Samsung Unveils New $1,980 Galaxy Fold Smartphone

[samwight]

Kudos for the innovation, but I predict it will flop. Too big, fat, and heavy, with too small a screen for ordinary one-handed use. Too small for tablet use. And it's safe to speculate that it's too fragile for active use, and will have too short a battery life for frequent use. And too expensive for economical use.

It's worth remembering that folding phones were rejected in favor of treos and blackberries, even when one side was only keys...

(I do think that some kind of folding screen will be adopted in the future, but the technology to make a foldable screen that is desirable and affordable is clearly not here yet.)

 

[Think creative]

It's a working prototype of the computers in Westworld. It's great! I dig it, and can't wait for this market to mature and make useable devices in the next 2-4 years. If apple jumps in and makes it work really well, awesome. If it doesn't really work and iPads and plain old smartphones are better, cool! I'm sure as hell not buying it at that price though

 

[1050792]

Kudos for the innovation, but I predict it will flop. Too big, fat, and heavy, with too small a screen for ordinary one-handed use. Too small for tablet use. And it's safe to speculate that it's too fragile for active use, and will have too short a battery life for frequent use. And too expensive for economical use.

It's worth remembering that folding phones were rejected in favor of treos and blackberries, even when one side was only keys...

I'm not impressed by it I'm sure bet it will flop. The screen is too big, ergonomics are bad, too thick, the battery life probably doesn't last and it comes with an useless pen nobody cares about, plus it doesn't even have LCD. I don't give it 6 months before they take it out from the line. I mean who would want to carry such a huge device in their pockets?Can you even reach your fingers around it? I'm sure Apple wouldn't follow this trend of not ergonomic devices.

 

[VelfarreClubber]

What new category? It’s just another phablet!

 

[Unity451]

Apple’s version of this will probably start at $2,499. Then we get to decide...do we want to buy a MacBook Pro or an iPhone/iPad combo.

"People don't know what they want until you show it to them" - Steve Jobs

True... but he also said... "I'm as proud of what we don't do as I am of what we do."

 

[SBlue1]

I am impressed. The screen sizes are screwed up though. When unfolded its square. Not very good for watching movies or playing games.

I would have done it the other way. Folded you got a small square phone, when you unfold you got a widescreen device.

 

[hagjohn]

You may or may not like it but that's innovation and innovation is good.

 

[iZac]

I can’t find the physical dimensions of this thing anywhere. All I want to know is - is it wider than my iPhone SE when folded?

 

[superg05]

foldable smartphone is going to have a 4.60inch 840×1960 pixel resolution cover display and a 7.3-inch 1536×2152 pixel resolution Infinity Flex Display.

 

[Techwatcher]

Looks way better than expected at least.

 

[deckard666]

You may or may not like it but that's innovation and innovation is good.

I remember 3D TV and mini disc - innovation is more than just new tech or else it fails..

 

[craig1410]

Wow, it'll be brave people who dump $2k into this. Don't expect too much folks...

 

[HarryWild]

At the risk of doing the "640K ought to be enough for anyone" thing, why would anyone need 12GB of RAM on a smartphone? I get that Android might be a bit less efficient and Samsung will likely load it up with bloatware but still. That's an awful lot of RAM for a pocket device that's not doing to be doing heavy graphics work.

RAM is for temporary storage and more RAM is needed when webpages gets more pixels embedded in them and request for higher screen resolution images and the operating systems becomes more full feature. The new RAM us much less energy now and you can never really have enough. If you have less RAM then is required, swaps are going take place where stuff gets stored in flash instead of RAM. Making your device crawl in terms of speed or simple not work anymore. My PC has 32GB if RAM!

 

[_Refurbished_]

Make it razor thin, the size of an iPhone 8, and an unfolded small tablet.....then they’ll entice me. See you in five years.

 

[richman555]

I think they have it all wrong. Here is what the proper "Fold" phone should be!

The crowd gathers at Steve Jobs theater.....

Announcing the iPhone Flip X -

1. Thinner on both sides and lighter (so overall its not like carrying a brick).
2. The fold should be horizontal, not vertical. (to emulate a flip phone).
3. Like a flip phone, the fold should be used to make it smaller and easier to fit into your pocket. (Snarky joke regarding a bulge in your pocket)
4. Oh and one more thing....... Priced @ $799

There you have it! Innovation! Boom!

 

[LordVic]

While This is pretty coool. Definitely an interesting take on a newer tech.

Going to have to give it a pass this time around. Need to see where this matures before buying in.

 

[Abazigal]

If the apple watch, homepod, air pods, etc aren't innovative, why would the "fold" be considered innovative? It's just another iteration of an iteration. Whatever your personal definition of innovation is or looks like.

Don’t you know? Anything that Apple isn’t doing is automatically lauded as being innovative, while Apple is constantly behind despite their sales numbers speaking otherwise.

Let me pose this hypothetical scenario - is Apple any less innovative if they decide not to match Samsung in this area and elect to not release a foldable phone, or decide to use flexible screen tech for other products like the Apple Watch, which they feel would benefit more from the technology?

I don’t see why people feel like Apple somehow has to match every single thing the rest of the tech industry is doing, regardless of merit. For example, so Amazon acquired Eero while Apple bows out of the router business. Big whoop. Apple isn’t doomed just because it chooses not to focus in an area you so happen to be passionate about.

Same here. Just lots of double standards going around.

 

[deckard666]

So no hands on after the show or one in a glass case or dimensions published ? It’s not boding well... how thick is this thing going to be ?

 

[ackmondual]

$2000!!! I can buy a Razer Gaming laptop with 4K display!!!!

And for $1K, I can get a fairly well spec-ed PC, even if I have someone else build it for me. However, are you going to whip your Razer out of your pocket and use it, just, like, that? The prices of the latest top end phones have already reached ridonkulous levels, so $2K for this isn't as shocking. (Also, $100 LG G4 ftw )

And your point is? I can buy 2000 Coke cans instead.

Ironically enough, if you consume all those cokes, that's how much a root canal would also cost!

 

[goobot]

The tech looks cool but the implementation seems a bit off. I’m sure in the coming years the design will improve and others will follow suit.

 

[Seoras]

Android is far superior to iOS nowadays, really!

Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.
Trying writing an App for android on that PoS called Studio...

 

[hagjohn]

I remember 3D TV and mini disc - innovation is more than just new tech or else it fails..

You learn from failure.

 

[RemE]

As others have said, that's real innovation, it may not be perfect but it leads the way. The price for 7 cameras and a big folding screen plus a secondary screen and all of the casework, special geared hinge etc is about right. I believe they may throw in their new 6 hour ear buds as well.

Good fun for early adopters and for sure a look into the future, bravo.

 

[allenvanhellen]

Why wouldn't this open up the other way, negating the need for that third/second (non-folding) small screen on the front?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Why wouldn't this open up the other way, negating the need for that third/second (non-folding) small screen on the front?

I thought that’s what the basic use case would be as well, but as these screens are likely not glass, there could be a scratch concern. I do like the way it looks/works so far, but apps that really take advantage of the screen will be few and far between. Android’s “tablet” initiatives have been over for a while haven’t they?