- This video is sponsored by Qualcomm.
My friends, back when I was slingin' phones at retail,
almost every phone was a foldable,
and you know what?
I wish we'd never left them behind.
A folding phone is just smart.
It's petite when you pocket it,
full-sized when you flip it out,
and it protects its important bits
when you close it back up.
The trouble is, in the smartphone world,
no one's been able to figure out
how to give you the benefits of a big screen
with the portability of a clamshell, until now.
I've just spent two hours with the Galaxy Fold from Samsung
and it's about to flip the smartphone world inside out.
(upbeat music)
You can probably hear it in my voice,
getting to hold this phone
was one of the most exciting moments
of my career covering mobile tech,
reminiscent of the thrill I got previewing
the Huawei Mate X a couple months ago.
But, as intoxicating as the Huawei phone was,
it's Samsung's design that I think
will ultimately win the coming foldable wars.
That's because the Galaxy Fold
in an innie instead of an outie.
That means when closed, it protects its big display
instead of exposing it to damage on the outside.
That screen is one continuous, flexible OLED
that dominates almost the entire interior surface
with the exception of an offset notch
in the upper right corner
for the twin interior selfie cameras.
Fold that big, flexible panel back over itself,
and you'll find a much smaller touchscreen
on the front outside cover.
I've recently realized that versatility
is one of the most important features to me in a phone
and the most potent illustration
of the Galaxy Fold's versatility is right here,
that big 7.3 inch tablet on one side
and the small 4.6 inch phone on the other,
it's the same device.
If you're sweating the big bezels on the smaller screen,
I sympathize, it's kinda goofy looking,
but as someone who's used a lot
of clamshell phones back in the day,
I gotta say that kinda misses the point.
This screen is for the quick-hit tasks,
when you've only got one hand free.
You're not gonna spend a lot of time out here.
When you have a second to sit down and unfold,
you can take whatever you're doing up front
and spread it out across that main canvas.
In fact, there's so much screen area here,
compared to a normal phone,
that you can run three apps alongside one another,
if you want to.
Then, when you're done, you fold it back up
and stick it in your pocket,
like it's a much smaller phone because now it is.
Samsung had to make sacrifices
to fit everything into the Fold's form factor.
The bezels I mentioned a moment ago,
the thickness of the design when closed,
the lack of a headphone jack or microSD card
or waterproofing, all standard on recent Samsung flagships.
But it's also noteworthy what Samsung didn't sacrifice.
There are three main cameras on this phone,
the same wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto array
that I loved on the Galaxy S10+,
that's in addition to those dual selfie shooters inside
and a sixth camera for the cover, also for selfies.
There's wireless charging on board,
as well as reverse wireless charging
to gas up your Galaxy Buds or Watch.
And there's enough horse power under the hood
to satisfy power users across everything,
from phone mode to tablet mode,
to yes, PC mode with Samsung DeX.
I'm sure all three of you DeX users out there
will appreciate that.
Okay, so, ready to come back down to Earth?
Yeah, the Galaxy Fold also costs
a staggering amount of money,
so let's take a step back
and take stock of the shortcomings you'll have to live with
if you smash the piggy bank.
With a power pack barely bigger
than what's in the Galaxy S10+ and a much larger display,
battery life is a concern for me.
You probably won't be able to charge it as quickly
as you can some newer phones either,
thanks to the older Quick Charge tech.
The strange aspect ratio of the main screen
isn't great for watching widescreen videos.
Then, there's the mechanical reality of the display.
Samsung rates it good for 200,000 open/closes,
which it says should be good for five years of usage,
but if you expect this to be the perfectly smooth glass
of your current smartphone screen, think again.
Just as I saw on the Huawei phone,
there are imperfections and yeah, there's a crease here.
And given the various foldable prototypes
I've seen over the past few months,
it seems clear those creases are something
modern engineering just can't yet iron out.
Most concerning of all is a kind of
broader platform question,
when was the last time you saw
an Android tablet get rave reviews?
They're almost universally regarded as not that great,
and an Android tablet is kinda what you get
when you open this thing.
I mean, I'm gonna have to try hundreds of apps
in my review to satisfy my concerns about scaling issues
and compatibility with this screen shape and size.
For most people, conventional smartphones
will continue to be the more practical,
less expensive choice for awhile yet.
But I do think the Galaxy Fold
is the future of smartphones,
or at least the first example
of what I think they'll become
because look, it just makes so much more sense
to have a phone that can be this or this on demand,
instead of a phone that will always be this.
Even more details in a moment, my friends, but first, price.
The Galaxy Fold costs a Jackson short of $2000.
It's on presale today for AT&T and T-Mobile
with a shelf date of April 26th
and a special offer of free Galaxy Buds and a free case.
And well, I know I usually say
that I can't wait to use a device in the real world,
I have never meant it more than now.
Please, subscribe theMrMobile on YouTube,
so you don't miss my videos documenting
life on foldable phones and stay tuned after the break
for some off-the-cuff impressions
that didn't make it into the script ahead of time.
This video is sponsored by Qualcomm.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform
features a fourth generation AI engine
with dedicated AI acceleration
for echo cancellation and noise suppression.
What's that mean?
Well, it should make it much easier
to talk to your smartphone's voice assistant,
no matter what's going on around you.
You'll also see accessories improve,
wireless earbuds should work together better
and last longer on a charge
and you'll have less audio latency,
so you can do things like play games
or watch videos without a delay in your sound.
As someone who's always wanted to edit videos
without relying on a wired connection,
I say bring it on.
The absolute number one that everyone is
gonna be asking about is the crease, of course.
Yes, you can see it.
Yes, you can feel it.
As I said in the VO, it just seems like something
we can't engineer out right now.
As you're scrolling horizontally, say,
yeah, you feel a little bit of a gutter there.
Only time will tell whether that starts to annoy me or not.
This caption just sorta runs off
the edge of the screen here
because in order to read that caption,
it turns out we have to open the phone
and then, once again, we have to go back down
and find our spot.
Now we understand what Dave was trying to say.
Early software.
See how that speaker is?
Good call there, bud.
(Star Trek episode playing on phone)
Oh, man.
We got audio here, we got audio here, nice.
Alright P-Touch, you got a spoiler alert.
Another thing that actually surprised me quite a bit
was that the fingerprint sensor is integrated
not into the power button,
which is right up here on the side,
but into the Bixby button,
which is where your thumb rests.
I don't have an objection to that,
I'm going to ask why the power button
is not the fingerprint sensor button.
We've dealt with this before, we'll figure it out.
You know what this reminds me of?
The BL40 from LG mixed with the LG Envy.
Both of those released before you were born, young man.
(laughs)
Haven't gotten enough?
If you want another take on the Samsung Galaxy Fold,
Android Central has a hands on going up alongside mine,
so check it out at the link in the description
and folks, I'm eager to talk about this phone.
Hit me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
anywhere you can find theMrMobile handle
and hit me with the questions I didn't get to
in this hands on.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.