After watching some reviews on the Galaxy Fold. I just can't understand why anyone would want one. They look gross and clunky. I just don't see them appealing to that many people. I predict that folding phones will be abandoned by next year after poor sales. What do you think?
Samsung Galaxy Fold
crashloaded on 19/04/2019 - 12:08
Last edited 19/04/2019 - 21:40 by 1 other user
Last edited 19/04/2019 - 21:40 by 1 other user
Poll Options
- 69Great Success
- 225Abandoned within a year
Comments
- 1
- 2
@eug: Never owned either. I use a laptop. I owned a plus sized phone when they first came out, it was just a Chinese dual sim one, I got rid of it as it was annoying due to the size.
Never owned either.
But what did you think of it? Did you think it was a fad that will pass, or a form factor that will stay?
It doesn't look like a finished product. More like a public beta you can buy. Costs way too much for me, and the reports of it breaking are a bit alarming. Still, it's an early adopter machine. With it you can show all the other commuters how cutting edge you are.
The cause of the breaking phones were people tearing off a protective film on the screen which probably caused the other layers to separate from each other. The film isn't supposed to be removed, so they were mostly caused by user error although one that I saw was probably due to a manufacturing issue (something under the screen — the Verge review unit).
Nah, only two of the failed Folds were because of the film, two other Folds broke without the film being removed. Marques Brownlee had a video on this.
Samung Faild. Has a ring to it.
I just don't understand this whole paradigm of supporting new technology. I just think it's getting a little out of control.
So you dont have a smartphone or a smart TV or a late model vehicle?
Well I haven't purchased a phone since 2015. Had a lumia 950 then had issues and was given a HTC 10 in 2016 and been using that since. It's sort of just handed to me and don't really need the smartphone features as I mostly use my phone for messages, calls, camera and reading emails. I don't have a smart TV and I recently (1yr ago) sold my 1995 Toyota celica manual for scrap metal to purchase a 2010 Audi a3 6sp manual. I only needed a manual hatchback as a run around and this came up for sale. In other words, I'm not chasing new technology nor am a big user of it. I think most people on ozbargain here are millenials that mostly have the latest and greatest but I could be generalising.
Heaven forbid what you think of an electric car
Do they still sell curved TV's?
Not sure but at least if your curved 60 inch dies you have a small half pipe to skate.
Yep on sale at jb usually
Already been done with the ZTE Axon M which never took off.
Surely you can see how different the two devices are?
Smartphones had already been done for years before the iPhone came out. Look at how that turned out.
Only difference is the visible notch splitting the screen.
Smartphones before the iphones were very clunky, had a windows like UI and used stylus.
Only difference is the visible notch splitting the screen.
Surely you realize that makes a HUGE difference?
Not to mention the size.
And the build quality and materials.
And the much more premium design.
And the MASSIVE bezels on the ZTE.
And the Super AMOLED screen vs LCD.
And the larger battery on the Samsung.
And the FAR better cameras on the Samsung.
And the already-outdated Snapdragon 821 from the previous year on the ZTE, with a paltry 4GB RAM.
And also the software on the Fold that looks more refined. ZTE isn't particularly known for their Android build.Take it from people who have actually used them - just look at reviews of the Axon vs the Fold. The two devices are in completely different leagues.
I think samsung is brave enough to take risks. If you can't take risks, you will end up like blackberry.
I agree, the first smart phone Is just like the fold. With a lot flaws and clunky, and in 2019 we have super thin phones that has processing power that rivals the laptop industry. But just for me, I consider laptop to work better than tablets even if it’s lighter
Yep. People laugh at it but there will be a large market for it since it is new technology and will pave the way for foldable screens not just for mobiles.
There are people who want fewer devices and want devices to be able to do multiple things. I take the middle road, I don't think foldable phones will be the mainstream, but I also don't think they will just die out. Almost seems like 2-in-1 laptop/tablets to me - they have their niche, but they're not the mainstream form for a laptop or tablet.
Personally, I'm not that interested. I like to have more devices and have them for specific uses - e.g. I have a normal phone (S9+), a small tablet which I take on the go for reading or on the train, a larger 12.9" iPad that I use for web browsing around the place…etc. I prefer to keep these devices separate because I prefer my devices to be really good at one thing rather than being okay at lots of different things. Some people seem to disagree with me though.
flexible screens are a great tech advancement. But I don’t think they have quite mastered the art of using them for smartphones yet.
galaxy fold is not practical at all with either screen (front or inside) idling at any given time of active use. It’s just a waste of resources.motorolla razr v4 on the other hand looks really job well done. (if they pull it off correctly)
i’m an iPhone user btw.
