I don't really have too much to add that hasn't already been said regarding the Galaxy Fold - it is what it is - if you love it, get it. If not, see what Apple has in store.
Having said that, the recent focus on the Galaxy Fold has got me thinking about the evolution of the smart phone - where it's been, where it is now and where it's going. Don't laugh, but I got my first cell phone (in my latter 20's at that) in 2005. I can't remember the model but it was one of those very basic Nokia models with a small color LCD, decent ringtone capability (remember those?) and some VERY limited web surfing capabilities which I don't think I ever figured out as you had to actually manually input some network settings to get the thing to connect.
Flash forward a bit and my next phone was a nice Nokia flip phone. It was a step up from the earlier Nokia I mentioned, could play MP3 ringtones, featured a Micro SD slot, and had the ability to play something better than the initial Nokia's primitive 'Snake' game (actually, the newer Nokia also had a Snake game but it was called 'Snake 3D' which was pretty cool I must admit - spent many an hour at the bar playing that - but I digress). The most noteworthy feature on this phone was that it was dual-screen. Not in the true sense - the main screen was the one active when the phone was flipped open, and the secondary was the one that was on the active when it was closed. It was also a color LCD (nice touch) but had a slightly lower resolution, etc. It was handy for checking the time or seeing who was calling at any moment without flipping the phone open. It even had some snazzy animated wallpapers that could be different from the main screens. I had that phone for 2 years before - you guessed it - we made the leap to the iPhone 3G which was not even on the same planet in terms of advancement.
Where am I going with all this? I think at one point I thought the future of smartphones was going to be dual or more screens. IMHO the iPhone killed all of that momentum (and maybe for good reason). Apple 'said' the future is a single large screen, and that was that. Perhaps with this proof-of-concept Galaxy fold, the two screen paradigm has another day to live. Maybe at some point 'flip phones' will make a retro-comeback, albeit with vastly improved horsepower and features. Maybe I'm getting old, and possibly some of you are too young to remember this, but I miss the tactile feedback of the main screen flipping open violently after pressing the little open button, and conversely the satisfying 'snap' after closing it. After performing that action thousands of times it was burned into my subconscious memory and as wildly great as the iPhone 3G was in comparison, it did take me quite awhile to accept the boring click of the home button as its replacement.
In summation, the Galaxy Fold is as close to a modern version of the old 00's flip phone as I can think of. I think Apple is using Samsung as their 'useful idiot' and letting them go through the painful learning curve of this new tech, and once its been proved out, will cherry pick the best iterations and then do their Apple magic and come out with their own version - and say it's the first of its kind.
