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Samsung Galaxy Fold: a second launch that fell through?
by Luca Fontana
Samsung Galaxy Fold: This is what a foldable phone should be, right?
18.10.2019
Translation: machine translated
Video: Stephanie Tresch
The first impression of the Samsung Galaxy Fold shows: This could be something. It feels better than it looks and has great sound. But questions remain.
I feel like one of those old school Apple fans right now. You know the ones I mean. The men and women who camped outside the Apple Store days before the launch of a new iPhone. Except me and video producer Stephanie Tresch aren't waiting for a new iPhone, we're waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Fold. We are quite alone in this. Somehow nobody seems to have been waiting for it.
At last. It's ours. Purchased like any other in the Salt Store on Zurich's Löwenstrasse. Because the Fold is rare. Samsung has only brought the device that enthusiasts have long been waiting for to Swiss shops in a limited edition. The reason: it is the first foldable smartphone on the market that users can take seriously.
The first impression
In the Migros café, I switch on the device for the first time. It feels good in the hand and although it looks a bit blocky, the feel is pretty good. It feels better than it looks. It also sits comfortably in your trouser pocket, as the Fold is much slimmer when folded than an unfoldable smartphone.
Source: Stephanie Tresch
At first glance, I don't really like the external screen. It's quite small, and as I'm used to almost bezel-less displays, I find the titanic bezels really ugly. But I also realise that the mini screen at the front is really not there to provide more than just brief information, even if the phone can be fully operated via the mini screen.
The Galaxy Fold is surprisingly light and feels good in the hand. I don't see why the phone should only be for eccentrics and those willing to compromise. The concept, at least in this form, is a real winner.
But questions remain. I have to be a bit rough with the foldable display when I want to fold it up. Because the hinge has a resistance that I have to overcome. In view of the fact that I know about all the display damage from the spring and autumn, I'm a bit worried about that.
But the large display is a stunner. I really like that. YouTube is not only fun because of the large screen, but also because of the sound. Since the hardware developers obviously have more physical space available, they have more room for more beautiful sounds. The Fold sounds great. In the picture, however, it has the strange side notch, which eats up a bit of video footage depending on the optimisation of the app.
Behind the screens
The Samsung Galaxy Fold is the phone that Samsung wanted to be proud of. At a press conference in spring, the company presented the device with music by Clark in London. And as much as it turned out that the first series of the Fold that was delivered to the press was a flop, the music was good. Samsung should keep their music director or the team behind the music selection for the long term.
The Fold can do everything a bleeding edge smartphone needs to do. First and foremost is the 5G module, which should certainly promise high-speed mobile internet for the next few years. Provided the hardware lasts that long. The phone runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, and nothing less would have been possible. Not because of the performance, because as mid-range phones like the Oppo Reno 2 prove, a Snapdragon from the 700 series can also deliver decent performance. No, the Galaxy Fold is not just a new phone, it is a statement: "This is the future". That's why it only comes with top specs.
Source: Stephanie Tresch
So the 12GB RAM and 512GB of internal memory are hardly surprising. The specs sound a lot like the 12GB version of the Samsung Galaxy S10+. However, there is a small difference in the cameras. Because this is what the Fold looks like.
- 12 megapixels, f/1.5-2.4, 27mm wide angle, OIS
- 12 megapixel, f/2.4, 52mm telephoto, OIS, 2x optical zoom
- 16 megapixel, f/2.2, 12mm ultra wide angle
The time-of-flight camera (ToF), which is built into the S10+, is missing. And the headphone jack, which the Fold no longer has either. Samsung seems to have given up as one of the last manufacturers to rely on this technology, which is over 100 years old.
The completely new design
Source: Stephanie Tresch
The Fold is interesting where Samsung has had to get creative. Okay, not that creative, because we know the solution from the old days. The design of the foldable mobile harbours pitfalls: The screen is on the inside, so the Galaxy Fold opens like a book. Unlike the Royole Flexpai - the glorified scrap heap where the screen is on the outside - the operation of the smartphone is slowed down considerably if you have to open your phone first for everything. Samsung has countered this by installing a second screen on the outside.
The fingerprint sensor has been moved to the side of the device. A concept that Sony has held on to for years, but which has never found its way into the mainstream. The engineers there have set themselves the goal of bringing everything under the screen. Selfie cams have become retractable and extendable, fingerprint sensors are under the screen, selfie cams - the eternal problem child of bezel-less phones and the second time in a list - are to be under the screen. Just like the fingerprint sensor on the Galaxies, the side sensor is also quite unreliable and slow. Just use face unlock and you're good to go.
The selfie cam on the open Galaxy Fold is prominently placed on the right side, where a right-hand sliver of the screen is missing. If we want to consider this a notch, then it's gigantic. This is not necessarily due to the size of the notch, but more to the fact that Samsung has added design elements to it. This has made it more eye-catching.
A look into the past
If we look at the scandalous phones in Samsung's line-up, there's the Samsung Note 7, which had a nasty habit of bursting into flames. And then there's the first Samsung Galaxy Fold from spring 2019, which had problems. Most notably that the fold-out screen broke within hours.
Now, however, Samsung has fixed everything, says the company. The phone is now good and stable enough to be released to consumers.
Let's see. I'll get back to you in a few weeks. <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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