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This is why Apple sticks to emojis and watch bands. They're easy to produce, have a high profit margin, and don't actually do that much - so there's not much to go wrong.
 
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This is actually an improvement over previous Samsung phones that would catch on fire. I'd much rather have a phone harmlessly break than catch on fire. Good job Samsung!
 
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Given how almost every review had the user open the galaxy fold right away because the phone experience is just downright abysmal, it makes me realise - doesn’t an Apple Watch basically replicate the “quick interactions on a small screen” part of the galaxy fold.

I am more convinced than ever that Apple will not do a folding phone (they might well have toyed with the idea to test its feasibility). Instead, Apple will double down on wearables, which will offer a better experience. Apple Watch for the quick interactions, iPhone for the smartphone experience, Apple glasses for when you want a larger display.

The Galaxy Fold isn’t a smartphone that happens to unfold into a larger device. Instead, it is a small tablet that folds in half so that it can fit into your pocket.

My suspicion is that the device really isn’t meant to be used much when folded. This is why app continuity (use an app on the front screen and then have the larger, unfolded screen pick things up in the same spot) seemed more like a gimmick than anything else. Are consumers really going to want to keep unfolding the device when using apps? No.

This product is dead in the water.

You have valid point about it being more of a folding tablet than an unfolding smartphone.

It’s very hard to justify a use case for this interpretation of a folding device. It’s main selling feature the folding display only comes into play when your not using the device. When you are using the device it’s basically a tablet, and android tablet with a plastic screen.

You don’t need An Apple Watch, an IPad mini pretty much does the same thing, sure it doesn’t fold when your not using it, but when you are using it the iPad mini is a much better tablet with much better app support.

iOS has had app continuity and app handoff between the iPhone and iPad for a while now, continuity app handoff even works with Mac OS.

Am I missing something here?
 
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It’s very hard to justify a use case for this interpretation of a folding device. It’s main selling feature the folding display only comes into play when your not using the device. When you are using the device it’s basically a tablet, and android tablet with a plastic screen.

That's pretty much it. The main compromise here seems to be that you either have a crappy smartphone (the closed portion looks like an iPhone SE with elongated bezels), while the tablet portion (when unfolded) is basically unusable with one hand. If you want a great smartphone, you pretty much have to go with another option, be it the S10 or iPhone XS or some other alternative. And you probably should.

I wonder if Samsung is basically trying to con everyone into paying two thousand dollars for what is essentially a crappy Android tablet. Yes, one could argue that the parts in themselves are worth $2k, but the experience they provide most definitely isn't worth that.
 
It’s a shame to see a technology like this have teething issues. It’s good for the industry to see innovation like this as smartphones are a pretty stale product right now. Those people taking pleasure in seeing failures because they only support one company are not interested in technology IMO. Let’s hope this evolves into a more durable product in future generations.
 
It’s a shame to see a technology like this have teething issues. It’s good for the industry to see innovation like this as smartphones are a pretty stale product right now. Those people taking pleasure in seeing failures because they only support one company are not interested in technology IMO. Let’s hope this evolves into a more durable product in future generations.
Very well said. Some people love tech, some just love the company.
 
It’s a shame to see a technology like this have teething issues. It’s good for the industry to see innovation like this as smartphones are a pretty stale product right now. Those people taking pleasure in seeing failures because they only support one company are not interested in technology IMO. Let’s hope this evolves into a more durable product in future generations.
The issue here isn't that we are not interested in technology. One can love new technology, while criticising a company when it gets poorly implemented, as well as questioning the motivations that led to such a compromised product being green lighted in the first place.

What we are seeing here is Samsung rushing to be first when their folding screen tech is clearly nowhere near ready for primetime. It's so fragile that the entire display goes to crap the moment its screen protector peels off. But instead of calling a spade a spade, the detractors are arguing that Samsung ought to be given a free pass, else companies might be discouraged from innovating in the future. Yet in the same breath, the very same critics claim that they are being harsh on Apple because they "want Apple to be better".

I have just watched a (partial) video of Unboxtherapy folding his Galaxy Fold a thousand times. Whatever Samsung is paying him, I trust it was worth it.

Second, I am simply not seeing the value in a folding phone. You have a crappy smartphone on the front, a small tablet (by tablet standards) on the inside, replete with all the compromises that critics (and Samsung) were previously bashing Apple for (a hideous notch, lack of a headphone jack), plus other issues such as jelly scrolling.

