sake of their colleagues, at least two will survive until the rescue ship arrives. That is, until they realise there is an air leak!

After intense ethical debates and emotional breakdowns, they decide on a course of action - and there really is no other choice. The only question is: who will be the two to stay? The film explores the cold decision-making regarding the survival of the few over the death of the many, and the inherent value of human life. But that’s not all; two-thirds of the way in, there is a twist that makes for an imaginative and interesting finale (which I won’t spoil here)!

The film is largely about the dilemma and struggle surrounding that decision. It focuses on the interaction between the survivors - how brave, annoyed, angry or desperate they become, or how calm and pragmatic they can remain when faced with such choices. It asks the viewer, 'What would you do?' and takes its sweet time waiting for a reply. It is slow-paced, yet deliberately so, presumably to convey the tedium and dread of the situation. 'Thought-provoking' is clearly the goal here.

It is evidently a low-budget film, with most of the action set inside the crashed craft. The rest consists of special effects depicting the Martian landscape and the surrounding space. Some of the effects are a bit ropey - reminiscent of a 1970s Dr Who or 1960s Star Trek episode - but generally, it isn’t too bad (perhaps I’m being a little harsh). There is a red colour cast over most of the cinematography, as you might expect for 'The Red Planet', which is quite easy on the eyes.

The acting is decent across the board, though I doubt any awards were handed out. It was lovely to see Maria de Medeiros again. I don't think I've seen her since she played Fabienne, the adorable 'pot-bellied' girlfriend of Butch the boxer (Bruce Willis), in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994). That is no doubt my fault, as she has never stopped working, appearing in dozens of films since! Anyway, this is a tidy little story and a well-executed idea. Despite its Spanish roots, the film is entirely in English, and the 1-hour-39-minute runtime feels just about right.

Capture (2026)

This is a supernatural horror from director Bruce Wemple which annoyingly relies on a lot of ‘found footage’ (though this is somewhat forgivable as it is central to the story). Expect plenty of shaky camerawork in what ends up being something of an atmospheric chiller - though, in truth, it didn’t particularly chill me!

The film is clearly low-budget, but it is gritty and possesses high supernatural ambition. It attempts to weave a complex path involving generational trauma, demonic possession and a ‘cursed’ 1990s camcorder. However, while the film does create some atmosphere, it often falls over itself with a script that leans heavily on ‘talking to oneself’ to move the plot forward via clunky exposition.

From the opening frames, Capture tries to establish a sinister sense of dread. The director utilises a persistent, low-frequency hum that vibrates beneath the dialogue, ensuring that we never feel truly at ease. This is complemented by somewhat impressive cinematography here and there, despite the film’s clearly limited resources. The use of unconventional angles and claustrophobic lighting transforms the abandoned house into a character of its own.

As I mentioned, much of the film relies on handheld camera work which, while central to a plot about a possessed camcorder, becomes physically annoying and disorienting during longer sequences. Furthermore, the audio quality is puzzlingly amateurish. The dialogue often sounds echo-like and hollow, as if the actors were recorded in a bathroom and the audio was roughly layered in during post-production.

The acting across the board is a mixed bag. Most of the cast feel wooden, struggling to breathe life into the film, with the notable exception of Kaitlyn Lunardi playing Abby. While she starts the film appearing somewhat disconnected, her performance matures alongside the character. As she evolves from a debt-ridden drifter into a woman confronting a horrific birthright, the actress finds a higher gear, delivering a decent-enough performance that makes the most of the increasingly absurd third act.

Spoilers now...

In the story, we follow Abby as she inherits a property in a hostile town, only to discover her mother was a ‘witch’ (or perhaps a victim) and her father, Jason, was a serial killer using a cursed camera to trade lives for his own health. The central notion that a demonic entity lives in a 1994 camcorder and can ‘capture’ souls through the viewfinder is a fun idea, I guess, but also something of an absurdity. Perhaps I just need more imagination!

There are one or two creative scares - references to the ‘window to hell’ and the like - but you’ve seen it all before - ending with Abby seeing spirits through the camcorder lens that are invisible to the naked eye. To be honest, I got pretty bored, despite the ‘body count’ action here and there. The middle of the film drags significantly as Abby watches/listens to tape after tape of backstory. Even with a short runtime of under 90 minutes, the pacing feels wrong, making the ‘passing around’ of the possession feel more like a repetitive chore than a mounting threat.

