These are some of the most innovative line ups I've seen in a while. As Lew says, the Fold 3, along with the best Android experience that is One UI, it is truly the best phone currently available. I see a lot of apple folks jumping ships again this time.
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Samsung Unveils New Foldable Smartphones, Galaxy Buds 2, and Galaxy Watch 4
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It cracks me up seeing all the apple folks acting like they don't like this but would be the first in line when Apple makes one!
Crazy thing is is that Apple is not even close to being capable of making a phone like this. Their tech is years behind Samsung's.
Are you sure it's not infinitely behind? I'm thinking they'd need purchase Samsung's folding tech to even consider making their own foldable device.
Okay, I will bite.
If not for folding phones, what would the market for flexible displays be and who would the people buying them be, and for what purpose exactly?
Right now, I have not seen any other demonstrable use case for such a piece of technology.
My suspicion is that Samsung (still) doesn’t actually think Fold is going to sell. Instead, Samsung is more interested in simply having foldable displays turn into something so that other smartphone and tablet manufacturers begin to buy foldable Samsung displays. Samsung stands to make more money being a foldable display supplier than a smartphone manufacturer selling tablet / smartphone hybrids.
This doesn't mean there isn't a market for such a product, but I predict that foldable displays for smartphones will fit more in the bucket of edge screens and smartphone pens (design trends that have not caught on) versus large screens (a design trend that has become the default option).
And that one killer experience made users go "I am willing to give up everything else just for this".
Which is precisely my point. Apple was very clear on the experience they wanted users to have with a product like the iPhone and the iPad, then they worked backwards to enable said experience the best they could using the technology available at the time.
And the rest as we know it is history.
Samsung’s wearables strategy is a mess. In my view, Samsung is placing the wrong bets and it’s going to come back to hurt them. The most valuable screens moving forward are going to be found on our wrists and placed in front of our eyes, not in our pockets.
By and large, I have not been impressed with Samsung's events and (apparent) product strategy. The Galaxy Fold doesn’t spark imagination or intrigue. The S-lineup is what you would expect from Samsung. Sales will likely continue to decline because Samsung is suffering from both a longer upgrade cycle just like everyone else, in addition to market share losses. Their wearables strategy is going nowhere. It's clear to me that Samsung’s weak point is in offering cohesive experiences. They are relying more and more on their hardware chops in order to get around what is pretty much a nonexistent software and services portfolio, which means increasingly being sandwiched between the iPhone (which commands the premium segment of the market, and which has a very cohesive ecosystem) and cheaper offerings from the competition.
At Apple product events, the takeaways often end up being related more to how Apple is setting the stage for the future. Certain announcements and features make much more sense when thinking about what Apple will likely unveil the following year. With Samsung events, it's the opposite. I am just not seeing any coherent vision from them when it comes to the future.
In this regard, I feel that Samsung peaked right before Apple unveiled larger iPhones. The company has not been able to find its footing since.
Although the folding element was nothing like the picture at all, and the picture was pure marketing exaggeration, there were flexible elements and I'm certain you know this.
Flexible, yes, but Apple made do with existing OLED technology on the market at the time and did not use the sort of flexible displays found in the galaxy fold at all.
And to my knowledge, Apple still doesn’t.
I am aware of reports that Apple has requested for folding screen samples from Samsung, but I suspect they intend to use it for their smart glasses, rather than a folding iphone of their own.
So yeah, back to the original question….
Can’t be the real best phone when it doesn’t have close to the best cameras
it’s impressive though
I get the ultimate point/goal, but currently the tablet experience on one of these devices (not necessarily just foldable devices) isn't better than a standalone iPad. Software still hacky, not many apps optimized, certainly no pro apps, mostly just blown up phone apps still. I think they should have gotten that part right before trying to shoehorn the experience into a device like this.
Except you can't fold the iPad into a pocket-friendly shape. That's the advantage of a folding device. Just like the iPad has portability advantages over a more powerful and capable laptop. And the laptop's own portability gives it advantages over more powerful, larger-screened desktop solutions.
You'll bite what? What makes you so confident that you are right? The fact that you haven't seen something? like you are some authority in the display field.
Here, 145 page report entitled: Global Markets, Technologies and Applications for Flexible Displays
Global Markets, Technologies and Applications for Flexible Displays
This report features 48 companies, including Carestream Tollcoating, BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd., Flexterra Inc., Toppan Group, LG And Lg Display, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Samsung would sell these displays to other companies not end consumers so your assumptions and questions are invalid.
And the user that replied to you is right, Samsung started working on flexible displays more than 10 years ago so this technology allowed them to make screens that fold under themselves. And nobody said iphone X uses Galaxy Fold's screen so that's also an invalid point.