Are you all that desperate for a new smartphone form factor, and so resolute in your distaste for Apple, that you would all blind yourselves to the reality right in front of yourselves? This product is clearly dead in the water, and should never have been released in its current incarnation, and the best comeback the critics can come up with is "Yeah, but Gen 3 will be better".

What does seem to be happening is that Samsung is hellbent on implementing a piece of technology not necessarily because they believe it genuinely results in a better experience for its users, but more because they are desperate for a breakthrough to revive flagging smartphone profits, so happen to have this piece of tech lying around in their R&D labs, and would rather it not go to waste.

Which to me is the wrong mentality to have. You don't start with the technology. You start with the desired experience you want your users to have, then work backwards to see how best to deliver that experience with the current resources at hand.

What happened to all the 'Steve Jobs would never have ...' memes? Or are they only relevant when hating on Apple and Tim Cook?
 
The issue here isn't that we are not interested in technology. One can love new technology, while criticising a company when it gets poorly implemented, as well as questioning the motivations that led to such a compromised product being green lighted in the first place.

What we are seeing here is Samsung rushing to be first when their folding screen tech is clearly nowhere near ready for primetime. It's so fragile that the entire display goes to crap the moment its screen protector peels off. But instead of calling a spade a spade, the detractors are arguing that Samsung ought to be given a free pass, else companies might be discouraged from innovating in the future. Yet in the same breath, the very same critics claim that they are being harsh on Apple because they "want Apple to be better".

I have just watched a (partial) video of Unboxtherapy folding his Galaxy Fold a thousand times. Whatever Samsung is paying him, I trust it was worth it.

Second, I am simply not seeing the value in a folding phone. You have a crappy smartphone on the front, a small tablet (by tablet standards) on the inside, replete with all the compromises that critics (and Samsung) were previously bashing Apple for (a hideous notch, lack of a headphone jack), plus other issues such as jelly scrolling.

Are you all that desperate for a new smartphone form factor, and so resolute in your distaste for Apple, that you would all blind yourselves to the reality right in front of yourselves? This product is clearly dead in the water, and should never have been released in its current incarnation, and the best comeback the critics can come up with is "Yeah, but Gen 3 will be better".

What does seem to be happening is that Samsung is hellbent on implementing a piece of technology not necessarily because they believe it genuinely results in a better experience for its users, but more because they are desperate for a breakthrough to revive flagging smartphone profits, so happen to have this piece of tech lying around in their R&D labs, and would rather it not go to waste.

Which to me is the wrong mentality to have. You don't start with the technology. You start with the desired experience you want your users to have, then work backwards to see how best to deliver that experience with the current resources at hand.

What happened to all the 'Steve Jobs would never have ...' memes? Or are they only relevant when hating on Apple and Tim Cook?
All of that is based on your single opinion, an opinion of a person who has not even seen let alone used the product in question. Go and watch some videos of people who have actually used it and can see the clear potential of a foldable phone. I'm sorry but if it were Apple that released a folding phone you would be crowing about it and nothing you say will change my mind on this subject.
 
All of that is based on your single opinion, an opinion of a person who has not even seen let alone used the product in question. Go and watch some videos of people who have actually used it and can see the clear potential of a foldable phone. I'm sorry but if it were Apple that released a folding phone you would be crowing about it.
I have been watching videos of them over the last few days. MKBHD, unboxtherapy, Dave2D, TheVerge, Technobuffalo, Casey Neistat.

I have seen nothing that changes my mind. It’s a crappy tablet that can be folded to fit in your pocket. I don’t see anything I can’t do with an iPad mini, or why I shouldn’t just carry a better smartphone (like a XS Max or S10 plus) instead.

And if this were Apple, we would probably be at over 10,000 comments by now, and Macrumours’ servers would be on fire.

That’s the sad state of comments here at this forum. Just double standards all around.

The self-styled lovers of tech who love to crap on Apple even more? They have all lost their way.
 
You can say you lose even more days pooping...say something with meaning next time.
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That crease is the one nature gave you for a reason. Pooping is useful, otherwise you'll be full of it.

The weather is good. Go and eat ice cream guys. Arguing about a badly designed phone is a waste of life.
 
That's pretty much it. The main compromise here seems to be that you either have a crappy smartphone (the closed portion looks like an iPhone SE with elongated bezels), while the tablet portion (when unfolded) is basically unusable with one hand. If you want a great smartphone, you pretty much have to go with another option, be it the S10 or iPhone XS or some other alternative. And you probably should.