Don’t get me wrong - it’s alright, I suppose - just nothing special. It has its moments, but it is generally a dull shot at an atmospheric chiller. With a bigger budget and a better script, it could have been much more. So, yes, watch it for the leading lady’s eventual performance and some nice cinematography here and there, but try not to pay too much attention to the amateur-level sound recording or the vomit-inducing extended use of handheld camerawork.

If you’re a real fan of found footage, then you’ll likely enjoy the haunting visuals in a Blair Witch Project type of way. For the rest of us, it’s likely to be forgotten very quickly and presents as just a bit too absurd a notion to be taken seriously. Each to their own! Available as I write on AppleTV and Amazon Prime Video in the UK.

Pixel Fold in 2026

There have been a couple of original-generation Pixel Fold units kicking about between various members of our Phones Show Chat community since it was launched in 2023. I've ended up with the second one now, Obsidian (black) with 256GB of storage. My SIM card often ends up inside it, and each time it does, I wonder why it ever got taken out!

The buzz for 2026, though, is that it's coming back with signs that Samsung is considering the 'wide' folding phone - and possibly even Apple too, later this year. Back in 2023, Google got it right, it seems, with this form factor. Everyone else ignored them, ending up with Google abandoning the idea and following the herd with the taller, squarer (when open) format that most others were churning out.

The original Pixel Fold is different - more like something Huawei is tinkering with in amongst its Pura line of devices. It's often dubbed the 'passport' size as it resembles just that - the standard size of a passport. Open yours up and see. When open, it's 'landscape', so wider than it is tall. Other 'book-style' folding phones are not like that at all - they are more like a square when open. And when closed, again, it has a ratio like a passport - wider than the average monoblock phone (and other book-style folding phones) and less tall.

Stubby, I guess, is the word. One-handed use is terrific, as I can certainly reach any part of the screen - even the far corners - and because it's wider, the keyboard is wider too, making for a much more comfortable typing experience even before you open it up. When you do open it up, you're presented with a working space that is much more like a computer monitor, tablet or TV screen - so consuming media and surfing webpages is easy-peasy and familiar to the brain. And there is the advantage, for those who want or need it, of opening up two apps side-by-side without either feeling cramped (or any worse than a monoblock phone experience).

It was a stroke of genius, really, but as is often the case with Google, stuff gets abandoned. Now, three years on, others are jumping back on it (and no doubt at least one of them will claim to have invented it)! A quick mention here for Microsoft too, with their Surface Duo and Surface Duo 2 - similarly abandoned, similar form factor (again, which we've had various examples of flying around PSC over the years). It's different in that it has two separate screens (apart from anything else) and it's not quite the passport size of the Pixel Fold - rather taller and wider, both closed and open.

Google did, however, maybe partly recognise all this by extending the support for the original Pixel Fold from three Android OS updates to five, meaning that it will now get Android 18 and security updates to June 2028 - making it more than a valid option to pursue in 2026. They also did the same for the Pixel Tablet, by the way and the other Tensor-powered phones, Pixel 6 and 7, to bridge the gap between all these and the newer Pixel 8 and 9. Unlike Microsoft - with the Surface Duo now dead in the water (at least for those concerned with Android security) - owners are left to try out various community-built alternative ROMs and software.

So, I think that's pretty much rounded up the background of how we got to here, mid-2026, in relation to these devices and particularly the Pixel Fold. It's a beautifully made device - my unit is in perfect condition, hasn't been used that much, screen crease perfectly intact, no knocks and bumps - one day, no doubt, if I keep it that way, a collector's item!

It's got Gorilla Glass Victus on the outside, front and back, a super-sturdy stainless steel hinge, and a body of high-strength aluminium. It uses a fluid friction system which allows for opening and holding at virtually any angle. The only real complaint about this is that, unless 'encouraged' with pressure, it doesn't quite open 'flat' at 180 degrees - rather, probably 179! But if you really want to, you can gently press it that last degree and it will stay there.

