Huawei Unveils $2,600 Foldable 'Mate X' Smartphone to Rival Samsung's Galaxy Fold

[DNichter]

On the contrary, corporations quite often write their own internal and external apps for sales and field forces to use. And nowadays they tend to use off the shelf devices, with managers naturally wanting the latest and greatest

For example, the corp where I develop field apps, has over 15,000 field techs, plus thousands of managers who are drooling at the idea of a foldable phone that would basically fit a mini tablet in a pocket.



I agree that a pen would be nice. But then, the iPad didn't have its own pen for years, and artists did okay.

I suppose it depends on the company and potentially size. From my experience, we have our own platform apps which continue development and use as is, but we won’t register brand new devices to employees at launch. We need to go through a good amount of testing prior to release. Individuals can obviously use new devices and use our apps, but we aren’t buying up new devices at launch for release to employees.

I didn’t really see many examples of artists using iPad’s early on. Now, with the pencil, it’s really a perfect device for artists. I guess I just don’t see artists gravitating to this device when there are so many better options.

 

[Kangaroos]

I suppose it depends on the company and potentially size. From my experience, we have our own platform apps which continue development and use as is, but we won’t register brand new devices to employees at launch. We need to go through a good amount of testing prior to release. Individuals can obviously use new devices and use our apps, but we aren’t buying up new devices at launch for release to employees.

I didn’t really see many examples of artists using iPad’s early on. Now, with the pencil, it’s really a perfect device for artists. I guess I just don’t see artists gravitating to this device when there are so many better options.

Well I know people who bought the Note 9 just because of the stylus. In the future if these foldable devices introduce a stylus like the note series, I'm sure many more people will buy it then, then right now. There is a slot where you store the stylus on the Notes, thats one downside with iPads is that you can't put it anyway besides the magnet thing on the new ones. But I guess we will have to wait and see.

12Gb of Ram of the Samsung one is pretty amazing....

 

[Bawstun]

It was pretty negligent to put a gigantic fold in the center of a plastic screen, but I think you mean negligible.

No, the refraction issue is not negligible. It's very clear on screen and will be worse in person.

Nope.

 

[Baymowe335]

Well I know people who bought the Note 9 just because of the stylus. In the future if these foldable devices introduce a stylus like the note series, I'm sure many more people will buy it then, then right now. There is a slot where you store the stylus on the Notes, thats one downside with iPads is that you can't put it anyway besides the magnet thing on the new ones. But I guess we will have to wait and see.

12Gb of Ram of the Samsung one is pretty amazing....

And Samsung will probably waste 6GB of that with inefficient software overlays and Android in general.

 

[ROGmaster]

Anyway it looks like Samsung's approach to foldable screen phones is more advanced than Huawei's approach.

“We considered a lot of options,” says Beaumont. “There’s things like if you want to put a case on it, usability, durability, and we feel that having the screen on the inside is the best way to protect that screen. We have the technology to do a fold that is very very tiny, as of course if you have the fold on the outside it doesn’t take quite the same amount of research and development to get that device to fold as it does something that is folding with a much lower angle degree on it.”

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/26/...-press-event-luxury-launch-interview-mwc-2019

 

[DNichter]

Well I know people who bought the Note 9 just because of the stylus. In the future if these foldable devices introduce a stylus like the note series, I'm sure many more people will buy it then, then right now. There is a slot where you store the stylus on the Notes, thats one downside with iPads is that you can't put it anyway besides the magnet thing on the new ones. But I guess we will have to wait and see.

12Gb of Ram of the Samsung one is pretty amazing....

Yea, we'll see. I think it makes more sense to work out the issue with the wrinkles and creases in the screen before looking to add pen/pencil capabilities. Yea, I am not sure if it's amazing or simply overkill or a spec to make people feel better about the price. You shouldn't need that much RAM for a mobile device unless your RAM management is pretty bad.

 

[iMEric984]

The point is you would only have your iPad at home or whenever you’re willing to wear a backpack.

This device doesn’t need a backpack and is therefore superior to an iPad (in that one specific way).

A cost comparison isn’t fair since this device does something the iPad can’t do.

Also the iPad would need it’s own separate cell plan to be convenient so factor another $30/month into the cost ($500 over to years) plus the initial price premium of the cellular iPad.

How is it superior??? The iPad can do anything this thing can do (a lot better) minus the form size. You can easily use the iPhone as a phone, and the iPad as a tablet. Have you seen how android is on a tablet??? The laugh meter is at about a 10 on this comment.

But hey. If you want to shell out $2600 for this contraption then more power to you!!

 

[kdarling]

You shouldn't need that much RAM for a mobile device unless your RAM management is pretty bad.

Or more likely, because you allow three totally active apps on the screen at the same time.

