Technology columnist geoffreyfowler's hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy Fold
By Geoffrey A. Fowler Geoffrey A. Fowler Technology columnist based in San Francisco Email Bio Follow Technology columnist April 15 at 9:00 AM Any new technology is bound to have wrinkles. On Samsung’s new Galaxy Fold, a phone that opens into a tablet, they include one prominent crease. It goes down the middle of the Fold’s remarkable flexible screen, like a pleat on polyester pants.
We just haven’t had any details about how, exactly, it feels to use a device that’s both a 4.6-inch phone and a 7.3-inch tablet. Until now. Closed up in"phone” mode, Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is a little taller than other phones, but much thinner and easier to grip. How does the Fold work as both a phone and a tablet? Think of the Fold as a taco. Now lay the folded tortilla on its side. That’s the front, or the “phone” part. It’s a smidgen taller than a “plus”-size iPhone or Galaxy but only three-quarters as wide. The Fold’s front screen fills only a fraction of that space, leaving unused space on the top and bottom.
Beyond that, the Fold seems to be mostly about the convenience of having a tablet in your pocket. I’m just not sure that small tablet is sufficient to do much more than read, watch videos and do email. Opened up, the Fold has the ability to run three apps at once. But doing so makes two of the apps tiny squares.
Milanesi of Creative Strategies said people spent years carrying devices that were bulkier and heavier than the Fold. “Clearly it is not a mass-market device, but I don’t think people will pick it up and say it is so heavy,” she said. Our consensus: People will talk about the crease so long as folding screens seem new, but you won’t notice after a while.
Is it fragile? I expected it to feel a bit janky, but it was as solid as a stiff glasses case. It’s possible the hinge on a Fold could loosen over time: One of the three models Samsung brought me had a slight give when I squished it like a stress toy. Taking photos in tablet mode on the Galaxy Fold is a joy, with lots of screen to frame your shot. How do the cameras work? There are six total: one for selfies on the front, three on the back for zoom, regular and wide shots, and two cut out from the screen on the inside for even more selfies.
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