The idea of using a phone as a computer is old enough to have a graveyard of failed attempts. Samsung has been pushing its desktop mode, called Dex, for years. Motorola tried something similar more than a decade ago. The pitch has always outrun the reality.
But something has shifted. When The Verge's Allison Johnson spent several weeks using a ZFold 7 as her primary portable computer, she found the experiment worked well enough to change how she thinks about leaving the house. Not perfectly. But well enough.
That gap between "works" and "works well" turns out to be the most interesting place to explore.
Why the ZFold 7 and not something else
The choice of device was not obvious. The ZFold 7's 8-inch inner screen is genuinely large enough to run Google Docs or WordPress with something approaching comfort, which turns out to be the minimum threshold for the experiment to make sense at all.
Size and weight tipped the decision. The ZFold 7 feels close enough to a normal phone when folded that carrying it does not become its own chore. The Pixel Fold, by comparison, is marginally heavier and larger in ways that become noticeable across a day of use, even if the numbers on a spec sheet do not look dramatic.
The name Johnson settled on for the setup, "purse computer," captures the concept precisely. Not a laptop replacement at your desk. A device capable enough to handle real work when you have left the house without a bag.
The keyboard rabbit hole
Committing to the setup required a keyboard, which opened a surprisingly deep category. Travel keyboards exist in every conceivable form, from compact folding designs with number pads to ultra-thin slabs barely larger than a paperback.
The first attempt, a Proto Arc that folds into a compact block and unfolds into a full-size backlit keyboard with a number pad, was immediately too much. Bringing a keyboard that size defeats the point of leaving the laptop at home.
The eventual answer was the Logitech Keys to Go, an iPad keyboard so thin and light it barely registers in a bag. The typing experience is unusual but functional, and the battery lasts long enough that it stops being something to worry about. With the keyboard on the table and the ZFold 7 propped open, something clicked: the setup started to feel like work rather than a compromise.
Where Android gets in the way
The hardware problem is largely solved. The software problem is not.
Android's approach to large screens remains inconsistent in ways that become genuinely frustrating when you are trying to use a phone as a computer. Google Docs on Android is widely considered one of the worst implementations of a major productivity app on the platform, constantly prompting users to open the app rather than using the web version, and behaving differently depending on which screen is active.
Slack on larger screens wastes space in ways that feel like nobody at the company ever tested the app on anything other than a standard 6-inch phone. The workaround, using web browser versions of apps through Chrome rather than their Android counterparts, actually produces a better experience in many cases. But switching between the inner and outer screens often breaks that setup, requiring the user to rebuild their workflow from scratch.
Multiple Google accounts compound the problem. Chrome persistently defaults to the personal account, and navigating between work and personal profiles adds friction that accumulates quickly. Google has not solved this in years, which suggests the people responsible for the product may not encounter it in their own daily use.
The ZFold 7 has more processing power than a 5-year-old Chromebook. The chips, the Wi-Fi, the cellular radio: none of these are the limiting factor. The limiting factor is software that was designed for a 6-inch screen in portrait orientation and has not been fully rethought for anything else.
The minimum viable version of this
For a short trip, a weekend away, or a train ride where the goal is to handle email and write something rather than edit video or work in Lightroom, the ZFold 7 plus the Logitech keyboard is genuinely viable. Johnson describes planning to test it on a three-hour train journey between Washington and New York without bringing a laptop or a bag, which represents a meaningful change in how she thinks about travel.
Battery life is the honest caveat. Running the inner screen for extended periods drains the phone faster than casual use, and planning around recharging time or carrying a battery pack becomes part of the routine. For one or two hours of focused work, it holds up. For a full day of laptop-style use, it does not.
The experiment also revealed something about psychology. Having a physical keyboard changes the feeling of what you are doing. The same tasks that feel like "phone stuff" with a touchscreen start to feel like "work" with keys under your fingers. That shift is not trivial when it comes to actually getting things done.
What would make this significantly better
The wish list is short but consequential. Fix the Android app bugs on large screens. Build proper support for multiple Google accounts in Chrome. Give the external screen of flip phones a genuinely simplified interface rather than a shrunken version of full apps.
That last point extends to a broader conversation about flip phones as a form factor. The external screen of a device like the Motorola Razr or Samsung ZFlip has real potential as something between a smartwatch and a full phone: a surface for quick inputs, glanceable information, and simple controls. Instead, most manufacturers put full Android apps on a screen the size of a business card, which produces a predictably poor experience.
The more interesting software challenge is making a device feel like it has genuinely changed what it is when its form factor changes. A phone that closes and becomes something simpler, an always-on AI interface, a push-to-talk device, a basic media controller, would be a meaningfully new kind of product. The hardware to do this already exists. The software thinking has not caught up.