I just looked at the razr. It looks impressive but i wonder if the images are digital concepts or real photo's.
I have a difficult time keeping my non fold phone screen clean.
Can imagine fold phones are double work making smudges like Rorschach tests.
Also mechanical wear and tear is a good thing for tech manufacturers, consumers get sucked into 'upgrading' more regularly.
Can imagine fold phones are double work making smudges like Rorschach tests.
The screen doesn't make contact with itself when folded.
Also mechanical wear and tear is a good thing for tech manufacturers, consumers get sucked into 'upgrading' more regularly.
The main target market for the Fold at the moment has plenty of money. They can throw money at new gadgets every few months and not feel it at all.
'The screen doesn't make contact with itself when folded.'
It's not designed to do that, but it will in the hands of end users, we all know that.
Hmm, you do know there's a gap there right? If they flattened it, smudges would be the last thing they'd be worrying about.
I would get it just to watch youtube.
They look gross and clunky. I just don't see them appealing to that many people.
I agree the Samsung Fold looks gross and clunky. No amount of glossy shiny surfaces can hide the fact that it's massive, has a stupid looking hinge (doesn't even close flat), and the screen has a very obvious fold down the middle. Fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
But I think they will be appealing to some because phones have become a big status symbol. And this is an expensive phone. A crazily expensive phone. People who want to flagrantly show off their "wealth" will be lining up. It doesn't matters if they break - they'll replace them under warranty.
Yeah, to me, if i owend a tablet, i'd still rather own 2 devices. Because i don't need a tablet all the time, and tablet's are so thin these days that carrying around a clunky phone all the time just in case i need/want a tablet doesn't appeal to me.
You're thinking more of the iPhone crowd that use phones as a status symbol though. Anyone buying a fold will be doing it because they are interested in the tech or want to do some actual multi tasking, not simply for status.
I don't think the design itself is bad, remember the first gen of almost anything isn't that great. It will be the cost that kills it. The type of sheep that spend that much on a phone are already in Apple's grip, so I doubt many people are going to be lining up to spend $3K
1st gen iPhone was quite nice.
Didn't really hit its peak until iphone 4 though, that's when it really took off
What took off? The reception depending on how it's held? ;)
@eug: lol, nah it was the point where even your technically illiterate family started to get their first smartphone
Innovation and new ideas like this should be promoted and encouraged, but in saying that I sure as hell won't buy one.
Let's be glad companies are pushing boundaries and bringing new products into the fold, and they're not just being safe and resting on their laurels which seems to be post-Steve jobs Apple's strategy
Edit: would have been nice if there was a poll option saying something along the lines of "great idea, but not for me" cos now Im just not left with an option to vote for
Why is there no option between "great success" and "abandoned in a year"?
Sure - the Galaxy Fold review units leave a lot to answer for but at the same time, it's first generation tech. It's essentially still in beta. I wouldn't make it my daily driver.
But there's definitely a place for them once they are refined and more durable (hopefully lower cost as well). I like the concept, but not the execution.
the Galaxy Fold review units leave a lot to answer for
I don't really agree with that, most of the review units broke because of people trying to tear the protective film off the screen. The units breaking are mostly due to user error not a problem with the actual phone.
That's true but there has been at least one reviewer who has handled it like their first child without peeling off the protective film and it's still broken.
Mostly but not entirely.
That's why I said "most of the review units" and "mostly due to user error".
The Verge's review unit also had an issue with something underneath the screen.
@Ghost47: apparently that thing under the screen was some clay which they admittedly put on the back of the phone to prop it up for a shoot and then got pulled into the hinge mechanism and into the screen lol.
@SkMed: Really? That's interesting. The design of the hinge looks robust but I don't know how much ingress protection it has.
The units breaking are mostly due to user error not a problem with the actual phone.
Yeah nah, nobody is buying this. Four failures from four tech reviewers. Only two of them with the film and lets be honest, there was nothing written on the phones saying don't remove the film. Go watch Marques video he even shows the packaging he got - nothing there about the film being so super duper important that removing it would destroy the phone.
And those other two failures the film was still firmly attached. So that's four fails from some of the very best reviewers. People who know their phones, who review 100s of phones per year and the Samsung Folds still broke. If it's "user error" from experienced reviewers what hope is there for the rest of us?
PS: The packaging has now been "updated" to stress the structural importance of the film. Bit late, Samsung! And too funny, it's like a load-bearing poster (old farts will get the reference).