 

[DNichter]

Or more likely, because you allow three totally active apps on the screen at the same time.

Nope, that’s not it. I have no issue with 4 active apps on my iPad Pro. 4 GB of ram.

 

[kdarling]

Nope, that’s not it. I have no issue with 4 active apps on my iPad Pro. 4 GB of ram.

By active I mean foreground. Got a screenshot of four visible full app windows open on your iPad ?

Plus the Fold has a lot of cameras. Even Apple added RAM to allow smoother video capture.

Nothing wrong with more RAM. It means less app restarting, which is something iOS has always been really annoying about doing... especially the way it pretends otherwise by presenting a stored non-interactive screenshot at first.

 

[DNichter]

By active I mean foreground. Got a screenshot of four visible full app windows open on your iPad ?

Plus the Fold has a lot of cameras. Even Apple added RAM to allow smoother video capture.

Nothing wrong with more RAM. It means less app restarting, which is something iOS has always been really annoying about doing... especially the way it pretends otherwise by presenting a stored non-interactive screenshot at first.

Sure, here you go. You changed your wording from active apps to four visible app windows, so I’m sure you’ll try to change the discussion. Here are 4 apps though, all active, all able to be used, just need to swipe the top ones wherever if you want to multitask this way. I don’t personally use my iPad with 4 apps overlaid, will typically stick to 3, but it’s possible to do 3 like you questioned with no RAM issues at all. I actually prefer this implementation because it doesn’t cramp all the apps into tiny spaces, I’ll just swipe in messages or photos for drag and drop or whatever when I need to, and you get a nice sized view. Then you swipe away so you have a split view of your main apps, plus if a video if you choose. It works really well.

No, nothing is wrong with more RAM, but it’s either just a spec to help justify the cost or it’s really needed due to poor RAM management. You likely haven’t used iOS in a few years, there are no issues on today’s devices with closing apps.

 

[Xiroteus]

This looks better designed than Samsungs yet the cost is insane and it likely has issues to work out. I like the concept once it's more refined. I'll likely never buy one unless it was a couple generations behind and under $500.

 

[jmgregory1]

I disagree. I gave up wanting to flip open phones just to use them back in the flip phone days.

The problem is, the plastic screen is going to scratch - not just a little, but significantly especially as it’s put in and taken out of pockets and bags. I’ve commented on this previously, and I recognize that there are likely people on the forum that aren’t old enough to remember products like the Palm Pilot and Compaq iPaq, both of which had plastic covered screens that were magnets for scratches.

It would be great to think that technology has progressed far enough to make a plastic that is both flexible and yet hard and scratch resistant, but it does not exist and may never be possible.

The other issue with folding phone tablets, is real world use cases - that is, how will people actually use them? I would bet that this, not the tech to make the product, is what keeps Apple from releasing a folding iPhone.

 

[mib1800]

The problem is, the plastic screen is going to scratch - not just a little, but significantly especially as it’s put in and taken out of pockets and bags. I’ve commented on this previously, and I recognize that there are likely people on the forum that aren’t old enough to remember products like the Palm Pilot and Compaq iPaq, both of which had plastic covered screens that were magnets for scratches.

It would be great to think that technology has progressed far enough to make a plastic that is both flexible and yet hard and scratch resistant, but it does not exist and may never be possible.

The other issue with folding phone tablets, is real world use cases - that is, how will people actually use them? I would bet that this, not the tech to make the product, is what keeps Apple from releasing a folding iPhone.

I would buy one in a heartbeat if it costs $1000

Just a bigger screen pocketable phone takes the cake

 

[cmaier]

The problem is, the plastic screen is going to scratch - not just a little, but significantly especially as it’s put in and taken out of pockets and bags. I’ve commented on this previously, and I recognize that there are likely people on the forum that aren’t old enough to remember products like the Palm Pilot and Compaq iPaq, both of which had plastic covered screens that were magnets for scratches.

It would be great to think that technology has progressed far enough to make a plastic that is both flexible and yet hard and scratch resistant, but it does not exist and may never be possible.

The other issue with folding phone tablets, is real world use cases - that is, how will people actually use them? I would bet that this, not the tech to make the product, is what keeps Apple from releasing a folding iPhone.

I agree. Having to choose between a scratched up screen and a screen that you can’t actually use without having to do some origami is not a good predicament. I’m not willing to sacrifice instant usability, and I don’t want a scratch magnet. So, for now, the technology isn’t ready for me.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Much nicer than Samsung. Still not nice enough

I’ve not seen this much hoopla over a smartphone since the Motorola MPx which was a 2-way convertible with numerical/alphanumerical keypad windows smartphone and only shipped for a select few costing $1000+ back in 2003-2005.

