Samsung Galaxy Fold

The future is foldable phones, and Samsung starts it off with its groundbreaking Samsung Galaxy Fold. Priced at Rs. 99,999, this expensive phone has been in the eyes of every smartphone holder, whether you are a tech nerd or not.

Defining the future of smartphones, Samsung Galaxy Fold holds its own. It has a great processor and cameras, but what sets it apart is the foldable design. While it does suffer from some first-generation problems, it sets a benchmark for all other phone brands to pursue.

The design of Galaxy Fold is revolutionary. The phone has a 20-part dual-axis hinge which makes it fold like a book, transforming the device from a phone to a tablet. The motion is not jittery and quite natural. It gives you a James Bond feel in public. In a quiet place, you will be able to hear the folding noise, which sounds like a plastic unfold. The reason is that it does not come with Gorilla glass – instead, the Infinity Flex display is made out of plastic.  However, in its closed set, the Galaxy Fold looks chunky. It is about 0.66 inch-thick, though quite tall. The thickness is almost double that of iPhone XS and Galaxy S10. The phone is not pocketable. In Galaxy Fold, the power button and fingerprint scanner is placed on the right edge and is separate. The Bixby buttons act as a fingerprint sensor and can be customized to open other apps. Samsung Galaxy Fold does not have a headphone jack, and since it’s a new phone, it still does not have the IP68 water resistant rating. Plus, certain problems are being reported about the phone. Some users have stated that the screen malfunctioned or broke, but the cause is that the users tried to remove the protective layer on the display which is not to be removed. When clay was used to prop up the phone for photos, it got stuck in the hinges. Plus, a few users have stated that the screen flickered and faded to black – a very grave complaint against Samsung Galaxy Fold. However, Samsung is working on ways to enhance the display of the phone.

Samsung Galaxy Fold screen is extremely small – going for 4.6 inches, which is very dated. Most budget small phones have 5.5-inch or above. There is a lack of screen space to work with. However, the real magic happens when you open the phone. Inside, the phone becomes 7.3-inch. It is an oversized Super AMOLED screen which is very sharp and colourful as AMOLED screens are known to be. You can edit articles which you could not in 6-inch and more phones, and if you want, you can play movies to get the tablet-feel with the deep blacks. However, there are two problems. One of them is the crease in between the phone – it’s distracting, especially when the light falls on it a certain way. There is also a notch. You can hide this notch, but that would develop a black border on top.

Galaxy Fold comes with the same processor as Galaxy S10 phones, a Snapdragon 855. The difference is that the Fold has a massive 12GB RAM. It can run multiple apps without a problem. There were no lags when 3-4 apps were running in the background but sometimes, the touch responsiveness was a bit off. Geekbench 4 records the performance at 10,593, which is quite near to the S10 Plus’ 10,732 but fails to compare with iPhone XS’ A12 Bionic chip’s 11,420. Graphics wise, the phone is excellent just like the Galaxy S10 – getting around 5,408 points in 3DMark’s Slingshot Extreme OpenGL test, which being quite ahead of iPhone XS’ 4,339 but lagging from S10 Plus’ 5,648.

The Samsung Fold has six cameras, which does seem excessive, but the unique design of Fold can manage it. Like the S10 Plus’, the phone has a 12MP wide camera, 16MP ultra-wide camera and 12MP telephoto lens on the back. Plus, there is a 10MP front camera for selfies. It is the camera setup for the closed Fold. When opened, two more cameras are revealed. The 10MP primary camera along with an 8MP depth-sensing camera for beautiful portraits Due to the compact app, it quite easy to click photos on this set. However, the lack of screen size when the Fold is closed makes it different to frame shots. Unfolded, the Galaxy Fold can be a great shooter, but it cannot be used in one hand. The phone offers saturated colours and has a fantastic level of detail, even in the case of macros. The wide-angle camera can capture a lot of signs with proper details to it. Zooming in doesn’t kill the details though there is a fish-eye effect to the shots. The Live Bokeh mode has some new addition, zoom bokeh, colour print and spin bokeh. Colour print colourizes the main subject but leaves the rest black and white.

The Galaxy Fold has a battery of 4380. Moderate but consistent use like streaming videos and music and checking emails found that the phone had about 60% left at night, which is quite amazing. Using Galaxy Fold for heavy use like watching two TV episodes on Netflix saw it fall to 25% by night. It means that the phone will push on for more than a day. Plus, the phone has a Wireless PowerShare feature, which is great input.

The Galaxy Fold is not rushed, but since it’s a new model, the phone does face some quality issues. Like first generation phones, the crease is a bit distracting and hopefully will go away in later versions. The screen size is very small when the phone is closed. Plus, there are durability issues. Other than that, the phone is a masterpiece in terms of innovation and will define the rest of the generation of foldable phones. Huawei Mate X will be a foldable phone, and it is rumoured that the once immensely popular Moto Razr is making a comeback with a vertically unfolding phone. The future is foldable phones, and Samsung gains the sweet first spot.