I wonder if Samsung is basically trying to con everyone into paying two thousand dollars for what is essentially a crappy Android tablet. Yes, one could argue that the parts in themselves are worth $2k, but the experience they provide most definitely isn't worth that.

I completely agree, it would be a terrible phone and a meh tablet no matter how you spin it. Sure it folds when your not using it, but that’s when your not using it. When unfolded, it’s basically a small android tablet, a product consumers clearly don’t want.

Certainly looks like a con. Don’t think anyone is going to buy one. Sure they will defend it, but that’s as far as it goes.

Even the reviewers Samsung hand selected are making fun of it.

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5a8ad7ca6979d71ede4748069bbd06da.jpg
 
I have been watching videos of them over the last few days. MKBHD, unboxtherapy, Dave2D, TheVerge, Technobuffalo, Casey Neistat.

I have seen nothing that changes my mind. It’s a crappy tablet that can be folded to fit in your pocket. I don’t see anything I can’t do with an iPad mini, or why I shouldn’t just carry a better smartphone (like a XS Max or S10 plus) instead.

And if this were Apple, we would probably be at over 10,000 comments by now, and Macrumours’ servers would be on fire.

That’s the sad state of comments here at this forum. Just double standards all around.

The self-styled lovers of tech who love to crap on Apple even more? They have all lost their way.
I understand your reasonings.

I don’t think I could use an iPad smaller than the 12.9 i have now. So while a two in one foldable device sounds good in theory i think the mix of a 6.5 iPhone and 12.9 pro is about right...
 
I actually own and love not only Apple products but non apple products, im as unbias as they come, but good try. Been a tech guy all my life, the brand is irrelevant to me, i love the product not the brand.
You may own and use Apple products, but you all know nothing of what makes Apple tick.

I posted this response in another thread, and I might as well share it here as well.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ple-store-in-u-s.2178516/page-5#post-27299891

In a nutshell, let me sum up the three major issues again.

1) Apple is misunderstood. People think that Apple is a technology company, when it is instead a design company that creates experiences for its customers. As a result, much of what Apple does (and doesn't do) perplexes them, but instead of trying to better understand what drives Apple to do what they do, it's easier for them to conclude that Apple has lost its way.

2) People love underdogs. Apple was once this underdog, but now that it is now at the top of the food chain and has gone from challenging the status quo to being the new status quo, things get boring and people want a new underdog to champion. Cue Samsung. Yet despite being compared alongside Apple, people bafflingly refuse to accord Samsung the same scrutiny they do with Apple.

3) Anti-Apple articles drive clicks. That and people are bored. Everything comes together where it's very tempting to elevate everything the competition is doing (regardless of actual merit) and hold it up as evidence that Apple is no longer innovating. Meantime, everything Apple does is met with upmost cynicism and negativity. Even as sales numbers and profits prove otherwise.

Here's what is likely going to happen. Apple will continue to do what they have always done, in line with their vision, and become larger and more successful for it. However, this will be at odds with a small but extremely vocal segment of the Apple community and feel (and perhaps rightfully so) that their needs are being ignored. They will go on to rant and rail that Apple is losing the plot. They will not understand why Apple is entering markets such as health or transportation.

It's not going to change a thing.

Rather than constantly try to explain away Apple's successes, we should be trying to explain it. Then it will all make sense.
 
Given how almost every review had the user open the galaxy fold right away because the phone experience is just downright abysmal, it makes me realise - doesn’t an Apple Watch basically replicate the “quick interactions on a small screen” part of the galaxy fold.

I am more convinced than ever that Apple will not do a folding phone (they might well have toyed with the idea to test its feasibility). Instead, Apple will double down on wearables, which will offer a better experience. Apple Watch for the quick interactions, iPhone for the smartphone experience, Apple glasses for when you want a larger display.

The Galaxy Fold isn’t a smartphone that happens to unfold into a larger device. Instead, it is a small tablet that folds in half so that it can fit into your pocket.

My suspicion is that the device really isn’t meant to be used much when folded. This is why app continuity (use an app on the front screen and then have the larger, unfolded screen pick things up in the same spot) seemed more like a gimmick than anything else. Are consumers really going to want to keep unfolding the device when using apps? No.

This product is dead in the water.

Excellent take on this.

As cool as it is on a first glance, and how nice it would be to have a single device that customizes for the use case scenario, this product makes no sense today. I also think that Huawei's concept is better thought out, although again, it introduces more issues than it addresses because it is simply to early.

