Samsung Galaxy Fold - First foldable screen smartphone from Samsung

Soldato
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Props to Samsung and others for trying this but the fundamental issue for me is that the screen is plastic and you can't put a screen protector on it. It means going back to how smartphones were 12 years ago with screens that scratch by just looking at them.

It will be interesting to see how well they hold up long term, especially the ones that fold outwards.
 
Caporegime
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I only travel on the car so also don't see the need for one I accept it would be useful for those who commute on public transport (you poor souls)
 
Associate
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I like this. I think expanding display communication devices (in whatever form they arrive in) are the future and this is a step in the right direction.

Even in its early adopter state I welcome the arrival of a smaller discrete phone that doubles as a larger display content creation/consumption device when required. Bring on the clones and competition and the many revisions and whatnot that lead us to the promised land of itty bitty dimensions + massive screen on demand.
 
Soldato
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I really like the flexibility that folding screens offer. A phone that folds out and can stand on a flat surface whilst projecting a laser keyboard would be awesome. This is a first step. But it's just not ready. The delayed launch is just embarrassing.
 
Soldato
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Considering high end small Android tablets are pretty dead (I miss the N7), I like the idea of a phone folding out to a tablet. I'm finding phones to be quite uncomfortable to hold with one hand now yet I still want a large screen for media content.

The main issue with the Fold at the moment, they should've made the protector more permanent, maybe tucking the edges under the bezels. It looks way too easy for dust and other particles to get underneath it and slowly cause it to peel off, which I can see being the main issue so far. It's a first generation device so issues are to be expected but this seems to be a rather poor oversight from Samsung. Sure it may survive countless folding from robots, but in the real world there's a lot more issues that can happen.

Makes me wonder if Huawei's Mate X will suffer any similar issues, will be interesting to see what sort of problems it may pop up with. As far as I can tell with photos from hands on, there doesn't seem to be an obvious "peelable" protector on that at least.
 
Soldato
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Sure it may survive countless folding from robots, but in the real world there's a lot more issues that can happen.

I'll hold my hands up here. I'm sure earlier in this thread I said something along the lines of it will have been tested and they wouldn't release it if it wasn't ready... apparently they were going to.

I do find it interesting. I wonder how many they sent out and so what proportion have had issues. Did they really not do much testing, or did they only test using robots folding the thing hundreds of times and not actually give them to people to use?
 
Soldato
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So now we've had the phone people don't know how to hold and the phone people don't know how to fold. When are we going to get the phone people don't know how to walk away from and the phone people don't know how to run?
 
Soldato
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On one hand, good that Samsung has admitted liability, and has agreed to fix the issues.

On the other, they should be testing their products more thoroughly, especially on a device costing almost £2,000. Had they have done, they would have absolutely caught the problem before the product even made its way into journalists' hands.
 
Soldato
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Its a really odd mistake to make. I mean if they review units failed that easily then it wouldnt take much to make one fail during product testing. That doesnt add up, Samsung must have known all alonge about the fragility of the screen and the potential to have debris trapped under it.
 
Soldato
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Makes me wonder if Huawei's Mate X will suffer any similar issues, will be interesting to see what sort of problems it may pop up with. As far as I can tell with photos from hands on, there doesn't seem to be an obvious "peelable" protector on that at least.

Possibly or possibly not but given the plastic screen is on the outside and if its the same as Samsung's you will not be able to put on a screen protector leaving it open to being scratched very easily.

They haven't been tested yet but given its plastic you are likely looking at a 2-4 on the hardness scale (pretty soft) meaning basically anything will scratch it easily.
 
Permabanned
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I think they would have been better off working on making two screens join neatly.
It needs to be done for those microled tv panels anyway.
And we had this technology in the 80s, if not earlier, example:
FJC576I.png
 
Soldato
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its clearly the future and I am sitting here thinking why has it taken them so long to make a folding phone.

Interesting tho how they take reviewers feedback more serious than paying customers tho.
 
Soldato
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I think they would have been better off working on making two screens join neatly.
It needs to be done for those microled tv panels anyway.
And we had this technology in the 80s, if not earlier, example:
FJC576I.png

I agree. There’s a super sexy Moto Razr mock-up floating about that looks like it could work like this.

Two completely sealed hard glass edge to edge screens that looks practically seamless when opened out and butted up against each other.
 
Soldato
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Imagine trouble with that design is that you still need some kind of bezel as you could damage the edge of your screen(s) quite easily when folded. Even small drops on the joining sides would probably cause damage.

You could have a kind of protective bracket cover the edges when the phone it closed that then slides back when you unfold it. I'm sure far more intelligent people than me thought of that before though and dismissed it for good reasons :D
 
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