So you cherry pick Marquees and two others who broke their phones through user error but ignore the other DOZENS of reviewers who have no issues and love the device. Unbox therapy, Dave2D, Jon Rettinger all said the thought of peeling the screen never even occurred to them and they also said the device is amazing. Hmmm so which reviewers should we trust? Maybe we should wait for the product to be shipped first before canning it like mindless haters. From looking at comments, the main issue for people is the price rather than the concept or functionality, which leads me to believe people are really just salty they can't afford it
So you cherry pick Marquees and two others
No, I disputed the ops claim that the majority of failures were due to "user error" and he specifically mentioned them peeling the film off.
Marques did a video where he discussed the four known failures, only two of them had the film peeled, the other two broke with the film still attached.
Half is not the majority. It's not even a plurality.
Hmmm so which reviewers should we trust?
If the op is accusing Marques of "user error" then what hope is there for the rest of us? The guy has reviewed more phones than you and I will ever seen in our lives. If an experienced reviewer like that manages to break it in a single day, and three other reviewers have related problems, then this is way beyond "user error". This is a fundamentally broken product.
Marques did a video where he discussed the four known failures, only two of them had the film peeled, the other two broke with the film still attached.
Wait, so there were only two real failures?
That's a lot of noise for just two failures. From all the babble online I thought they were failing everywhere. Looks like people just like fixating on the negative. Makes for more sensational news I guess.@eug: That's a fair number of failures for such a small sample size. But we'll see what happens when it hits the wider market. I'm betting on a fiasco as big as Samsung Explode, but we'll see.
That's a fair number of failures for such a small sample size.
Do we know how many Folds are out there in the wild?
@eug: Small sample size meaning only review units. There are about a dozen sites doing reviews. And a fifth phone has just failed.
Small sample size meaning only review units.
Oh, I thought the sample size was known. Hard to say whether it's a fair number of failures if we don't actually know the sample size.
And a fifth phone has just failed.
Which one?
Oh, I thought the sample size was known.
I thought we are having a friendly discussion, but if you need Samsung's internal inventory numbers before you'll even concede that five failures is a "fair number" you're just being argumentative.
@[Deactivated]: Hmm? Not sure why you're being defensive suddenly. It was an honest question. There's a big difference between e.g. 4 failures out of 15, and 4 failures out of 100.
Hmm? Not sure why you're being defensive suddenly. It was an honest question.
Because "Oh, I thought…" is a passive aggressive phrasing used by teenagers. Nothing honest about it.
Because "Oh, I thought…" is a passive aggressive phrasing used by teenagers.
Huh, I guess we just know different teenagers. Adults I know use that phrase often.
"Dinner is at 7pm? Oh, I thought it was 6.30!"
"You're only coming back tomorrow? Oh, I thought you were coming back today."
"You drink coffee? Yup! Oh, I thought it made you jittery?"Surely others speak like that too?
If an experienced reviewer like that manages to break it in a single day, and three other reviewers have related problems, then this is way beyond "user error". This is a fundamentally broken product.
If you watched his video you would have seen that he said he pulled off the film because he thought it was a screen protector. It wasn't, so at a fundamental level he tampered with the device and broke it. I define that as "user error".
Samsung have started to put warnings on their packaging advising users not to rip the film off. Either way, I don't really care that much about this "issue".
Eh, I'm buying it and MKBHD's video is exactly the video I watched that stated other reviewers who had issues had tampered with the film.
In the end, it's a phone and arguing about or making a big deal of it is not that important to me personally.
Well Samsung have already sold out the Fold in one day so theres plenty of people with disposable income who would love to have this device. I believe this is jus a proof of concept for Samsung and I predict every phone maker will be selling folding phones in a few years
Well Samsung have already sold out the Fold in one day so theres plenty of people with disposable income who would love to have this device.
Yeah, there's a huge world out there outside of us bargain-hunters on OzBargain. The majority of buyers likely aren't on OzB, and don't care about deal-hunting either. Online forums are often an echo chamber so perspectives can get skewed if we just focus on what one group thinks.
I reckon this tech will be a greater success on tablets, making them even more portable. So reckon this tech won't be abandoned within the year.
people said the same thing about the Galaxy note / phablets. I jumped on the note train right away as i saw the many advantages, now that size is the standard for phones. I think the potential of folding phones is going to far beyond the phablet jump, by a lot potentially. I think in 5 years time you'll barely see anyone with a non-folding phone.
You cray.
That's what they said when I got the first note, now look at the size of flagship phones.
