Samsung Galaxy Fold Released

[fjtorres]

https://www.cnet.com/news/galaxy-fol...ries-for-1980/

The foldable future is finally here, and it's called the Galaxy Fold. Samsung on Wednesday showed off the new foldable phone during its Unpacked event in San Francisco. The device has a 4.6-inch display when folded, and a 7.3-inch display when unfolded into a tablet. The phone will be available April 26 at a starting price of $1,980. It'll come in four colors: cosmos black, space silver, Martian green and astro blue. Apps shown off for the Galaxy Fold include YouTube, Netflix and Facebook.

The Galaxy Fold comes with 12 gigabytes of RAM and batteries on each side of the foldable phone, said Justin Denison, Samsung's senior vice president of mobile marketing.

Also at the developer conference, Samsung disclosed some specifics about the device's design. The Cover Display, what you see when the device is closed, more like a regular phone, is 4.58 inches and has a 21:9 aspect ratio. Samsung said it has a resolution of 840 by 1,960, with a screen density of 420 dpi.

"Compared to the Main Display, the experience is more ... optimized for focused and handy and quick access and interaction, to leverage the small screen," Jisun Park, engineering director and head of the system software group for Samsung's mobile business, said in November. When the device is unfolded, the Cover Display will turn off and go black, he added.

The Main Display, the bigger screen you see when unfolding the phone, is 7.3 inches and has a 4.2:3 aspect ratio. Samsung said the resolution is 1,536 by 2,152, with a screen density of 420 dpi.

The technology may filter down to more affordable devices in a few years.

More details at the source.

Rock! Also the S10's are out, and I'll be an early adopter to upgrade my old phone.

I don't quite have the guts to be a first-gen adopter on a foldable tablet. Kind of agree with the stance PCworld takes in this article, where the gist is basically very cool, but be wary of Gen 1 foldable phones.

[tubemonkey]

My Samsung phone already folds

[pata]

The Main Display... is 7.3 inches and has a 4.2:3 aspect ratio

The aspect ratio is the killer feature imo. It's extremely hard to find an Android tablet/phone that isn't 16:10/16:9. And Apple who started with 3:2 for the iPhone and 4:3 for the iPad has switched to 16:9 for their newest phone and 16:10 for the 10.5" iPad Pro. Even Apple has never offered a 4:3 device this portable.

I use an iPhone SE as my main phone and a Hisense A6 as my portable reader and Galaxy Fold could easily supplant both. If it weren't so expensive I would be first in line. Even at this price I'm very tempted.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pata

The aspect ratio is the killer feature imo. It's extremely hard to find an Android tablet/phone that isn't 16:10/16:9. And Apple who started with 3:2 for the iPhone and 4:3 for the iPad has switched to 16:9 for their newest phone and 16:10 for the 10.5" iPad Pro. Even Apple has never offered a 4:3 device this portable.

I use an iPhone SE as my main phone and a Hisense A6 as my portable reader and Galaxy Fold could easily supplant both. If it weren't so expensive I would be first in line. Even at this price I'm very tempted.

Yet there are many for whom the iPad-ish ratio will be a plus.
The old Nook HD and the current Surface line all run 3:2 to acclaim.

16:9/10 flies for video consumption but for text and productivity apps, the more paper-like aspects are preferred. And at a US$2000 the galaxy fold needs to be more productive than entertaining. Corporate road warriors will be the primary targets.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

16:9/10 flies for video consumption but for text and productivity apps, the more paper-like aspects are preferred.

It's certainly closer to the aspect ratio of a sheet of printer paper (Letter/A4), but paperback books do in fact have an aspect ratio that's close to 16:10/9.

[fjtorres]

US mass market is locked at 4.25x7. (Works out to 14.89x9)
That size is being de-emphasized by the big publishers in favor of the more expensive 5.5x8.5 and 6x9. 6x9 is emerging as the new baseline as a lot of hardcovers come in tbat size.

eInk readers tend to be 4x3.

(shrug)

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Yet there are many for whom the iPad-ish ratio will be a plus.
The old Nook HD and the current Surface line all run 3:2 to acclaim.

16:9/10 flies for video consumption but for text and productivity apps, the more paper-like aspects are preferred. And at a US$2000 the galaxy fold needs to be more productive than entertaining. Corporate road warriors will be the primary targets.

The Nook HD is 16:10, the HD+ is indeed 3:2

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

US mass market is locked at 4.25x7. (Works out to 14.89x9)
That size is being de-emphasized by the big publishers in favor of the more expensive 5.5x8.5 and 6x9. 6x9 is emerging as the new baseline as a lot of hardcovers come in tbat size.

eInk readers tend to be 4x3.

