Samsung Galaxy Fold

[Oohara]

One of the best if not the best tech reviewer imo. Always nuanced and bull**** free, and gets to the point without needless fluff. Resists hopping on the "lulz hot dog" team for cheap likes, nor does he go fact-ignoring fanboy.

As for the Fold itself, I'm warming to the concept. I still fear that the crease would niggle my OCD to the point of migraine, and I still can't quite trust that a foldable screen wouldn't just plain break after <1 year, but give this a few years and who knows.

One thing that particularly impressed me in this vid was his quick multitasking demo. So effortless. I love iPad OS and all, and my iPad Pro is a godly device in so many ways, but multitasking on it still feels like a chore and is still very unintuitive to me. And on my iPhone 11 Pro of course, there is none at all.

Definitely watching this space with interest.

 

[joshwithachance]

The Galaxy Fold is my favorite device I have ever owned. I've had it for a couple weeks now and I fall more and more in love with it every day.

Impressions after using it every day for 2 weeks:
- The screens are amazingly vivid and sharp.
- I use the outside screen MUCH MORE than I expected.
- Battery life is solid, but could be better.
- Speakers sound phenomenal.
- The device as a whole is built like a tank and feels PREMIUM.
- The hinge is gorgeously designed.
- Opening the device is a magical feeling. Every single time.

I wish the inside display was glass and that it was resistant to water and dust, but I can overlook that for the pure joy I get every time I pick up the thing and use it.

 

[SteveJUAE]

One of the best if not the best tech reviewer imo. Always nuanced and bull**** free, and gets to the point without needless fluff. Resists hopping on the "lulz hot dog" team for cheap likes, nor does he go fact-ignoring fanboy.

As for the Fold itself, I'm warming to the concept. I still fear that the crease would niggle my OCD to the point of migraine, and I still can't quite trust that a foldable screen wouldn't just plain break after <1 year, but give this a few years and who knows.

One thing that particularly impressed me in this vid was his quick multitasking demo. So effortless. I love iPad OS and all, and my iPad Pro is a godly device in so many ways, but multitasking on it still feels like a chore and is still very unintuitive to me. And on my iPhone 11 Pro of course, there is none at all.

Definitely watching this space with interest.

I like Lisa Grade reviews

However

Do not forget the fold comes with wireless Buds and a case, so that's a good $200 worth included

Plus a concierge service where any issues you have dedicated POC and collection service plus a discounted screen replacement program

Over the similar maxed out Iphone ~$300 for this type of device is not that much of stretch and only goes to show what great value a note 10 really is

I would also say he missed the point on the speakers where the cupping of your palms also bounces the sound forward, so only in his gaming grip he spins it through 180 deg

I have no issues with my hinge re loosening up

 

[Zito Abroad]

One of the best if not the best tech reviewer imo. Always nuanced and bull**** free, and gets to the point without needless fluff. Resists hopping on the "lulz hot dog" team for cheap likes, nor does he go fact-ignoring fanboy.

As for the Fold itself, I'm warming to the concept. I still fear that the crease would niggle my OCD to the point of migraine, and I still can't quite trust that a foldable screen wouldn't just plain break after <1 year, but give this a few years and who knows.

One thing that particularly impressed me in this vid was his quick multitasking demo. So effortless. I love iPad OS and all, and my iPad Pro is a godly device in so many ways, but multitasking on it still feels like a chore and is still very unintuitive to me. And on my iPhone 11 Pro of course, there is none at all.

Definitely watching this space with interest.

He's spot on where he says, people should be thanking the first gen buyers. First gen buyers are the ones who help OEMs refine new tech and bring future pricing down. I also agree with his opinion on, wanting a phone that opens to a tablet. Just makes more sense. A clam shell achieves no real gains for actual use. Other than becoming half the length and twice the thickness when folded, there's no gains in actual use. I'll be a 3rd gen buyer of the fold. But as I've been saying, if foldable glass is used, I'll be getting the second gen fold.

 

[Tsepz]

He's spot on where he says, people should be thanking the first gen buyers. First gen buyers are the ones who help OEMs refine new tech and bring future pricing down. I also agree with his opinion on, wanting a phone that opens to a tablet. Just makes more sense. A clam shell achieves no real gains for actual use. Other than becoming half the length and twice the thickness when folded, there's no gains in actual use. I'll be a 3rd gen buyer of the fold. But as I've been saying, if foldable glass is used, I'll be getting the second gen fold.

How far are Corning with Foldable glass? From what I have heard we maybe quite a few years away from it. Going to have to make the trade-off of dealing with Plastic displays for a while longer.

I cannot wait for the 2020 Foldables, to see what progress has been made.

 

[kdarling]

According to the Korean Herald, Samsung has sold over 500,000 Folds so far in a limited country rollout.

Hopeful rumors say the next generation of the current Fold will hit around August 2020 and could include pen support, plus a larger external screen.

Along with a different lower priced $850 vertical folding phone, they expect to sell 6 million foldables next year.

 

[Zito Abroad]

How far are Corning with Foldable glass? From what I have heard we maybe quite a few years away from it. Going to have to make the trade-off of dealing with Plastic displays for a while longer.