It feels really sturdy too, with beautifully designed curves around the edges for easy opening with fingers. They're rounded and lovely and smooth because of the metal frame. It feels 'cold' in the hand, too (if you don't case it), with all that metal - it really does feel like a class act, a premium experience all-round and an object of desire compared to the world of plastic-fantastic! There was a price for this, of course - in June 2023, on release, the 256GB version cost £1,749 and the 512GB unit was £1,869 - so you'd expect it to be well-built! The good news is that you can now pick up a good-condition second-hand unit (maybe not as pristine as mine, though) for certainly under £500, not far away from a quarter of the release price. If you can find one.

The tech specs on that outside screen are as follows: 139.7mm high x 79.5mm wide and, of course, a thickish 12.1mm fat! That's the trade-off. The two sides of this when clamped together are nothing like the thinness of 2026 book-style folders. Things have indeed moved on, and recent units coming out of the Far East are marvels of engineering with multiple silicon-carbon batteries too. So yes, it's a chunky monkey, as they say! But I'm OK with that. It has some heft - weight (283g in fact) - and you certainly know that it's in your front jeans pocket! But I'm OK with that too because, due to all the above, it sits very comfortably in the hand when closed, and I'm not alone in reporting that this is how I use the phone probably 90% of the time.

Another aspect of the physical phone that 2026 phones are finally 'getting there' with is ingress protection. Here, we do have very good water protection, but zero guarantees for dust at IPX8 - so not a phone to take to the beach or a dusty cellar! I guess that if you use this as a daily primary phone (and open/close it more than me), this could become an issue if great care is not taken. Anyway, back to that front screen. It's a bright and colourful enough (peaking out at 1,550 nits) OLED panel; 5.8", 1080p, that very different 17.4:9 ratio, 408ppi, and can refresh at 120Hz (for some content) if you choose.

There's a SIM card tray on the bottom leading edge which will take one physical card on my unit, but the phone does have eSIM support - all this for 5G, of course. Then there are microphones and antenna cut-outs around the frame, a speaker at each end (smartly designed - which we'll come to), a USB-C port, and a power button on the side which doubles as a capacitive fingerprint scanner above a volume rocker. Up top, there's that mmWave long-pill for America, as all units were built the same, it seems. The buttons feel very sturdy with no "play" or suggestion that they might not stay the course.

On the back, I've got a skin from those lovely people at XtremeSkins (please tell them we sent you). It's a lovely wooden colour (see image, above) and gives a little grip, so for those brave enough to run around without a case, it might prevent a drop! For those safety-conscious folks who do want a case, I can't speak more highly than the one that Noreve sent over (please tell them we sent you). They're not cheap like a soft, clear TPU from Amazon, but I reckon that this phone deserves more than that. And more than that you get with their ultra-premium gear. It really is lovely stuff. Here's my review of the gorgeous leather Saffiano variant in black. Treat yourself!

As you can see, the camera island runs across centrally - when the phone is closed, of course. The positioning of that, unlike the vast majority of other phones out there - including Google's more recent Fold phones (D'oh!) - allows the phone to be placed on a flat surface without wobbling. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but it seems phone OEMs think differently - perhaps assuming that all-encompassing cases will fix that (which they generally don't), or that nobody wants to do this with their phone. Bizarre. Anyway, this does - and slightly props up the top end with a gentle slope for a nice viewing angle. Underneath that skin is a flat piece of glass, as mentioned earlier, with a Google "G" in the middle. Smooth, classy, slippery and yes, vulnerable. Don't do it!

Talking of cases, another quick mention for one of the thinnest ones out there - the Latercase. It really is incredibly thin and made of that lovely aramid fibre stuff. Nice to the touch and yes, there's little sense in which you know it's on. The bad news is that having just had a look at their website, the one I have for my Pixel Fold seems to be no longer available. But I'm sure stock must be out there in retailers' cupboards, so worth a hunt. Latercases are not cheap, much like Noreve, but they really are superb options. Here's a snap of my dust-covered one! See what you can find.

Right - let's open it up! The inside screen is 7.6" in, as I say, landscape orientation, Still an OLED, but a kind of plastic one (so that it can fold). It refreshes at 120Hz if you want it to, again with some applications and peaks out at 1,450 nits in auto mode. The pixel layout is 1840 x 2208, returning a ppi of 378. The overall dimensions, when open, are 139.7mm high x 158.7mm wide and now, opened up, very thin at 5.8mm. There is, of course, a crease down the middle but honestly, even though newer screens that fold for 2026 devices have become all but 'invisible', I really don't consider this to be a problem. Yes, the finger can feel the hinge-ridge as it rolls over it and yes, if you hold the phone reflecting light at the right angle you can see it (and it looks significant if you do), but looking straight at it (as most people will, for most uses), you really don't see it.

