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Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

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Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#121

Post by maxxxxx »

Niksko wrote: post #31
nickelcitymario wrote: post #22

While I won't be an early adopter for this, I think the concept is great. The things I'll be watching out for if this takes off: 1) How does the screen holdup in daily use? Does the Infinity Flex Display get work out or glitchy at the hinge after 10,000 folds? 2) Will the device get thinner? This is currently the size of two phones stacked on top of each other. I can't imagine carrying that in my pocket long-term. 3)…

If IKEA can build a machine that repeatedly flexes their chairs until failure, I'm forced to believe that Samsung can build a machine that repeatedly flexes their screen. Surely that's not going to be the failure mode, it's more likely to be grit in the mechanism or fragility after dropping.

The real world is a pretty harsh and unpredictable place. I bet they will find out that users are doing things they never thought of.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#122

Post by colordrops »

jolmg wrote: post #117

I wonder how many times you can fold the display before it makes a crease or splits in 2. Hasn't that been a long-standing problem with flexible displays? You can bend them but you can't fold them? I imagine that like paper, you can only fold it so many times before the same thing happens.

It seems to me that the fold is more of a tight bend rather than a crease, with the hinge width keeping it from fully folding.

I'm still skeptical of the screen surviving long-term wear too, but I'd imagine they've tested this with countless repetitions with some robot.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#123

Post by twiceaday »

gibolt wrote: post #61
twiceaday wrote: post #35

The weight, which I am assuming is going to be around twice as much as a normal phone, will be a huge turnoff for most people. And unlike a normal phone you won't be able to use a pop-socket to help holding it or likely even a case for protection when it falls.

There is a surface without a screen that will be the back in all layouts. Why wouldn't a pop-socket work?

It wouldn't be in the center when the phone was unfolded so you'd have to deal with the phone wanting to rotate in the direction of the heavier side.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#124

Post by misterprime »

sosborn wrote: post #101
NowThenGoodBad wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun story for you on that: I applied numerous time for their Failure Analysis Engineer, Reliability Engineer, and other similar positions but repeatedly got rejected (or simply ignored by their ATS, I don’t play that keyword game very well). My professional career in Materials Science and Materials Engineering has had a large focus on reliability testing and failure analysis. In parallel with inventing new technologi…

> I’m sitting in front of a 2017 MBP that has been used as a stationary desktop and babied with a keyboard cover and much TLC that has strange screen artifacts that seem to indicate that it was pinched https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203671

Mystery solved. Thanks.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#125

Post by _bxg1 »

franciscojgo wrote: post #104
_bxg1 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android is working on OS-level support for folding displays. This one's early, and will have limited support from apps, but I don't think the category will die as a gimmick. It has genuine utility, it's just been a technological hurdle. Personally, I'll wait another couple years for Apple to refine it a bit. Also, the smartphone market has started saturating and device makers are clamoring for a feature - any feature…

If they are working from the OS side that’s perfect. But I Im no way expecting to see anything but the most important apps have useful multi-app-in-screen interactions. Yeah YouTube, FB, Search, w/e but will that make it worth it? Sort of like the Touch Bar on MacBook Pros (which I have). Yeah it’s awesome to have on select apps like Photoshop, Safari, etc but it’s in no way so valuable as to build a whole product ar…

The only specialized support it really needs has less to do with folding and more to do with toggling between two different screens without problems and while maintaining context, which they already seem to have nailed. Everything beyond that is just building on things that are already relevant for normal tablets, like multitasking.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#126

Post by bunderbunder »

whoopdedo wrote: post #65
bunderbunder wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, probably not, but it could quite plausibly replace an iPad Mini. I could see even replacing a midsize tablet, for someone for whom that amount of bulk elimination merits a compromise.

At around 4x the price? It's not replacing anything.

At a (admittedly hefty, but not prohibitive) premium over the combined price of a higher-end phone and a tablet. The whole idea is that you're getting one device that can do the work of both.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#127

Post by Rebelgecko »

esmi wrote: post #80
nickelcitymario wrote: post #22

While I won't be an early adopter for this, I think the concept is great. The things I'll be watching out for if this takes off: 1) How does the screen holdup in daily use? Does the Infinity Flex Display get work out or glitchy at the hinge after 10,000 folds? 2) Will the device get thinner? This is currently the size of two phones stacked on top of each other. I can't imagine carrying that in my pocket long-term. 3)…

4) do the two screens wear uniformly? 5) what effect does putting a hinge in the center of the device have on the thermal capacity of the unit (thermal capacity is almost more important for performace than ram on a modern mobile computer architectures) 6) what are the long term ramifications of splitting the battery cell into two halves. It must be less capacity due to the extra packaging and safety overhead. I could…

There could be some benefits. I wouldn't be surprised if separating the battery in 2 actually helped with some of the thermal characteristics and reduced battery aging

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#128

Post by dstaley »

salimmadjd wrote: post #29

Slightly OT: IMHO, I think Samsung made a huge mistake announcing the Fold along with their other products. 1 - This is a new product category and I think it deserves its own stage. 2 - Fold is overshadowing everything else Samsung announced. Galaxy, etc. are their biggest sellers but they lost the main attention to the Fold. Basically Fold's hype will cannibalize market attention of their new announcement that will…

The Fold is $2,000, so I highly doubt it'll cannibalize the sales of the S10.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#129

Post by VuWall-Matt »

splonk wrote: post #78

Honestly, if this is even vaguely usable, it's going to replace my phone and my tablet, simply by reducing the screen size for both while still having some modern hardware behind it. I find 5" phones to be just slightly too large to comfortably use one-handed (and forget about the larger flagship phones that come out these days). I at least have some faith that I'll be able to reach across the 4.6" screen, although w…

Speaking as someone who's never owned a tablet, but always buys iPhone+ sized phones (6+,7+), I'm exited for this (and maybe Apple's iteration of this?) in the coming years. I am the type to even hate turning my phone sideways (because it's always on rotation lock) so being able to physically open a thing would probably reduce the barrier to entry of enjoying of my phone / all-in-one device.

Honestly, as a first publicly available iteration it's pretty sleek. I'm excited for the future all over again as this becomes mainstream.

Re: Samsung’s Foldable Phone Is the $1,980 Galaxy Fold

#130

Post by dstaley »

twiceaday wrote: post #123
gibolt wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a surface without a screen that will be the back in all layouts. Why wouldn't a pop-socket work?

It wouldn't be in the center when the phone was unfolded so you'd have to deal with the phone wanting to rotate in the direction of the heavier side.

I don't think you'd use the unfolded form one handed. I imagine it'd be more like holding a small tablet.
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