Your next laptop could be a foldable phone

On The Vergecast: purse computers, Olympic drones, and AI flip phones.

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For almost as long as phones have been around, people have wanted those phones to also be laptops. It seems so simple: Your phone has plenty of computing power, access to all your apps and data, an always-on connection. The only problem? Your phone’s screen is too small for many tasks, and so is its keyboard. Or at least, they were, until foldable phones made it possible to carry a truly gigantic screen in your pocket. Now all bets are off.

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On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge’s Allison Johnson explains how she turned a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 into her on-the-go laptop. It took a little work, and at least one new accessory, but she’s actually starting to leave her laptop home more often. There’s even a chance that Google’s Android team and app developers might start to make the system work even better.

After that, it’s time for an update on the world of sports streaming. Sportico’s Jacob Feldman joins the show to talk about the whirring drones all over the Winter Olympics coverage, the boring (in a good way) Super Bowl we just had, YouTube’s increasing leverage over both the TV world and the sports world, and whether the Netflix / Paramount / Warner Bros. deal will change the streaming landscape. The good news is, sports streaming is better than ever. The bad news is, chaos reigns.

After that, David takes a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com) about flip phones, AI, and whether one device can feel and work like two devices. The answer is yes, in theory, we think. But the software doesn’t work.

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If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started:

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Alex Chen