Some people have had screen problems - early adopters who have used it day-in, day-out as their primary device, opening and closing it many, many times - but people like me who, as I said, are using the outside panel 90% of the time really produce minimal reports of problems, peeling, breakages or the like. Of course, you'll always find instances if you scour Reddit and the like for horror stories, but I contend that most are good. This one certainly is - though I don't know if the previous owner used it my way or the opposite, so it will remain a mystery!

What I will say, though, is that it's very, very glossy. Shiny and reflective for outdoor (particularly in direct sun) use. Very shiny and reflective! The plastic layer over the top of these folding screens has certainly, three years on, become less so - so yes, you'll get a better experience these days with more recent folding phones if you are an outdoorsy type who wants to open it up outdoors and not just use the outside display. And risk getting dust in the hinge. You get the message and idea! You've got to treat folding phones carefully (at least at this stage). They are not robust (yet) particularly, so really can't be chucked about or used as a football like a Nokia XR20! Take great care of it and it'll serve you well, is my motto. Don't give it to some spotty youth who doesn't care or value nice gear, living rather in a 'disposable' world!

There are also big bezels around the edges, which I'm OK with. It gives the fingers somewhere to hold it while not touching the screen. It seems to be the modern trend to have as little bezel as engineeringly possible, but there are pros and cons. There's a camera in the top-right serving as a selfie camera within that bezel, so not cutting into the display. When you close the phone up, it comes together with a reassuring 'clunk' (if you let it). So, that's about it for my observations on the physicality of the device. It feels and looks premium and, with that aforementioned heft, reassuringly solid and robust. I would suggest only opening it up in controlled environments to maximise the life expectancy, because I think you'll find the same as me - most of what you want to do can be done on that fabulously sized and shaped outside screen.

The Pixel Fold runs on a Google Tensor G2 (5nm) chipset. That feels a little aged now, and when I compare the operating speed against my Pixel 9, it's clear that the latter is ahead in terms of processing power with its Tensor G4 (4nm) two generations further on. But for me, and my use, apart from comparing the two in front of me running the same task and seeing that one is faster, in isolation, it really matters not if the Fold takes (usually) fractions of a second longer to open an app or download some data. When accessing Google's Circle to Search, Gemini app and other AI tools, I don't feel that there's any slowdown. Talking of which, there are some Pixel 9 exclusives missing on the Fold - like the Journal app and Pixel Screenshots - but not many. Gaming is not really my thing, but I have tested it with a fairly demanding car-racing game and all seems well. I detect no juddering or buffering and the phone doesn't seem to get hot. It's got the same 12GB of RAM to keep apps open in the background long enough and, away from the test bench, I really don't think people will see an issue.

The speakers on the phone are smartly arranged to make the most of the stereo soundstage whether the phone is closed, open, in landscape or portrait. So, closed up, the 'left' one is on the top edge of the front panel and the 'right' is on the bottom edge of the right panel. If you use it closed up in portrait, you get a similar sound experience to many monoblock phones, but turn it around into landscape and you get left- and right-firing speakers rather than having to deal with one of them coming out of the earpiece. Open it up in landscape, and the sound comes from left and right again, upwards- and downwards-firing - and in portrait, again, you get left and right. Smartly designed for any eventuality. And they sound great!

I get a lot of phones through my hands here, and I consider the sound from the Pixel Fold to be the best I've ever heard. My recently reviewed Motorola Signature comes close, but for me, the Fold holds the crown. Now, to be fair, I have not had every phone ever made through my hands, and Steve Litchfield does tell me that recent 'Max' iPhones are mighty impressive (with bass-octave shifting employed), but I've not heard that with my own ears, so I can't compare. I find the sound to be of very, very good quality here and mighty loud enough as tested with various apps, streaming services and high-res audio files I have available locally. Incidentally, you can check out Steve's coverage of the Pixel Fold in terms of YouTube Shorts (whilst distracted by the Microsoft Surface Duo!) over on his index in his Blog.