It's funny, because I think that Samsung's best innovation is something I don't see promoted enough (and I would love to see Apple implement): DeX.

Given that Apple has been driving iOS to be the center of probably the majority of their user's computing experience, I figure this would be the missing piece to those users leaving the Mac behind forever.
 
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But you would expect premium quality for a $2000 phone. This story can’t possibly be correct. Can it?!?
I'm beginning to suspect Samsung priced these phones that way to reduce the number of units sold without appearing constrained by the production process. Perhaps they thought that at this level they could carry out extensive QC on each individual unit... I guess it didn't work at the end of the day.
 
Its simply amazing to me anyone using iConGrid 25.0...oh sorry, iOS would think this is a legit slam against Android or Windows.

Pathetic attempt to try and twist my words around.

Your original post was trying to bash the iPhone over a grid of icons. I commented that Windows (as an example) has had the same basic grid of icons and menu structure for ages. The implication is obvious - why mess with something if it works and people understand it?

You're trying to turn it back to say I'm bashing Android. I don't need to be petty and bash Android over its ability to move icons around. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to bash that garbage OS.
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Even if it did have problems I will still have 14 days to return the phone. Your comments just make you sound arrogant.

Arrogant how? This is a useless device for many reasons. The tiny front screen which makes it horrible to use as a normal phone. The screen which is already proving to be less durable than it should be. The fact Android is garbage on tablets, so you're basically unfolding a tiny-screened phone into a garbage mini-tablet. The fact developers need to modify their Apps in order to work properly (and we all know how "successful" Samsung has been in the past trying to get developers to modify Apps for their oddball devices).

I don't see arrogance - I just see common sense. What I do see is someone who is apparently blind to all these issues and still decides to plunk down $2,000 for an untested device with known issues.
 
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Pathetic attempt to try and twist my words around.

Your original post was trying to bash the iPhone over a grid of icons. I commented that Windows (as an example) has had the same basic grid of icons and menu structure for ages. The implication is obvious - why mess with something if it works and people understand it?

You're trying to turn it back to say I'm bashing Android. I don't need to be petty and bash Android over its ability to move icons around. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to bash that garbage OS.
[doublepost=1555779649][/doublepost]

Arrogant how? This is a useless device for many reasons. The tiny front screen which makes it horrible to use as a normal phone. The screen which is already proving to be less durable than it should be. The fact Android is garbage on tablets, so you're basically unfolding a tiny-screened phone into a garbage mini-tablet. The fact developers need to modify their Apps in order to work properly (and we all know how "successful" Samsung has been in the past trying to get developers to modify Apps for their oddball devices).

I don't see arrogance - I just see common sense. What I do see is someone who is apparently blind to all these issues and still decides to plunk down $2,000 for an untested device with known issues.

“Arrogant” is thrown around on these boards so often in a particular manner that I think someone must have come along and revised the dictionary without telling me. How many times do you see posts that say apple is “arrogant,” and the justification is something like “they removed the headphone jack” or “they delayed releasing a new Mac Pro.” I think in the macrumors dictionary “arrogant” means “doing or saying something I don’t like.”
 
Pathetic attempt to try and twist my words around.

Your original post was trying to bash the iPhone over a grid of icons. I commented that Windows (as an example) has had the same basic grid of icons and menu structure for ages. The implication is obvious - why mess with something if it works and people understand it?

You're trying to turn it back to say I'm bashing Android. I don't need to be petty and bash Android over its ability to move icons around. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to bash that garbage OS.
[doublepost=1555779649][/doublepost]

Arrogant how? This is a useless device for many reasons. The tiny front screen which makes it horrible to use as a normal phone. The screen which is already proving to be less durable than it should be. The fact Android is garbage on tablets, so you're basically unfolding a tiny-screened phone into a garbage mini-tablet. The fact developers need to modify their Apps in order to work properly (and we all know how "successful" Samsung has been in the past trying to get developers to modify Apps for their oddball devices).

I don't see arrogance - I just see common sense. What I do see is someone who is apparently blind to all these issues and still decides to plunk down $2,000 for an untested device with known issues.
I wouldn’t buy an android tablet but some do so they clearly don’t see it as garbage.

I think this device is such a niche product that whoever buys one is aware of all the issues with the device but feel they can live with them. The person who buys this knows they are buying a first gen device and knows it’s shortcomings.
 
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