No one in the press was more critical than me of Google’s first folding phone, the Pixel Fold, released last year. In a complex and competitive field of premium folding phones, the Fold had the worst hinge, a bad internal screen, overly thick bezels, and an outside screen best used with two hands, thus entirely defeating its purpose. It was also extremely expensive at $1,799 despite having no new features from the Pixel 8 line except for the folding screen. The incredible Pixel 8 Pro, which I loved so much I bought one, was $1,000 cheaper and better in every way.

Because of this, I said it was “one of the worst phones on sale.” After all, if I didn’t want to use it when I was given it for free, how could I possibly recommend spending almost $2,000 for one?

With its successor, the confusingly titled Pixel 9 Pro Fold — which PR people referred to as the Fold 2, understandably — the price remains at $1,799, but everything else seems to be resolved. Though a review will be forthcoming as I haven’t tried the phone yet, all the initial details are extremely promising and bring the Fold up to the “iPhone-of-Android” standards that the rest of the Pixel line has reached.

To start with, the form factor. Whereas the previous generation was short and fat, the new Fold is the size of two Pixel 9s put side by side, with an outer screen of 6.3 inches corner to corner and an internal screen of 8 inches. This is much more usable, giving you the one-hand friendliness of a smaller phone with a more conventional internal display aspect ratio that should also be more compatible with other apps.

The quality of that internal screen is also dramatically improved. Whereas the previous screen had thick bezels and was pretty dull, the new Fold is 80% brighter, going up to 1,600 nits HDR brightness and peaking at 2,700 nits outdoor peak brightness. The external screen has matching 24-bit color depth, a 2 million to one contrast ratio, and both are variable refresh rates peaking at 120 Hz, though the outer display only drops to 60 Hz whereas the internal can drop to 1 Hz.

That should be great for battery life, though I do wish Google pushed beyond their aversion to big batteries, as 4,650 mAh is fairly normal. The benefit of this, though, is that the Pixel Fold line has gone in one generation from the thickest folding phone on the market to the very thinnest, at least on sale outside of Communist China. Another improvement is the durability with IPX8 water and dust resistance, and they promise to have an improved hinge over the clunky, unpleasant one on the first unit, but I’ll have to check to find out. There will also be more split-screen compatible apps, and it benefits from the same new AI features and apps available on the rest of the Pixel 9 range, which you can read about in my Pixel 9 preview, and their standard seven years of OS and security updates.

The cameras are a three-camera setup of a 10.5MP ultrawide with “Macro Focus”; a 10.8MP five-times telephoto zoom that can crop into a 20-times digital zoom; and a 48MP standard wide lens. These are technically inferior to the 9 Pro cameras despite the higher price, but this is almost certainly a limitation of its thinner chassis, and I doubt it will have much of an effect in actual use. Phone camera quality is usually more software-related than megapixels, but I’ll have to test it back-to-back with the 9 Pro to check. There are also paired identical selfie cameras giving it facial unlock when folded and unfolded.

There’s a lot to be excited about here, but wait for reviews. I was not expecting to loathe the Fold as much as I did, and unexpected issues — like the hinge being so poor or the wireless charging never working — are things you can only find from trying it in person. Readers can expect to read my review before it releases on September 4, but you can pre-order today if you’re impatient.