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iFixit Teardown of Samsung Galaxy Fold Reveals Likely Design Flaw
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But they didn't release it in the end. If they were hell bent on releasing it they would have just gone ahead. I think their testing was obviously not rigorous enough which is why the issue of the debris getting into the device only came up when the reviewers got access to it. I think the completely overlooked the issue of people mistaking the protective layer for a screen protector. They knew it shouldn't be removed so they didn't consider that anyone else would remove it and theyfelt that putting a warning in the retail packaging would be enough.
Those are not flaws you mention. Those are simply features that some people may not like about the iPhone X. The Samsung Fold was rushed and was about to be released so was not in beta mode. Was in full on release mode. Samsung messed up again. Deal with it and stop blaming Apple for Samsung’s mistakes.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
Personally I think that a tablet I can make calls from, fold, and carry in my pocket makes sense, just like 2-in-ones make sense for many.
As a former military member and blue-collar worker, I can think of a number of scenarios where such a device could be useful.
It may not be a be-all, end-all for everyone, but the argument that it should exist (along other form-factors) is there.
I find it amusing how some of the arguments against the existence of such a device are similar to the ones I remember from when the iPad was first introduced.
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Did Samsung Claim the galaxy fold was within specs, that’s hilarious.
Sure but the design flaw in the fold makes the device completely useless without the display, as it functions as a display and input device.
While true the defect only affects a key or two on the MacBooks keyboard, but the device is functional. So is the display and trackpad.
The fold is basically a paperweight, while you can still use the functioning MacBook.
What color fold are you getting if and when Samsung released it again.
That is absolutely horrible engineering.
I write software. Let’s say I have an input field a customer has to enter a piece of information. It’s common practice for software developers to check what the customer entered and make sure the data is valid. Did they enter in letters/numbers in a field that’s not supposed to accept one or the other? Did they put in symbols or spaces? You literally check every possible stupid thing a person might do, either by accident or intentionally and make sure you account for it by performing validity checks.
It’s the exact same thing for mechanical engineers designing physical products. It’s beyond stupid for Samsung to have missed the screen protector issue and not think people would try to peel it off. Remember the Note 5 fiasco with people putting the S-Pen in backwards? Another example of Samsung missing something so obvious that should have been caught.
Engineers are supposed to account for people doing things wrong.
Maybe you are but I'm happily smacking away at the keyboard on my trusty mid-2015 15" MBPr. With a very nice keyboard.
Spiders, Centipedes and all sorts of bugs can enter it. And when night falls.........
The loneliness calls...
Oh! I wanna dance with somebody
In the minds of most consumers, if a company puts out one product that so obviously has design flaws, it creates doubt about everything the company does. Why should they believe any more effort has gone into any other products Samsung produces?
Now some of the more savvy customers won't necessarily be dissuaded, but in terms marketing to the general population this debacle was a gift to Samsung's competitors.
As much as apple pays you.
fair enough, would the power button in the 4-5 be a defect?
I don’t know much about engineering however the screen protector issue and the debris are quite serious flaws because there’s no amount of babying a device that would avoid those issues. In the case of the screen protector it’s not even that people would peel it off or not read the warning. Joanna stern from the Wall Street journal said that her protective film started peeling and rippling without her doing anything to it. I think Samsung deserve credit for trying to do something new but they need to sort out those fundamental flaws before they can think about releasing this device.
“Early”? You know these were REVIEW units distributed like a week or two before launch, right?
That’s far from early. This wasn’t a beta TEST. It SHOULD have been caught in early betas, but it wasn’t. Remember how many times a beta unit of iPhone was “leaked” in the wild? Apple has real beta testers using their new models for months before launch. Samsung though, apparently secrecy was even more important to them than Apple (which is already legendarily given to secrecy).
Colossal failure for them... there is no “bright side” to this.
LOL! I just ate a pound of M&M's and now my keyboard keys are stuck. Waaaaah!
Some may want novelty over "productivity" or "creativity" sure, but for all users of technology, I assure prefer it to work, regardless of desired use.
I also would argue, that taking photos, editing photos, and posting photos regardless of platform is done by vast majorities of users and would be deemed "creative"
A phone that costs 25%-50% more than any phone on the market that doesn't work if dirt gets into a hole at the base of a phone... that's embarrassing. Any company can try something new and spend hours and hours of time designing it to look like a work of art, but the novelty of a folding phone will wear off as the screen cracks shatters and needs to be replaced. Novelty can only get so far when the object is used for functionality. Unless Samsung envisioned people just folding and unfolding a phone that doesn't display.
Correct. One company creates products that cannot be used, while the other tries to enhance existing products with features that don't cost extra. Correct me if i'm wrong, but there is not a iPhone that only has TrueDepth as an upsell that doesn't actually work.
