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Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

bbc.com

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Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#11

Post by LeonM »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #3

>The device the BBC handled, incidentally, was taken away by Samsung shortly after filming was finished, so our team hasn’t had a chance to see these issues for ourselves. This seems a red flag, when devices involving mechanical innovation the reviewers should insist on long term review & shouldn't term anything less as a review.

There can be many reasons they took the devices with them after filming. The explanation can be as simple as Samsung UK not having enough samples for all the journalists in London.

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#12

Post by rockyj »

hliyan wrote: post #2

Most cases seem to be due to users mistakenly removing the permanent screen protection layer. The company claims that the foldable screen has been tested for 200,000 folds -- i.e. about 5 years of rigorous use.

If the protection layer is all that is "protecting" the screen, why make it removable. Or why not put a big warning label on it (or in the manual) when you unbox the phone. Just saying :)

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#13

Post by onion2k »

hliyan wrote: post #2

Most cases seem to be due to users mistakenly removing the permanent screen protection layer. The company claims that the foldable screen has been tested for 200,000 folds -- i.e. about 5 years of rigorous use.

Most cases seem to be due to users mistakenly removing the permanent screen protection layer.

Let's not push blame on to the user. If the screen protection is so vital that the screen will fail within a day without it, then the problem is that the screen protection is removable and to easy to remove.

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#14

Post by baybal2 »

consp wrote: post #4

While not directly comparable, the flexible flat cables in flip phones took years to be 'good' enough to last the phone's lifetime and those moved as much as this thing is going to. This might just be a cause of early production models and early adopter problems and might work out later. Note: the flex cables are not bad per se as they are also used in cubesats for instance.

> the flexible flat cables in flip phones took years to be 'good' enough to last the phone's lifetime

Early flip phones used high spec slip rings instead of flex cables. It's a shame that the industry making those high spec micro slip rings went away with flip phone era.

Only when phones reached the point of being a disposable commodity, they switched to less reliable direct cabling.

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#15

Post by hliyan »

mirimir wrote: post #8
hliyan wrote: post #2

Most cases seem to be due to users mistakenly removing the permanent screen protection layer. The company claims that the foldable screen has been tested for 200,000 folds -- i.e. about 5 years of rigorous use.

If it's so easily removed, how is it "permanent"? Also, you'd think that there'd be a "DO NOT REMOVE THIS" warning on the packaging.

I don't know. I'm not a Samsung rep. I merely stated what's currently known.

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#16

Post by LeonM »

continuational wrote: post #9
hliyan wrote: post #2

Most cases seem to be due to users mistakenly removing the permanent screen protection layer. The company claims that the foldable screen has been tested for 200,000 folds -- i.e. about 5 years of rigorous use.

If it’s pernanent, why would it be removable?

It's not removable, that's the point.

If you try to remove it, you'll break the screen. See Marques Brownlee's pictures:

https://twitter.com/MKBHD/status/1118580472576118787

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#17

Post by reallymental »

Let's assume that they knew this was a half baked product.

Not a "first edition" product like the first iPhone, but a rushed, half baked product, released without consideration of sales but just for being the first in the market for this niche.

Given this assumption, why would you give it to reviewers at all ? Remember "Vertu" ? They were the Ferrari of phones during the Blackberry era and were _shit_. I got my hands on them as a kid and was astonished how bad they were compared to my dad's cheap simple Blackberry. There's a reason why they were not reviewed widely, or positively by a large margin.

Why not just do the same thing? Don't be daft and give it to the hands of reviewers who have twitter on their fingertips and will tell everyone about every single flaw about your device, when you know your device has flaws.

Give it to the CEOs/Sports personalities, and let them flash it around for a few days/events, and cover up the flaws in the second edition. If it breaks on their hands, they certainly won't care to advertise that fact, they'll just get another phone.

If they actually thought they had finished this product, well... SSNLF is going to notice a strong presence of gravity for the next few days.

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#18

Post by Traubenfuchs »

This is the direct result of rushing to offer something that can be called innovation after years of a draught. But foldable phones are as much a gimmick as 3D cameras.

Phone innovation is indeed dead -for the customer, that's ok, but for the vendors it's a nightmare.

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#19

Post by Reason077 »

consp wrote: post #4

While not directly comparable, the flexible flat cables in flip phones took years to be 'good' enough to last the phone's lifetime and those moved as much as this thing is going to. This might just be a cause of early production models and early adopter problems and might work out later. Note: the flex cables are not bad per se as they are also used in cubesats for instance.

There is currently a widely reported issue with display backlight failures in MacBook Pros, apparently caused by a failure-prone flex cable which can’t be replaced:

https://ifixit.org/blog/12903/

Re: Samsung's folding phone breaks for reviewers

#20

Post by tooltalk »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #18

This is the direct result of rushing to offer something that can be called innovation after years of a draught. But foldable phones are as much a gimmick as 3D cameras. Phone innovation is indeed dead -for the customer, that's ok, but for the vendors it's a nightmare.

This is obviously an early adopter edition of fairly interesting, futuristic product -- Samsung is likewise releasing it in limited quantity by reservation only. It's only gimmicky as phablets that many had denounced years ago.
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