While holding a Samsung Galaxy Fold, you might start
thinking that you are living a bit ahead of time. This phone is the most
forward thinking smartphone that you can buy in 2019. However, it is definitely
not the phone to be recommended to everyone.
When you fold it down, it turn into a 4.6-inch display which
you can use in the way you use other smartphones. And when you fold it out, it
becomes a 7.3-inch mini-tablet.
The first WOW factor of this phone is its screen size when
you fold it out. And the second WOW factor is its price, which is extravagantly
higher. And one more thing about this phone is that the troubled track record
of its durability may turn out to be a deal breaker.
While Samsung has done some hard work to ensure its better
durability over the course of five months, you never know when you are going to
see pixels tearing and the vulnerable plastic screen getting damaged.
Looking at this phone, you can safely say that it’s the
future of the smartphones. A 7.3-inch screen is definitely something that will
allow you to do better multitasking. You will find photo editing a lot easier,
and the gameplay experience is going to be quite amazing.
It is not quite easy to judge the battery life of this
phone. It uses the Samsung’s biggest 4,380mAh battery. But Samsung Galaxy Fold
is not the normal phone either. While using the bigger screen, you are surely
going to see the faster consumption of battery.
Release date and price
This phone was originally set to be launched in April 26,
2019. That was the first date of launch announced by Samsung. The second date
of US launch was September 27, which was five months and one day after the
original launch date. During these five months, Samsung did some major tweaks
in the hardware. On the second launch date, the phone was re-introduced with
the same price, which is very high indeed. This phone was launched in Australia
at the end of October 2019.
The price of Samsung Galaxy Fold is $1,980, which is twice
the cost of an iPhone 11 Pro. You can buy this phone from Samsung, local
stores, or excusive partners.
One important thing to note here is that a 5G version is
available for the UK users while US Galaxy Fold is limited to 4G LTE.
Foldable design and durability
With Samsung Galaxy Fold in your hand, you can consider
yourself interacting with the technology which is yet to become public. This
phone comes with a 4.6-inch ‘cover’ display and a 7.3-inch main display. This
book-like foldable design is powered by a 20-part, dual axis locking hinge
which is responsible for preventing the folding out of this phone beyond 180
degrees. The best thing about the hinge is that it is made to withstand the
abuse.
Opening and closing the fold is quite a smoother process. While
closing it, you will feel a magnetic click in the end.
While this phone is quite a thick device when you fold it
in, it remains quite portable as you can slip it into your jeans pocket without
a hassle. This phone is aesthetically pleasing despite the fact that it is
quite a heavier device. And this is where you cannot call it “pretty”.
Screen
Screen is the main feature of this phone because it has got
it in two parts. On the cover is a 4.6-inch display which is smaller when you
compare it with the screens of other smartphones available in the market. This
cover screen is meant to provide just the basic interaction a person needs from
a smartphone. But if you want to do the browsing or gaming, you can fold the
phone out like a book and start using the 7.3-inch screen. The aspect ratio of
the bigger screen is 4.2:3, which is much closer to traditional 4:3 TVs that
have become ancient now.
When you fold out the phone, it retains a crease in the
middle. Good thing is that this crease is not quite visible when you use it
normally but it can be more evident when a glitter appears on the screen due to
surrounding lights.
Performance
This is where you are not going to find this phone quite a
convincing thing to own, especially when it is too expensive. From the
perspective of processing capability, it is just as fast as Galaxy S10 because
it has the same Snapdragon 855 chipset. But if you think about it in a
realistic manner, you will realize that this processing power is more than
enough to smooth performance of Galaxy Fold. The multitasking in this phone is
powered by 12GB of RAM.
Cameras
This phone comes with 6 cameras in total; i.e. 1 cover
display camera, 2 inner front cameras, and 3 rear cameras. The camera quality
in general is much like Galaxy S10 Plus, which means that the quality is good.
With powerful hardware and software, the photo editing is amazing.
Looking into the specifications, the selfie camera is 10MP
with an aperture of f2.2. When the phone is unfolded, the dual camera setup on
the inner side of the phone shows up. This setup consists of a 10MP selfie
camera and an 8MP RGB camera.
On the back side of the phone, there are three cameras which
include a 12MP regular camera (f/1.5 + f/2.4), a 12MP telephoto camera (f2.4),
and an ultra-wide camera (f/2.2).
Battery
To make the phone last with the specs it holds, it is
equipped with two batteries which, in combination, enhance the capacity to 4,380mah.
Even with this bigger sized battery pack, the phone can last a day and a half
on average. That is mainly due to the bigger size of the screen.
The major drawback is that this phone comes with a 15W
charger which required extra time to charge the bigger battery. And what’s even
stranger is that 25W and 45W chargers that can charge a Note 10 are not
compatible with Galaxy Fold.