There's no 3.5mm audio-out port, of course, but Bluetooth v5.2 sounds fabulous - and for legacy ear/headphones, one can always use a dongle. Put one in your wallet/purse - assuming you still use one of those! I've tested all sorts of Bluetooth devices, speakers and headphones over the (now) years that I've had this phone - and as we have come to expect, the forward march of Bluetooth capability really is amazing. Here, also, it seems to have a good range and holds on well - though of course, your mileage may vary depending on the quality of the gear in use. Connectivity generally is very good, I have found over time. The 5G for voice and data works really well, with no drop-outs as a result of the phone; GPS locks me onto mapping and other apps that rely on it quickly and holds on well too. Wi-Fi 6e tested with half a dozen networks over time and, again, finds, locks and holds on well for good data (and voice with VoIP engaged). NFC works efficiently as I go about my business of paying in Tesco and also attaching other equipment that the system relies on. No complaints with all this connectivity stuff at all.

There's 256GB of storage on this unit, as I say, which I have always felt is enough - but if you get the chance of a 512GB version, more is always better, and I doubt it would cost that much more now. The trick would probably be finding one. I think fewer people actually bought the 512GB version anyway - some markets weren't even offered it - so yes, it might be a hunt! But for me, yes, and I didn't think I'd say this five years ago, but I do mostly stream stuff these days, and I have fabulous Wi-Fi and 5G where I live - and don't go many places! But yes, if you're a roving type, your mileage may vary again and you might rely on more storage. It's UFS 3.1, which seems to read/write very quickly in my tests.

In terms of physical security, there's a side-mounted capacitive fingerprint scanner as part of the power button which can be set for 'touch' or 'press'. I always use touch and have never had a problem with false attempts (which I did sometimes with Sony Xperia phones). The scanner works 100% of the time, first time, every time. They've used this, as with most folding phones - as to get it under screens is more of a technical challenge, I guess, and whatever state the 'fold' is in, it's always outward-facing and reliable. The only exception being that when I have the device in 'tent' mode consuming media, the fingerprint scanner (and indeed physical volume controls) are downward-facing - so likely on a desk. You have to pick the phone up to use them, or use on-screen controls for volume. But there are so many ways in which you can prop the device up, you can always find a way!

The USB-C port is v3.2 and it is, of course, OTG, but sadly there's no HDMI-out/DisplayPort capability, which means we lose out here on cabling up for Google's evolving/growing Desktop Mode (I shall have to use my Pixel 9 for that). Having said that, I'm not so sure that people really want that. DeX remains (though their PC software doesn't) and Motorola are going great guns with their Smart Connect (PC too), but I do wonder how many people beyond reviewers are using this. Especially when wireless connectivity is now so good with casting all over the place - in my tests, latency with casting video is at an all-time low; you'd hardly know that you aren't cabled up, to be honest.

The battery in the phone is a lithium-polymer unit rated at 4,821mAh. As the industry seems to be running away with battery sizes (out of the Far East) with the use of silicon-carbon, this does seem, in comparison, rather small. But actually, I don't find it so. I find that the phone lasts me a good day, with my average use, with 40–50% to spare. Of course, your mileage will vary because we all use our phones differently. As I have said, much of my use is on the outside screen, but actually, on testing, it does feel like even with the phone opened up, it performs not far off the same. It's a good battery and defies its size/capacity. There's also Qi wireless charging, but bear in mind that this is capped at 7.5W, so yes, very slow by today's standards. But on my cradle-charger by my bed, overnight - say seven hours - it has never failed to get me back up to 100% when I wake. I don't have any adaptive/saver modes on, for the record. Wired charging for those who need/use it is capped at 21W - so again, slow for 2026, but about an hour and a half or so will do it from a standing start. I guess that for most people this is OK, but there will be those heavy users who will want to carry a power bank and/or not be too far from a charging port.

I'm running the Android 17 QPR1 Beta 1 on my phone, so any references here to software will be based on that. Some of the features, if using the standard, official Android 16 stable build, may not be present - and may or may not make it to Android 17 stable. So, bear that in mind! I really like what Google have done with Material 3 Expressive. Some say that it's very Apple-like in many respects, but I don't see that. I dislike Apple's iPhone UI with a vengeance, but not what Pixel's Android has become. I can see where there is crossover and design-blending to some degree, but it feels to me like that's more in hardware design (flat rails and screens) on some monoblock models than this Pixel Fold. I'm sure that could be argued either way.

