As a newer Tech channel that reviews smartphones, we’ve been really considering ordering the
Galaxy Fold to make a review video and a few comparisons, but the recent news of the Fold
breaking is the final nail in the coffin.
No, we’re not ordering one.
And it’s not just due to the #foldgate issues, we actually have a few reasons why we’re
not buying one.
The first and most important reason is that we honestly don’t think it’s going to
be a popular phone.
Sure, Galaxy Fold videos are blowing up on youtube because of all of the issues but once
the hype dies down, not many people are gonna care anymore.
And that’s because most of the views on Galaxy Fold videos are from people who know
they won’t be buying one anyway.
I mean, it costs $2000, and most people including us complain about $1000 phones.
We review Tech products so we’re basically required to spend money on expensive phones,
a few different iPads and top-of-the-line 5K iMacs, but $2,000 for an Android phone
has you thinking twice.
And not only that, but there are many things that are really impractical with the Fold.
First of all, it’s incredibly thick when folded.
It measures out to 15.5 mm, basically twice as thick as the Galaxy S10+.
It’s like sticking two of them in one pocket, not very comfortable or attractive.
If you think the S10+ is a long phone when in your pocket, the Fold is 3.3mm longer,
so it’ll stick out of a good amount of pant pockets.
The point is that it’s not very practical for carrying around.
And it doesn’t fold flat either, there’s a noticeable gap between both pieces, so if
you lay it down on a table, the screen will sit at an angle.
And don’t get me started on the front.
Since the phone is so long, it can only fit a 4.6” display, even with a 21:9 aspect
ratio.
There are large sections of the front that are unused, so it looks pretty ugly compared
to most smartphones these days.
And you obviously will be using the front display a lot, for things like checking notifications
and quickly replying to texts.
Now the folding mechanism seems great, and basically every tech reviewer has been impressed
by it.
But the problem is in the display itself.
Since it folds, it’s not glass, and you do see a crease down the center, which I honestly
don’t think is a big deal.
People will get used to it.
The problem is that there’s no water resistance, and since the display has the bend, it’s
not scratch resistant.
Reviewers are already showing a few dings and scratches on the display after only a
few days.
You’re basically gonna have to take care of this phone more than any phone on the market,
and with so many review units breaking, whether by peeling off the screen protector that’s
actually not a screen protector or by it just breaking by itself, it’s gonna be even harder
to justify spending $2000.
The point is that the Galaxy Fold is one of the most impractical smartphones on the market,
and you’ve gotta make a lot of compromises if you decide to buy it.
The main selling points are the fact that it’s $2,000, ironically, and the large tablet-sized
display, which, at 7.3”, is almost as big as the iPad Mini’s 7.9” display.
And in reality, the display is great, especially for playing games, like Lew showed in his
gaming video.
For videos though, since the screen aspect ratio is so squared the black bars will be
huge!
But is it worth dealing with all the other issues to get that screen, I honestly don’t
think so.
I think it’s great that Samsung took the bold step of doing this first, and I know
that future iterations of the Fold will solve some of these issues, but for now, it’s
really not worth buying unless you’ve got too much cash to care.
And that’s why we won’t be ordering one in for review.
It’s just too expensive and there are too many drawbacks for the mass market to buy
it.
After a couple of weeks, the hype will die down and in the end, it will just be a big
waste of money both from our perspective as reviewers and those who may actually buy one
and have lots of issues with it.
If you disagree with this point of view, let me know in the comments what you think about
the new Galaxy Fold.
Make sure to hit that sub button if you haven’t already, and we’ll see you in the next video!