The samsung looks hideous, the huawei looks much better but even still, i think theyve got the screen size ratio wrong… isnt the point of these foldable phones to have a bigger screen for watching video content? Which means theres no point in having a rectangular phone that unfolds into a square tablet because you get hardley any extra screen size for 16:9 content. The motorolla razr concept looks interesting for ultra small portability, but what i would really like to see is a tri-fold design with 2 bends. So you maintain the normal phone size when its folded up, and then it would unfold left and right like a pamphlet to have triple the screen size and maintain the 16:9 widescreen ratio for a better video experience.
i think theyve got the screen size ratio wrong… isnt the point of these foldable phones to have a bigger screen for watching video content?
Nah, that's just one of the reasons. Browsing desktop webpages, typing emails, and remote desktop connections would be much better on that aspect ratio. You can also multitask while watching a video at nearly the same size viewport as a normal phone in landscape mode.
I personally prefer the look of the Samsung over the Huawei. The Samsung looks more refined to me.
no, the main point is being able to multi task which is cumbersome and horrendous on a phone.
It's been a while since Samsung really took any risks in this space.
In the early days (early 2010s) when they were just establishing themselves in the smartphone business they would throw as many ideas that they had out on the market and see what stuck with consumers. We eventually got the S series and Note series out of this. We also got some very poor examples like the Galaxy Round.
This is a first gen product, wasn't released to sell in large numbers but to highlight the new direction of the smartphone as a device. Yes it has flaws, but a lot of other first gen products also have flaws.
I don't want one myself but if every new technology got abandoned on the first iteration because of some mishaps and a bunch of naysayers I don't think things would progress very far. Have a look at the first threads on the Nintendo Switch on this website.
Or me, circa mid 2000s when I couldn't understand why anyone would want a camera in their phone when they could have a proper one! The problem with cynicism is that it really limits your imagination. Better to be skeptical and say well I personally don't have a use for it, but let's see where it lands in a few years time.
That's true, but innovation needs to solve a problem. The problem fold phones solve is not having to have 2 devices, a tablet and a phone. However, if the battery doesn't last long in tablet mode, it doesn't solve a problem if you have to carry around a large power bank.
The bottom line for all of that on the Galaxy Fold is that it performs very well. It’s fast, it has a ton of storage, and it has remarkably good battery life. It also takes very good photos.
In real-world use, the battery life has been more than enough to last around 18 hours off a single charge.
Rather, it’s the Galaxy Fold’s extensive battery life – which lasted for two full days on a single charge – that left me impressed.
So… problem solved then? :)
Maybe so, is that kids watching youtube in tablet mode for 18hrs though?
@crashloaded: If you're letting your kids watch YouTube for 18 hours straight, I don't think battery life is the main problem. :)
I think in the end innovation solves a problem but it often doesn't on the first run and as move toward ever-more increasingly complex problems and devices, this is going to happen. I don't think the whole concept should be chucked out just because the first proper go didn't work. Innovation is just as much about trial and error as it is about problem solving.
Haters gonna hate
Another distraction
Foldable phones are cool technology, but to me it looks like a technology desperately looking for a use.
What surprises me is that Samsung is running into problems only now, right before launch. Surely they tested their own products? Had a few hundred phones with trusted employees who played with them for weeks or months? Or is the fear that someone will catch a glimpse of the phone so strong these days that testing is only done in a lab before release?
I would expect a foldable screen to withstand a bare minimum of 10,000 cycles, and preferably 100,000 before showing signs of significant wear and tear.
What surprises me is that Samsung is running into problems only now, right before launch.
From what I've read it's only 2 devices that were defective. If it really is just 2, I'm not too worried about it, although I'm not getting one anyway. The real test is in a few days when everybody receives their orders - then we'll get a better picture of the failure rate.
I'd still be wary over sensationalist articles though - everybody is going to want those clicks and ad revenue, so they're definitely going to focus mainly on the phones that are defective. There was so much noise over the 2 defective reviewer phones that I thought they were failing all over the place.
lol, its already abandoned
The press coverage seems like a rival attack from apple on samsung, the lot of it. Coming 2021, the apple slice, a $3000 folding phone that takes photos and send messages and distracts you.
Huawei still have a foldable phone too.
IMO that 50x zoom on the huawei pro is much more appealing technology for consumers than folding a phone into a tablet. Consumers just buy bigger 6 inch+ phones if they want more screen size.
I'll probably get 3 now and keep a couple as spares
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9697909/akrales_171109_2118_0119.jpg){kind=link}
- 1
- 2
@crashloaded: What did you think of the Galaxy Note when it first came out? Or the iPad?