I'm skeptical. I think it's one of those things that sounds nice until it's used in practice. It's really, really hard to engineer a folding material that's durable. I was waiting to see if Samsung had somehow overcome that hurdle, and apparently they have not. I just don't see folding screens becoming mainstream for portable devices unless and until the price comes down dramatically and the durability improves significantly. The former won't happen until flexible screens are widely adopted and I think that'll happen in fields like entertainment (think theater and film) and advertising and "fixed" installations (non-flexible devices with displays mounted on curved or irregular surfaces) before it happens in consumer devices where durability is a real concern. The latter is going to take some more engineering advancement, and who knows how long that'll take.
Again, not sure why some people are unaware of this: it was NOT a beta test. These were REVIEW units for a product set to launch in a week or so.
This is NOT how this “typical step” is supposed to go - reviewers make glowing, gob-smacked reviews... not uncover enormous design flaws that make a $2000 phone useless in a couple of days of normal use.
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“A bit further”?!?! What? These were review units a week from shipping! That is a fair piece more then a “bit”...
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Reviewers don’t “test”, they review. Mmmm, why would Samsung “wait” for reviewers to give the phone some “real world” use? iPhones go to “real world” beta testers months before release. Did Samsung skip that step? Or did they do it, and ignored the problems those testers would have also obviously had?
IIRC Samsung released three smartwatches in a 12 month span before the first Apple Watch was announced. Then after the Apple Watch, they took the design of the popular Moto 360 and took a scrolling mechanism from the Apple Watch and combined the two.
Trying is all they do and they they don’t really step back and figure out what problem they’re trying to solve.
Typical Samsung, this is what happens when they don't have anything to copy....
What I really want to know is, why is the Samsung Fold so thicc, then the Huawei Mate X looks just as good as any other modern smartphone?
We already know that Huawei has been stealing Apple IP(that's why they released the fastest Android SoC last year, they copied the Apple A11 chip design.), is Apple working on a folding phone as well(and that's what Huawei copied to make the Mate X?
It should be noted that this is official policy of the Chinese government, they steal other companies IP to give themselves and advantage...
A foreign company can't even wholly own a factory in China, one-half ownership goes to Chinese companies and the chinese government...
What I really want to know is, why is the Samsung Fold so thicc, then the Huawei Mate X looks just as good as any other modern smartphone?
We already know that Huawei has been stealing Apple IP(that's why they released the fastest Android SoC last year, they copied the Apple A11 chip design.), is Apple working on a folding phone as well(and that's what Huawei copied to make the Mate X?
It should be noted that this is official policy of the Chinese government, they steal other companies IP to give themselves and advantage...
A foreign company can't even wholly own a factory in China, one-half ownership goes to Chinese companies and the chinese government...
Sorry, but I don’t agree to disagree. I think that I am correct, and you are incorrect. I stated a fact based case that is objectively true.
6-8 years of development is not the antithesis of gunning to be first. In order to be first, you have to put in the work on R&D long before you plan on launching. Samsung worked for 6 to 8 years to develop the first flexible phone, and they had decided when they were going to launch it a year ago, which is before any other flexible phones were on the market. In their mind, they were going to be first. This is not a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of fact. And to be clear, they did not do what Apple did with AirPower. They had huge plans for a big launch, have made thousands of devices, and were sending out advanced product for reviewers to help them promote that launch.
What Apple ultimately did with AirPower is indeed a great example of discipline. Unlike Samsung, they did not announce a big launch, produce tens of thousands of devices, and send them to reviewers. They did the opposite. They canceled the project. And there is no one on planet earth who will agree that Apple was trying to be first with anything regarding QI charging. Apple would have been entering the QI market so late, no one would have thought of them as first in any way. That is not how people talk, or how they use the word “first”.
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That is true. And I never said anything to contradict that. I simply stated, in response to a previous post, that anytime Samsung can best apple they are happy to do so.
Yes i knw m wrting tisfrm my prfeclyfnctional MacBok
.Tks Gd i not a nws r blgwritr .................................................................................................................................................................................... .................... sdfgsdfgsdjfgkjsdfklgjs;dklg< Banging heads on the keyboard.
That was actually Apple's lame excuse for the Factory bent iPad
not what Samsung said about the fold
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I disagree. the problem is we want a big screen in a small package. This is the first step, but it's a huge problem.
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It's not a silly premise. The screen is quite durable at the fold...the flaws so far have been elsewhere. the screen itself folds thousands of times without breaking *at the fold*. Regarding this new bar of indefinitely, the screen need only withstand a few years of use, just like every other phone on the market.
You think that you're correct. I think that you're wrong. I am not changing your mind and you're not changing mine. You may not want to agree to disagree, but we're going to disagree... whether you want to or not. Your continual opinion that your opinion is a fact does not change that. Nothing you've stated is anything more than opinion.