A suspicion that doesn't make any sense. You said it yourself that Samsung is doubling down on foldable smartphones, assuming they don't believe these produces would sell is illogical. Actually Samsung expects sales to more than double for their third generation foldables vs the second so it's pretty obvious that the reality contradicts you.
I mean let's think logically for a second. If Samsung believes their foldables won't sell and this also supposedly happens, why would other companies jump and invest money in foldable smartphones? Why would Samsung invest so much money, time and effort in foldables? If they won't sell, others companies wouldn't be interested in Samsung's flexible displays for foldable smartphones.
Also thinking only about foldable smartphones is very limited, I'm sure Samsung is taking in consideration way more applications, I mean LG not long ago demoed a rollable TV for Christ's sake.
OK so your point is that if it's about Apple, than users would buy their products for that one "killer feature", if it's any other company they won't and it's bad for that company to concentrate on one or a few killer features. Got it, Apple good, any other companies bad.
First you don't make a lot of sense. Second I disagree.
Samsung's wearables are going in the right direction with the Google collaboration, together they will push foreword and no doubt continue to launch better products. Galaxy Watch 4 looks really interesting and I've seen plenty of iphone users on Reddit say they would like to use it with their iphones. Galaxy Buds 2 also look really interesting being 15% smaller and 20% lighter than Buds Plus and with great battery life, 29 hours total with the charging case.
Well it's quite obvious you only look at anything Samsung is doing from a negative angle. If Samsung would show tomorrow that they invented teleportation you would say it's not impressive and they only did it to recuperate old investments or to gain marketing point vs Apple or to pretend that they are innovative.
So the same: Samsung bad, Apple good logic. I haven't seen Apple show anything more exciting that Samsung in many many years. Maybe you watch too many "Apple Master Plans" YouTube videos. Everything apple does is a master plan and a vision for the future 🤣
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To each his own... my iPad pro has been collecting dust since I got the Fold 2. A big part of the iPad experience is the "using it on the couch" context, where I admit, it is better than the fold. However, it isn't that much better. Convenience usually wins out, and therefore the Fold delivers 80% of the iPad experience with infinitely better portability (using it while on the go, putting it in my pocket).
I'm a slightly atypical user, and the Fold happens to be perfect for me. For most families and regular users I suspect they would agree with your sentiment. I'm also not an iOS user anymore, so I'm biased. I see why iOS users would have a strong preference to stay within the ecosystem, even if it means compromising in the portability of the tablet. Hence why I think people will buy Foldables in droves when (if) Apple releases one.
Fair enough. I use mine as my primary work computer, as well as a couch/media device - so I find the 11 inch to be the perfect combination of both. I guess I just see foldables as gimmicky right now.
Yea, but if your foldable tablet has a crappy UI and no apps, what's the point?
I pre-ordered the Galaxy Fold 3, 512GB. Samsung offers a 21-day free trial so worst case scenario, I return it if it isn't enough to make me switch over to the dark side. After watching the videos on the Fold 3 and spending a few hours using my friends Fold 2, I had to pull the trigger. I use my iPhone and iPad daily. If the Fold 3 is as good as I think it will be, I will most likely jump ship. I can't keep waiting on Apple to release a foldable option. Especially since privacy is out the window regardless now. Never thought I'd see the day...
Android actually has just as many (and more actually) as iOS.
One thing I wanted on my iPhone was an iMessage automatic forwarder, and I found one but it's kind of limited in what it can do, has to have a cloud compnent, and it doesn't forward all messages, but at least it's functional. (Airmessage)
For my Android phone (currently a Motoloa Razr, soon to be a S flip 3), there's many, and that have different capabilities like forward to email and text, which works really well for me.
All my other apps I use on the iPhone are on android too, so I'm not missing anything.
As for the UI, six of one, half dozen of the other these days, neither is ahead of the other to me.
I wish Apple would come out with their own flip phone..
I'm quoting your post because of your statement that most of your IOS apps are available on Android. I'm always amazed that IOS users don't understand that most of the apps they have are also available on Android. When I made the switch to Android, there was only one app that I used that wasn't available. One.
But that's it, it's not just a tablet.
Yea, you aren't making much sense here. If it's a phone and a tablet, you'd need to have apps made for a tablet. This is just 1 small phone and 1 big phone frankensteined together with a crappy UI and the propensity to break. Which brings me back to my original point - no better than anything we already have.
I may not be making much sense to you, but I can see that being a benefit over a phone and a tablet, even if there aren't specific tablet apps, but whatever. One device vs 2, easy decision if you need both form factors.
I ordered a flip, not a fold, because I wanted small, but I can definitely see the allure of the fold.