I cannot wait for the 2020 Foldables, to see what progress has been made.

Corning currently has nothing for foldables. Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) is what Samsung will be using in the next fold. Maybe even as soon as using it on the upcoming clamshell. If not, it will definitely be used with the true successor of the Galaxy Fold. The clamshell is not considered the successor. The UTG will be supplied from another South Korean OEM called Dowoo Insys. They are said to be 4-5 years ahead of any other OEM with UTG. Production for UTG has already begun. So, fingers crossed Samsung use UTG as early as the upcoming clamshell.

 

[Ralfi]

The 2nd gen Fold will be more attractive than the 5th gen Pixel.

 

[Zito Abroad]

As I've been saying all along, when you put the haters aside, the Galaxy Fold is a success. We should all be thankful to OEMs like Samsung for having real courage, and taking a risk for putting out such a cutting edge device. If we only had companies that cowardly use the wait and see approach, we'd be waiting years for the industry to move forward. My money will always go to the company that takes the risk and puts up the big money for R&D to make it all happen.

Source

 

[Oohara]

As I've been saying all along, when you put the haters aside, the Galaxy Fold is a success. We should all be thankful to OEMs like Samsung for having real courage, and taking a risk for putting out such a cutting edge device. If we only had companies that cowardly use the wait and see approach, we'd be waiting years for the industry to move forward. My money will always go to the company that takes the risk and puts up the big money for R&D to make it all happen.

Source

Do we really need to take it to "courage" vs "cowardice" though? We're talking tech gadgets here, not people doing a service to humanity out of the kindness of their hearts vs. acts of evil.

Yes, I'm happy that someone is pushing a forward thinking product like the Fold onto the market, and I may reward their effort with my cash at some point. Meanwhile there are other companies that put other concerns ahead of innovation in terms of exterior hardware design, which can feel a bit frustrating and as result I may sometimes end up not choosing their products.

But my relationship with those companies is not quite based on courage vs. cowardice. I dunno, I just feel like that tone sets the discussion off on the track that usually gets us into the typical fanboy vs hater bickering matches.

 

[TopherMan12]

Do we really need to take it to "courage" vs "cowardice" though? We're talking tech gadgets here, not people doing a service to humanity out of the kindness of their hearts vs. acts of evil.

Yes, I'm happy that someone is pushing a forward thinking product like the Fold onto the market, and I may reward their effort with my cash at some point. Meanwhile there are other companies that put other concerns ahead of innovation in terms of exterior hardware design, which can feel a bit frustrating and as result I may sometimes end up not choosing their products.

But my relationship with those companies is not quite based on courage vs. cowardice. I dunno, I just feel like that tone sets the discussion off on the track that usually gets us into the typical fanboy vs hater bickering matches.

Well said. No one is risking life and limb in order to bring a folding phone to the market. Ultimately this is all still about making money.

 

[jamezr]

As I've been saying all along, when you put the haters aside, the Galaxy Fold is a success. We should all be thankful to OEMs like Samsung for having real courage, and taking a risk for putting out such a cutting edge device. If we only had companies that cowardly use the wait and see approach, we'd be waiting years for the industry to move forward. My money will always go to the company that takes the risk and puts up the big money for R&D to make it all happen.

Source

I agree...there has been so much negativity concerning the Fold...and some rightly so because of the issues it had at the beginning.
But I applaud Samsung for pushing the envelope so to speak to introduce new technology.
We all benefit from companies do this.....

 

[Zito Abroad]

Do we really need to take it to "courage" vs "cowardice" though? We're talking tech gadgets here, not people doing a service to humanity out of the kindness of their hearts vs. acts of evil.

Yes, I'm happy that someone is pushing a forward thinking product like the Fold onto the market, and I may reward their effort with my cash at some point. Meanwhile there are other companies that put other concerns ahead of innovation in terms of exterior hardware design, which can feel a bit frustrating and as result I may sometimes end up not choosing their products.

But my relationship with those companies is not quite based on courage vs. cowardice. I dunno, I just feel like that tone sets the discussion off on the track that usually gets us into the typical fanboy vs hater bickering matches.

Well said. No one is risking life and limb in order to bring a folding phone to the market. Ultimately this is all still about making money.

Maybe we have differnt definitions of courage, but courage doesn't always mean risking life and limb.
Courage would be the correct word to describe any industry leading company that takes the massive risks in destroying their corporate image and stock prices on a device using extremely new cutting edge tech, with an extremely high price, in an extremely matured smartphone market. Sitting on the fence, waiting for tech and markets to mature to a level that meets profit margins gets consumers nowhere fast.

 

[TopherMan12]

Maybe we have differnt definitions of courage, but courage doesn't always mean risking life and limb.
Courage would be the correct word to describe any industry leading company that takes the massive risks in destroying their corporate image and stock prices on a device using extremely new cutting edge tech, with an extremely high price, in an extremely matured smartphone market. Sitting on the fence, waiting for tech and markets to mature to a level that meets profit margins gets consumers nowhere fast.

