Samsung Galaxy Fold Released

Originally Posted by HarryT

I certainly don’t think there will be any shortage of buyers.

You are right about that. I know folks at my tech company who will absolutely buy this simply because it's cool and it's the latest technical innovation in mobile. "Need" and "cost" have nothing to do with it. It's easy to think that buying stuff like that is silly, wasteful, or risky. Well it probably is somewhat 'risky' in that they are not well proven and debugged yet. Anyone recall the self-combusting Samsung Note 7? But regardless, those early adopter folks are doing us a favor. Somebody has to be the 'early adopter' so the rest of us can benefit from the debugged, improved, Gen 2 version.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by haertig

And the price they're planning on charging for it? Totally ludicrous.

The first Betamax had a price of $2,295, in 1975!

It's brand new technology. Naturally the price will drop assuming this catches on (which I have my doubts on).

[WillAdams]

Sad that they didn't call it a Tesseract.

Wonder how long it'll take to have a folding unit with stylus support.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The first Betamax had a price of $2,295, in 1975!

It's brand new technology. Naturally the price will drop assuming this catches on (which I have my doubts on).

Betamax technology was far superior to the rival VHS. But VHS won out in the consumer market because of better marketing (Beta won out in the professional market however).

I do my best to stay away from "early adopter" status these days. But I did make that mistake once. I am the proud owner of an HDDVD player and three - yes a whopping three! - HDDVD discs that I can play on it. Oh well - it only cost me $59, I knew the risks, and I needed to replace my regular DVD player anyway (the HDDVD player works fine in that role, playing regular DVDs).

But other than that one poorly-executed attempt to jump onto the latest/greatest technology bandwagon, I've stayed away from new offerings. I now let the dust (and the price!) settle first.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by haertig

Betamax technology was far superior to the rival VHS. But VHS won out in the consumer market because of better marketing (Beta won out in the professional market however).

That...
...is debatable...
...and has been debated for decades now.

It depends on the yardstick you used.

Beta supporters fall back on video tech specifications to "prove" Beta was superior technology while VHS supporters fall back on mission suitability to "prove" VHS was a superior *product*. Both being equally right in their own definitions. Beta dominated for broadcasters who mostly archived clips and ad-free content and VHS dominated with consumers who needed to record full two-hour movies or a week of soap operas on one tape.

Different markets, different needs, different definitions of what "better" meant.
Not terribly useful to simply claim "better" without definitions of market or figure of merit.

Besides, it was Laserdisk that was "better" anyway.

It is the core technology that has been used all over for decades now for everything to music to video to games to data storage and distribution. It outlasted them both.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Sad that they didn't call it a Tesseract.

Wonder how long it'll take to have a folding unit with stylus support.

Not long, I don't think.
(Next year?)

I'm more interested in seeing when they start doing folding tablets minus the phone. Should cut price in half right away. The sooner that happens the sooner we'll see the tech trickle down to, ahem, mobile readers.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Sad that they didn't call it a Tesseract.

It's not a tesseract. Why would they claim that it is?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by pata

It's a small phone combined with a small tablet. The front screen is 4.6" (21:9) and indeed some people are already complaining that it should be bigger.

The design needs work. When closed it’s a large size phone with a small screen and a huge bezel. And the hinge prevents the two sides from closing flush with each other making it extra thick on one end.

[binaryhermit]

1st gen technology always has huge issues, look at the original iphone. Super expensive, 2g only, no apps, locked to ATT. Although apps were added later via software update and other issues were dealt with in future versions.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

...locked to ATT.

not a technology issue.

[binaryhermit]

True.

[WillAdams]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not a tesseract. Why would they claim that it is?

Clever pun on folded galaxy.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's not a tesseract. Why would they claim that it is?

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Clever pun on folded galaxy.

I am not getting that pun. A tesseract or hypercube would not match with a folded galaxy. A Dali cross would be an unlikely shape for a galaxy barring the intervention of LGM.

[pata]

Huawei Mate X Foldable Phone announced:

6.6" (19.5 : 9) phone unfolds to 8" (8 :7.1) tablet.

€2,300!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pata

Huawei Mate X Foldable Phone announced:

6.6" (19.5 : 9) phone unfolds to 8" (8 :7.1) tablet.

€2,300!

Details:

https://www.cnet.com/news/mate-x-fol...vator-not-spy/

It's a bit larger and folds the opposite way as the Galaxy Fold: the screen wraps around the outside. No secondary screen.

It is scheduled to ship sometime in the second half of the year.

Price translates to US$2600 but that won't matter because it won't ship to the US because they are facing a variety of penalties for money laundering, IP theft, and other criminal violations.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...s-getting-real

From CNET:

Elsewhere around the world, Huawei will still need to convince consumers that $2,600 isn't too much for a phone.

Yu acknowledged that the price was high and said it would take at least two years before the cost went down to the level of one of its more mainstream phones.