I like the chunky elements in the status bar up top. They are clear and bold, great font - just right. Even the battery icon, which, yes, is a blatant copy, has been done much better than most - big and clear with easily legible percentage figures inside it. I'd still rather have it without the icon behind it, but while it stays big like it is, I won't complain. I like what they have done with UI design throughout, including how the weather reporting looks, the icons, fonts and colours - it all works nicely - with one caveat: I like how the Always-on Display looks, including being able to change between various options via the lock screen menus. The caveat is that it's not bright enough. The only Always-on Display that I have found to be consistently bright enough for me is Motorola's - and then only on the Razr phones, Neos and now Signature. I find that the algorithms simply don't work for my eyes; they are always too dim unless I sit them right underneath a light source - and then, ironies of ironies, it's not needed!

I like how At a Glance now works with a background available (and even the option to turn the thing off completely if wanted). When I knew this was coming, I was convinced that I would turn it off, but actually, the background behind the row makes a huge difference - so much so that I keep it on. I'm not even too bothered by the ever-present Search Bar at the foot of the screen. I probably would remove that if I could, but it's OK for now. Not for me, but I see how interesting for some the new Theme Packs might be, to jazz up the home screen along with colours, contrast and even now different icon sizes, shapes and designs.

Home screens are laid out on the outside screen in the traditional Android way. Google's Discover feed to the left (if you want it), then pages 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. If you use Pixel's launcher, these pages are replicated inside, exactly the same - with page 1 on the left and 2 on the right, then swipe left for page 3 on the left and 4 on the right on the 'next' pair of pages. It's all tied up together, as is font/display size, and can't be controlled independently. Sometimes I'm OK with this; other times I want more granular control, so I employ Octopi Launcher. This gives that - and oodles more. Completely different layouts for portrait, landscape, inside screen, outside screen - everything being considered independently. As you can imagine, it does take time to set up four different layouts, but once there, control is fine and independence rife. So, for tinkerers, this is my suggestion - though I'm sure there are plenty of options out there.

App layouts (aspect ratio) are largely sorted by now, in my experience. At first, many relied on developers to tweak their code to make their apps fill the spread of the two screens (but jump back to 'normal' when on just one side or the outside screen). Pixel had a tool to help people with that transition by telling the system how to lay non-compliant apps out, but pretty much all the apps I now use, three years on, don't need that. Developers and systems have learned that folding displays are here to stay, so it pays them to make apps look good. There are exceptions, but mostly it's good now. Lots of apps also have a specific 'landscape/tablet' layout being auto-detected by the system so, for example, they have menu bars down the left side instead of the bottom as soon as you open the phone up, switching over as if it's a tablet. Many of Google's own first-party apps do this, including Photos, News, Play Store and many more. YouTube Music (particularly in the Now Playing mode) lays out content beautifully, as does Google Maps, making use of the big canvas. Clearly, lots of thought has gone into app design by Google and others to make the folding phone experience a very good one, rather than the clunky mess that it was at the outset. Time has passed - another good reason to have waited until now for the technology to evolve instead of jumping in and early-adopting!

There are also multiple ways in which the phone can be used physically. In 'laptop' mode, you can use just the top half of the screen for one app and the bottom for another with split-screen. Or, in the likes of YouTube, run the video in the top half facing you and have the media controls 'on the flat' (the bottom half of the screen). Some apps are better coded than others to make use of this, so your mileage may vary. Then there's 'tent mode', as mentioned earlier, where you can make an inverted "V" of the device with the outside screen facing you, rolling screen-filling media. So, a small self-propped TV, effectively. Or leave it in that shape but turn it around so that the back of the phone is on a surface and the outside screen is looking back at you. Or open it up and turn it around for a slightly portrait orientation, which is great for surfing webpages. Or just roll the media content across the middle of the screen to maximise the size (clearly with black bars top and bottom to avoid stretching the video). There are so many ways to consume media and use the phone. A flexible feat - and I'm only just scraping the surface of possibilities here. It really is your Flexible Friend!