If the Samsung Fold turned out to be a massive failure then none of what you described (destroying corporate image/stock prices/etc) would have been the result. They would have simply discontinued the product and moved on to something else. It would have been fine. But that didn't happen and they have what looks to be a successful product line in the making. That is great and I look forward to seeing where it goes. But the hyperbole is unneeded.

 

[jamezr]

They sold a million Folds...
There is definitely a market for a folding phone/tablet device. Even with all the problems they still sold quite a few.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/12/samsung-has-sold-1-million-galaxy-fold-smarthphones/

 

[TopherMan12]

They sold a million Folds...
There is definitely a market for a folding phone/tablet device. Even with all the problems they still sold quite a few.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/12/samsung-has-sold-1-million-galaxy-fold-smarthphones/

I'm guessing that market is primarily tech enthusiasts considering the price point. If/when the prices come down then we may see some significant growth in the larger market. It will be interesting to see the sales numbers come mid-2020.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Looks like they updated and said that they didn't sell 1 million of them, but that selling 1 million of them is their goal. I hope they reach it, and continue on, good for the industry as a whole.

 

[TopherMan12]

Looks like they updated and said that they didn't sell 1 million of them, but that selling 1 million of them is their goal. I hope they reach it, and continue on, good for the industry as a whole.

https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-fold-1-million-units/

According to a report from Yonhap News, a Samsung spokesperson has said the company has not sold 1 million Galaxy Fold units. Sohn may have been confused the number with Samsung’s goal to sell 1 million units by the end of the year. We don’t know exactly how many devices have been sold, but some analysts have put the number around 400,000-500,000. Certainly less impressive than 1 million, but still decent for such a niche device.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Looks like they updated and said that they didn't sell 1 million of them, but that selling 1 million of them is their goal. I hope they reach it, and continue on, good for the industry as a whole.

The "industry" sells 1.2 billion smartphones a year.

Samsung themselves sell almost 300 million smartphone a year.

So is one million of this super-niche phone enough to move the needle in any meaningful way?

Look... I'll give Samsung credit for trying something new. But I'll be shocked if folding phones become a big thing in the next 5 years. Or even 10 years.

 

[Awesomesince86]

The "industry" sells 1.2 billion smartphones a year.

Samsung themselves sell almost 300 million smartphone a year.

So is one million of this super-niche phone enough to move the needle in any meaningful way?

Look... I'll give Samsung credit for trying something new. But I'll be shocked if folding phones become a big thing in the next 5 years. Or even 10 years.

They won’t until the quality improves and even bigger, until price falls in line with traditional devices. Around $1500 is probably the point where they could see some success.

 

[TopherMan12]

The "industry" sells 1.2 billion smartphones a year.

Samsung themselves sell almost 300 million smartphone a year.

So is one million of this super-niche phone enough to move the needle in any meaningful way?

Look... I'll give Samsung credit for trying something new. But I'll be shocked if folding phones become a big thing in the next 5 years. Or even 10 years.

I think folding phones will find a larger market, but I don't think Samsung's version with a massive crease on the screen will. Microsoft' Duo seems to be much more practical and cost efficient to me. That's the one I'm looking forward to more than anything else.

 

[Klyster]

Courage and innovation mean entirely different things within the mobile tech sphere.....

Words take on different meanings.

 

[Awesomesince86]

I think folding phones will find a larger market, but I don't think Samsung's version with a massive crease on the screen will. Microsoft' Duo seems to be much more practical and cost efficient to me. That's the one I'm looking forward to more than anything else.

You may be right but I just don’t trust Microsoft in the mobile device market. They’ve failed so hard and so often and in such obvious ways that I would need to see it first. They’ve taken the right step by using android and making custom versions of Microsoft office apps. But there are still going to be a ton of questions marks. One thing about Microsoft though is they’ve shown they can make fantastic hardware with the Surface line.

 

[TopherMan12]

Courage and innovation mean entirely different things within the mobile tech sphere.....

Words take on different meanings.

If you want to talk innovation, then by all means do so. But the words "courage" or "cowardice" has no place in the tech/biz spheres at all. This is pure and simple business. Nothing more.

Courage or cowardice, these are personal attributes and using them in context of mega-corporations is nothing more than fanboy fantasies. Samsung wants to make money. Just like Google. Just like Apple. Just like <insert corporation name here>.

Be clear. These are companies. Not heroes/villains.

 

[jamezr]

If you want to talk innovation, then by all means do so. But the words "courage" or "cowardice" has no place in the tech/biz spheres at all. This is pure and simple business. Nothing more.

Courage or cowardice, these are personal attributes and using them in context of mega-corporations is nothing more than fanboy fantasies. Samsung wants to make money. Just like Google. Just like Apple. Just like <insert corporation name here>.

Be clear. These are companies. Not heroes/villains.

Companies can be courageous and companies can be cowardice. Just because they are a company...doesn't mean their leaders cannot choose to make courageous/cowardly decisions that go on to represent the company as a whole. Sometimes companies make decisions that cost them money...but it is the right or moral thing to do. That would go against simple and common business practices.
Your statements are not as black and white as stated.