(shrug)

Huh? I wasn't aware that any of the big publishers were producing devices. The ebooks themselves are agnostic with regards to device size, unless we are talking about PDF's. I mean, I get that some think that the big publishers are the root of all evil, but still, a little reality.

If we are talking about actual paper book size, looking at my book shelves, books are the same size they have been for the last 40+ years which is as long as I've been buying books. The first hard back that I every purchased in 1977 is the same size as the most recent hard back that I purchased last year. Basic paperback books seem to be mostly the same size as well, at least looking at my book shelves. Trade paperback is a bit more of a mixed bag with regards to size.

[haertig]

I could never understand when anyone would want an expensive, gigantic phone like the ones they're selling these days. Now we have an even more expensive and more gigantic phone. Will wonders never cease.

[tomsem]

Samsung’s promotional video:

https://youtu.be/7r_UgNcJtzQ

Note that it is not yet available for pre-order. Anyone want to predict a ship date? Fall, perhaps?

It’s an impressive technology demonstration, for sure. In tablet mode, it will support 3 apps running side by side, and when switching from ‘phone’ to ‘tablet’ mode, the app that was running on the phone display will go full screen on the larger display (or at least Google Maps will).

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Note that it is not yet available for pre-order. Anyone want to predict a ship date? Fall, perhaps?

Mother's Day.

No, seriously.
April 26th, just in time for Mother's day...

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019...e-galaxy-fold/

The device will start at a whopping $1,980 and arrive on April 26. It'll hit Europe on May 3 and start at €2,000. Samsung says it will sell both LTE and 5G-capable variants, but has only confirmed AT&T and T-Mobile as carrier partners in US. The electronics giant detailed the Android phone-tablet hybrid at an event in San Francisco, where it also unveiled its new flagship Galaxy S10 phones.

One area where it will face competition is with the upcoming wave of Windows tablets with built-in 5G wireless: forgo the folding, save half the price.

There's other folding designs coming.

Samsung pre-announced because Huawei is working on a folding phone, presumably with the stolen Samsung folding screen tech:

https://ktla.com/2018/12/01/samsungs...sold-to-china/

TCL is showing a phone that bends into a wrist band:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...orn-wrist.html

Lenovo showed a similar concept three years ago:

https://www.cnet.com/news/lenovo-sho...-like-a-watch/

Stranger things are coming.

[pata]

Originally Posted by haertig

I could never understand when anyone would want an expensive, gigantic phone like the ones they're selling these days. Now we have an even more expensive and more gigantic phone. Will wonders never cease.

It's not a gigantic phone!

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. There has not been an Android flagship phone with a 4.6" screen in over 5 years (except perhaps the Xperia Compact series).

I love small phones. I have an iPhone SE because I prefer the ability to use my phone one-handed. This Galaxy Fold might be the successor I've been waiting for. I'm eagerly awaiting hands-on impressions...

but yes, it's crazy expensive.

Originally Posted by tomsem

Samsung’s promotional video:

https://youtu.be/7r_UgNcJtzQ

Note that it is not yet available for pre-order. Anyone want to predict a ship date? Fall, perhaps?

It’s an impressive technology demonstration, for sure. In tablet mode, it will support 3 apps running side by side, and when switching from ‘phone’ to ‘tablet’ mode, the app that was running on the phone display will go full screen on the larger display (or at least Google Maps will).

Samsung already announced the ship date for April 26th. I'm guessing they didn't focus on the Fold more because they don't want to distract from the new S10 series which is available for pre-order now and is shipping in March

[haertig]

Originally Posted by pata

It's not a gigantic phone!

It's a small phone combined with a small tablet. The front screen is 4.6"...

That is definitely gigantic IMHO. Just because they make some even bigger - supergigantic and megagigantic - does not mean that 4.6" now gets to be redefined as "small". That size fits right in where I'd call it "too big for a phone, too small for a tablet". That qualifies it as "a jack of all trades, master of none" for me. This is of course all just personal opinion. Some people have no problems hauling around a phone this large on a day to day basis. More power to 'em. But I don't want one. And the price they're planning on charging for it? Totally ludicrous. But I have computers to do computer stuff, laptops to do laptop stuff, tablets to do tablet stuff, eReaders to do eReader stuff, and phones to do phone stuff. If you can only have one thing that tries to do everything, then there will be compromises in size, cost, functionality, etc. These compromises are worth it for some people, distasteful for others. It depends on your personal situation.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by haertig

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

It’s essentially two high-end smartphones connected to one another. Looked at that way, the price is understandable. I certainly don’t think there will be any shortage of buyers.