In a few months, Google is likely to launch the first foldable Pixel smartphone, which was previously known as the Pixel Fold but will probably be released under a different brand name. But the product names that have been leaked in the last few days leave the question open again as to where the focus is and how the product should be placed in the market.
The future belongs to foldable, it was once thought. They are now in the third generation on the market and are still more of a marginal phenomenon than a great success. Google plays a major role as an Android developer, and Android 12L is the first operating system that is specially designed for foldable and devices with large displays. It’s probably not the worst idea to accompany it with your own foldable smartphone – the first Pixel Foldable.
Some information has already become known about the first foldable Pixel smartphone, but perhaps the most interesting detail only came to light a few days ago: the possible final name of the product. The smartphone should probably not listen to Pixel Fold, but come onto the market as a Pixel Notepad. Alternatively, the term Pixel Logbook is said to have been considered, but then quickly discarded.
Names are smoke and mirrors, but potentially introducing a new product name here that will last and continue for several years. It seems understandable that they didn’t just want to call it Pixel Fold or Pixel F, but opted for a more functional name. But what could be behind this designation?
Pixel Fold” would have been an unambiguous description, but it’s more of a form factor than a real feature. The expected name Pixel Notepad, on the other hand, has a completely different meaning: it is immediately associated with a notepad, which, depending on the model, can also be folded out to have more space. But that would mean including a stylus that users can use to write on the display – similar to the famous Samsung S-Pen from the Galaxy Note series.
Notepad is not only reminiscent of the Samsung smartphone, or probably the most classic Windows app of all but in my opinion, is also a mix of notebook and “tablet”. That’s a clear definition of seeing it as a tablet with a phone function rather than a big-screen phone. Comes to the same thing, but then could have a completely different roadmap and different priorities for further development.
The discarded name “Logbook” underlines this again, although nobody would have been happy with this name. In order to get foldable out of the niche, you not only need powerful devices and adapted software, but also a meaningful area of application. Perhaps Google’s hardware engineers found one. We can be very excited.