Then we have the oodles of ways in which Google's apps and services make their way into (particularly) Pixel devices (though many are universal across Android and beyond, of course). Adaptive brightness, sound, battery and more; Digital Wellbeing, safety and emergency options, security and passkeys support, storage control and options - almost everything under the bonnet has been reworked and more added, which would need a much deeper dive than this to pull apart! Discovery is the key, and learning what will work for you - or not. For example, just one of these I discovered delays notification alerts: adaptive battery! No thanks! You also have to be careful to check because some of these things are on by default, leaving the user scratching their head trying to work out why some knock-on impact has kicked in. Or not! Anyway, this is more about Android rather than this folding phone from 2023, so I shall leave all that and backtrack!

And so to cameras. As you might know, digital photography is not really my thing. But I shall try with the help of Gemma, for completeness! While it’s easy to get caught up in the megapixels race of 2026, the original Pixel Fold’s triple-camera array remains remarkably capable. The 48MP f/1.7 main sensor was a workhorse at launch and even today, its 1/2" sensor size allows for decent light intake. It’s supported by a 10.8MP f/3.1 telephoto lens capable of 5x optical zoom and a 10.8MP f/2.2 wide-angle with a 121° field of view. On paper, these might look modest compared to the 100x AI zooms of modern flagships, but for the average user, having a dedicated 5x optical reach (112mm equivalent) is a huge win. It means your zoomed-in shots are actually capturing real detail through glass, not just cropping into a blurry digital mess.

Video performance on the OG Fold has aged gracefully, supporting 4K at 60fps and 10-bit HDR, which ensures that your home movies still look vibrant on modern displays. The selfie situation is where things get interesting - you have an 8MP f/2 inner camera and a 9.5MP f/2.2 camera outside, but the real secret weapon is the foldable design. By unfolding the phone and using the cover screen as a viewfinder, you can use that 48MP main sensor for selfies. In 2026, this Rear Camera Selfie mode still produces better results than almost any dedicated front-facing camera on the market, offering the kind of skin tones and detail that only a 'real' sensor can provide.

The real reason these cameras still feel relevant isn't the glass - it's the Google Tensor G2 and the years of software tuning that followed. Features like Laser AF (autofocus) and Dual Pixel PDAF ensure that the phone still snaps onto subjects quickly, while Google’s Night Sight has only become more efficient. Even if you aren't a photographer, you’ll appreciate how the OIS keeps your shaky-hand snaps clear. It’s a reliable, no-fuss system. It won't win a photography award in 2026, but it consistently delivers a sharp, well-exposed 12MP image (via pixel binning) that looks great in a digital gallery or on social media.

The UI is nice, too, with clear options, big and easy to hit, and a very good Night Sight mode in my testing, plus a good 'landscape' view when you open the phone up. On doing so, you're offered the aforementioned options as to how you want the cameras/folding to work: Standard Camera, Rear Camera Selfie, Dual Screen Preview or 'Made You Look' (showing one's presumably children or pets some cartoon images and sounds so as to make them smile or laugh)! There's also a bunch of other stuff like Astrophotography, dirty lens warning, audio zoom, frequent faces, Palm Timer and so on. Then there's all the stuff hooked into Google Photos like Magic Eraser and loads of other tools, but that's also a topic for another post! Loads of options and stuff to play with in the camera app, then - and actually, having never taken photography with tablets seriously, I can see that using the camera with the phone opened up might be fun and rewarding!

The original Pixel Fold is the rare piece of technology that feels more 'right' three years later than it did at launch, frankly! In a 2026 market saturated with tall, narrow monoblock foldables, the Fold’s passport form factor stands out as a triumph of ergonomic common sense. Its stubby, wide outer screen remains the gold standard for one-handed usability, while the landscape-first inner display offers a natural, tablet-like canvas that modern competitors are only now starting to replicate.

While the Tensor G2 and the chunky 283g chassis show their age against today’s featherweight, AI-optimised silicon-carbon wonders, the experience hasn't soured. Thanks to Google’s extended support, this device remains a software contemporary, running the latest Android builds with a level of fluidity that belies its 2023 origins. The cameras, though modest in raw specs, still deliver that reliable Pixel look through computational magic, and the speakers remain arguably the best in the business!

At a 2026 second-hand price of under £500, the OG Pixel Fold has transitioned from an experimental luxury to an incredible value proposition. It’s a beautifully built, premium object of desire that rewards those who treat it with care. If you can find a pristine unit, it’s more than just a functional tool - it’s a reminder that Google actually got it right the first time. For the Phones Show Chat crowd and enthusiasts alike, it remains a quintessential classic that’s still very much a daily-driver contender.