As in then as in now — these phones are trying to answer a problem that really doesn’t exist. Sure people want larger screens to see more content - yet other than a video no other content is useful to view on a larger screen. Even in Maps, the part you’re really focusing on is the route, what’s along the route (traffic, place to eat, stores, accidents and the like). All of that is easy to view with an efficient legend and marks. Nobody actually looks at the entire visible map since it’s not of interest so a larger screen basically is a waste of content displayed that is of no focused interest.

So other than video, be it training, entertainment or informational - a larger screen beyond what we already has answers the wrong question/ask than what the end user for even .50% really need or want.

This means you’ll spend huge dollars to show-off (look mah it’s kindergarten again) and then in 3-5mths you realize this is useless.

Lessons:
Q1: what did Apple revolutionize with the iPhone?
A1: full internet on a decent size screen with ease of use.
A2: the best music playback on a mobile device (Sony Ericsson was the best competition at the time and for a few years)
A3: best in class navigation throughout the entire system, regardless of the app.

4” screens on smartphones existed for years before 2007 but all the above sucked. Nokia S60 N80 has real WebKit browser engine which Apple and Google engineers collaborated on just 2yrs after the Motorola Rokr debuted. Yet navigation using a D-pad was no better than using a SNES D-Pad to browse the internet.

The real problem is the lack of really powerful applications on these mobile focused phones that can fully replace desktop/laptop applications we all still heavily rely on. I don’t know why Samsung didn’t mention anything about Dex or Linux on Dex on their Galaxy X/S10 variants.
[doublepost=1551402679][/doublepost]

Wow, they just outdid Samsung big time. I hope they can fix the crease.

You think so?

Over 100 moving parts in a hinge that really seems (in comparison videos) a lot more flimsy!

Also Huawei doesn’t traditionally have a lot of experience with moving parts in cellphones, not like Samsung has. Don’t believe me check out both their hisitorical portfolios on gsmarena it’s a wayback machine for ANY phone.

Check the number of sliders, clamshell phones Samsung has made over the last 2 decades. Their experience is less than the original Nokia (befor Motoroa and now some other company owning the brand).
[doublepost=1551404702][/doublepost]

I agree, though I hope these things don’t sell so poorly that the industry gives up.

The industry never gave up!

Nokia:
Lipstick phone
N90
N92
N93
N95
N96
E71
E90 last of their communicator series. Last of their greatness to be honest before 2007.

Motorola
MPx - the cosest

 

[DeeEss]

My iPhone has been folding for almost a decade - google "Bendgate" if you don't believe me.

 

[john123]

Okay so 2 million total devices between the Fold and the X Mate by end of a February 2020? Winner gets?

Calling it early. I'm going to lose this one. The production issues with the Samsung Galaxy Fold and a now-unknown release date mean there's no way we'll see 2MM sales by February. I don't think either of us foresaw the launch date getting pushed back, but no matter.

I'd be happy to double down on "1 year from date of release" though.

 

[Fixey]

Samsung doesn’t have a foldable phone for market yet, they have talked about and showed off protypes but never yet brung anything like that to market all mouth no action they just like to brag about things to make them look better than Apple but can’t produce results were Apple will only show off something if they have it ready for market.

Basically Samsung needs to stop showing off, Apple could easily do a foldable iPhone but know the technology is not quite ready for market and it’s not something to rush just to brag and show off that you are awesome NOT

 

[DNichter]

Calling it early. I'm going to lose this one. The production issues with the Samsung Galaxy Fold and a now-unknown release date mean there's no way we'll see 2MM sales by February. I don't think either of us foresaw the launch date getting pushed back, but no matter.

I'd be happy to double down on "1 year from date of release" though.

Yea there’s no chance. I saw it for the junk that it is day 1. Potential is there, but we aren’t there yet.

 

[john123]

Yea there’s no chance. I saw it for the junk that it is day 1. Potential is there, but we aren’t there yet.

Not sure I'd go this far. Huawei's device doesn't have Samsung's issues and is still slated to ship on time. Unfortunately, they're the latest victim of Donald J. Trump, and losing the US market will hurt bigly.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Not sure I'd go this far. Huawei's device doesn't have Samsung's issues and is still slated to ship on time. Unfortunately, they're the latest victim of Donald J. Trump, and losing the US market will hurt bigly.

Where can the mate X realistically launch if it can’t run android and have access to the google play store? The only place is China. Samsung can take their time now and get the fold ready for prime time instead of rushing to beat Huwawei.

 

[DNichter]

Not sure I'd go this far. Huawei's device doesn't have Samsung's issues and is still slated to ship on time. Unfortunately, they're the latest victim of Donald J. Trump, and losing the US market will hurt bigly.

I don't think either device would sell a million in it's first year regardless of their individual issues, but yea it's definitely not going to happen now.

 

[ErikGrim]

Hey, it's delayed again. Love to say I told you so. xx