- Okay, okay, okay.
Here it is, the Galaxy Fold.
Samsung actually managed to release this thing.
It still folds, it still costs $1980,
and it's still, I think, pretty delicate.
Look, we reviewed this thing earlier this year
before Samsung had to cancel the launch
and then delay the re-launch,
and then, "hey Bixby, how ya doin'?"
And, then it finally launched the thing,
and because we had already reviewed it,
I kinda wanna just look back at the original review
and see what's still true
with this slightly revised version of the Galaxy Fold
and see if it holds up.
The phone, I mean, not the review.
Let's take a look.
Verge Galaxy Fold review.
Ah, man, that intro, it still holds up.
Okay, so the first thing we need to do
is talk about what Samsung has changed
with the Galaxy Fold, and specifically why they changed it.
There are two different issues here.
The first is that on the front of the screen,
there's this thing that looks like
a removable screen protector, but it is not removable.
Instead, it's the layer that's applied
with some serious adhesive,
and it's basically part of the screen.
If you try to pull it off, which to be clear,
seems like a totally reasonable thing to do
given how it looks,
you'll end up wrecking the hell out of this phone.
All right, so Samsung doesn't want people
to rip off the screen protector on the top
so what do they do?
Well, they extended the screen protector
up underneath the plastic bezels here.
And, they also added these funny little tabs
on the top and the bottom
so that you couldn't even reach it there
if you really wanted to.
But, this isn't the thing that happened to me.
What happened to me was
I got some debris underneath the screen
and that's what broke the screen.
So, as you can see, the screen
on our Galaxy Fold is broken.
I've got a line here and a line here.
And, here's what happened.
Right about here, under the screen last night
I noticed that I could feel a little bump
under the screen when it was completely opened.
When it wasn't completely open,
I didn't feel the bump at all.
And, last night, it wasn't causing any problems.
It was flexing the screen out a little bit,
I called it like a bulge.
But, when I woke up this morning, opened the phone up,
it had caused apparently a little bit more damage.
And, so it's ruined the screen.
All right, so how did Samsung fix the debris thing?
Well, they did a bunch of stuff.
They say they put an extra layer of material
underneath the flexible screen.
There's these caps again, of course,
and then they also say that they've limited
the size of the gaps so that less debris can get inside,
so here, and it's even thinner when you close the thing.
So, maybe it'll be less dust on the inside.
So, did they fix it?
Man, I don't know.
I've had this thing for a few weeks now,
and I've been treating it really, really carefully,
because I'm so nervous about it.
I mean, it's not like I've been living
in a bubble like Joanna Stern has.
I mean, actually, look at this clip.
So, I haven't gone that far, but yeah,
I'm definitely being more careful with this
than I otherwise would be with a phone,
and I still have a couple of nicks and marks on the screen.
Now, if you buy this thing,
and you break the screen, you get a one-time only,
extra $150 screen replacement service that you can go get,
so I guess that's a little bit of an insurance policy,
but I mean, what are we doing here?
Are you actually gonna buy this phone?
Is anybody actually gonna buy this phone?
The answer is no, nobody should buy this phone.
This is a science experiment,
but it's an interesting science experiment,
so a better question than did Samsung fix the thing is,
is the thing still interesting?
Is it still useful to have a little screen on the front
to open it up to a big screen and
I wanna talk about that question.
I think the answer to it starts with the software.
So, let's see what I said about the software.
You can swipe over from the right,
and select a second app to open in split screen.
Then, you can do it again to open a third app
underneath that one on the right.
And, then you can do crazy Samsung stuff
like open popover windows like real windows
and move them around and resize them,
and it's all just kind of a lot.
And, it's okay, but it's nowhere near as elegant
as how multitasking works on an iPad.
So, all of that is still true.
The experience here is still a little bit weird
especially moving from the front screen
to the inside of the screen.
I do enjoy having the single app split screen
over on the right,
but once you start trying to do anything more than that,
it does get a little bit janky.
It feels like everything is a little bit tacked on.
And, there's also just like the standard hardware stuff,
like the jelly scroll is still here,
which is super annoying,
but I do love having this big screen.
I still love reading eBooks on it.
I still love it when I'm sitting on the couch
or at a table in a meeting, or whatever,
but I hate it when I am walking around or I'm on the subway.
And, here's what I had to say about this last time.
Think about this thing that happens
all the time with your phone.
You pull it out to check something quick,
but then all a sudden, a half hour has gone by
while you were scrolling Instagram or whatever.
It's a real problem, but it's a problem
I didn't really have with the Galaxy Fold.
Because, when I was just using the tiny screen,
I wanted to get something done and put it away really fast,
cause the tiny screen's not that good,
but then when I unfolded it and used it,
I was really using it.
I had to hold it in two hands.
It became an active thing that I chose to be doing.
It required some intentionality.
All of that is also true.
I just hate using this tiny screen,
and sure I've got a better work, digital life balance
because I'm using the phone less,
but that's not the answer.
You need to be able to use your phone
when you're walking around
or on the subway or wherever,
and this is just too small and awkward
of a screen on too tall of a phone,
that's also too thick to fit in your pocket
and then if you wanna use it opened up,
you can't use this when you're walking around either,
so it's just all a little bit too awkward.
(upbeat music)
You know, the more I think about it,
the problem here is honestly the folding screen,
because I love the idea of having a phone
that's bigger on the inside,
but all the compromises you have to make
with this flexible display, the durability issues,
the fact that this bend makes it a lot thicker
is the problem here.
Maybe we should give dual screen phones a try
for a little while until we get this thing better.
And, actually that's happening.
LG is releasing the G8X like right now,
and next year, Microsoft is gonna have the Surface Duo
running a Microsoft-ified version of Android
that's in a much nicer form factor when it's closed.
Look, anybody that buys the Galaxy Fold
right now after all of the drama,
they know exactly what they're getting into
and as great as this experience is,
this for me, I'm not into it.
Hey everybody, thanks so much for watching.
What do you think?
Should we be jumping right into flexible screens?
I mean, that Huawei's coming out next month.
Or should we give dual screens a try for a while?
Let me know down in the comments,
and if you wanna know everything
I think about the Galaxy Fold
you can watch our full video review from back in April.