The folded Galaxy Fold has a small screen, but it can be deployed to become a tablet. In addition, it has specifications such as the Galaxy S10 and six cameras.
Samsung
Editor's Note:Samsung decided on April 22, 2019 to delay the launch of the Galaxy Fold due to different problems. The Galaxy Fold was scheduled to go on sale on April 26 and the company announced on July 24 that it will not be available until September, offering different solutions and precautions for the problems initially reported.
Below are the first impressions of the device written before the problem reports.
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Galaxy Fold delayed: Why?
2:00
The Galaxy Fold, formerly known as Galaxy X (or Galaxy F, Galaxy Flex …), is the first foldable Samsung phone and the company's next step to demonstrate innovation that goes beyond the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 Plus, S10E and S10 5G.
However, although many expected Samsung's flexible or foldable cell phone to be the first in the market, in reality that title now corresponds to theRoyole FlexPai, which is ahead of everyone by launching the first flexible or foldable cell phone that can be purchasedright now. That said, the Galaxy Fold comes from a much more recognized company and is challenged to demonstrate that flexible device technology really brings benefits to the consumer.
Official name: Samsung Galaxy Fold
For a long time, rumors indicated that the Samsung's first flexible cell phone (or foldable phone) It will be called Galaxy X, but months before its first appearance names such as Galaxy Fold, Galaxy F, Galaxy Flex andSamsung Infinity V.
In November 2018, Samsung unveiled the "Infinity V" screen (as well as Infinity U, Infinity O and New Infinity) at the same time it gave us the first glance of its flexible cell phone, reflecting a V-shaped eyebrow and at that time we also thought that his folding cell phone would be called Infinity V, but on February 20 we finally met the Samsung Galaxy Fold as the final name of Samsung's first folding phone.
The Galaxy Fold as a tablet (left) or as a phone (right).
Sarah Tew / CNET
Design: A foldable phone that becomes a tablet
The first time Samsung introduced its flexible cell phone was during its Samsung Developer Conference 2018 developer conference on November 7. At that time the company revealed a new interface called One UI (practically the same that Android Pie brings for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9), as well as the way it will work. We saw a 7.3-inch (and flexible) folding screen in the middle called Infinity Flex Display and a 4.58-inch external OLED screen.
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Galaxy Fold: 10 things you should keep in mind
2:55
The 7.3-inch screen is on the inside and bends when you close the cell phone, while the other is on the outside. At the moment, it is not possible to use the two screens, but if you are using the large screen the small one is deactivated when it is unfolded and the large screen is turned off to turn on the small one when you fold the cell phone.
Although we had a little more information about Samsung's flexible cell phone, the company has not confirmed its launch and has only said it expects to launch it in 2019.
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What do people think of the Galaxy Fold?
3:41
Galaxy Fold: Price and launch
The price of the Galaxy Fold is US $ 1,980. It was going to launch on April 26, but its launch has been postponed. In the United States, the presale of the Galaxy Fold began on April 14, but the company began requesting that interested people register from April 12 to acquire an exclusive link to buy this cell phone.
Samsung's pre-sale allowed you to choose between AT&T or T-Mobile in the United States, which means that at the moment the company will be betting on a GSM unit that is more simply compatible with more operators in the United States and worldwide.
So the Samsung Galaxy Fold bends.
Sarah Tew / CNET
On Monday, April 15, AT&T also started the presale of the Galaxy Fold, while T-Mobile has only one page dedicated to the phone but has not started the presale.
Watch this:
Galaxy Fold: Unboxing of the first foldable phone from …
4:59
It is unclear whether a version for CDMA network that Verizon and Sprint uses at some point, but as Samsung said the Galaxy Fold will be a limited sale device, may not be the case at the moment.
The colors in which you can buy the Samsung Galaxy Fold folding cell phone.
Screenshot by Juan Garzn / CNET
During the presale, Samsung allowed to buy the Galaxy Fold in four colors, with the possibility to customize or choose another one for the hinge.
Samsung's exclusive colors are blue and green, but the hinge can be chosen in yellow or gray, regardless of which other colors will have been selected.
In addition, the Fold could also be purchased in black or gray, with the possibility of choosing a hinge in light gray or dark gray.
Due to the problems, presales were canceled, except for those made directly with Samsung. However, in mid-May the company announced that if users do not want to keep their presale before May 31, they will be canceled.
On July 24 Samsung announced that the Galaxy Fold will be available in September, offering different corrections that promise to offer more durability. Samsung told CNET in Spanish that the people who decided to keep the presale will not have to place another order, but will keep their place on the list.
Fixes of the new Galaxy Fold:
- The protective plastic layer of the Infinity Flex screen has been extended to be left out of the bezels, and thus prevent users from removing it. Apparently this is a fundamental part of the screen structure.
- Galaxy Fold has different reinforcements to protect the cell from external particles.
- The upper and lower parts of the screen have been reinforced with protective covers that help protect the internal parts of the panel.
- Samsung integra additional metal layers under the screen to offer more protection.
- The space between the hinge and the body of the device has been reduced to prevent particles from entering the body.
The colors of the Galaxy Fold.
Sarah Tew / CNET
One UI: Android Pie with Multi Active Window
Samsung has already confirmed that the Galaxy Fold run One UI (its custom Android Pie interface), something similar to what the Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 in early 2019 with the Android Pie update.
However, one of the main differences that the flexible Galaxy will have in front of its brothers is that One UI will focus in an important way on the continuity that it offers between its screens and what is known as Multi Active Window.
The continuity of Samsung One UI focuses on allowing when you switch between one screen or the other, be it 7.3 inches or 4.5 inches, everything stays in what you were doing and fits the screen. In this way, if you are seeing a map on the full screen and you change to the external screen, you can see only a part of the map, but if you change from small to large you see the same map but with more covered terrain (it is not only zoom).
Watch this:
One UI: Samsung's foldable cell phone interface and …
2:15
As for the Multi Active Window function, Samsung worked with Google so that the flexible cell phone can run up to three apps at once on a single screen and unlike the native multi-window currently offered by Android, all those windows will be active not only The last one you interacted with. Even Google has said that integrating this kind of support natively into Android Q, the next version of the operating system that will come after Android Pie.
Also, the Galaxy Fold allows you to run up to more than three apps at once on the same screen; You can also create floating app windows to take multitasking to another level.
It is worth bearing in mind that this function of floating windows has been available on cell phones much older than the Galaxy S10 or the Galaxy Note 9 (for years), but the main advantage that it has here is that it allows you to run three apps on split screen , on a screen that is also larger (in tablet mode) than most cell phones you can buy today.
As for the base of One UI, the interface focuses on offering the most interactive content to the bottom of the screen so that with one hand the cell phone can be better controlled, instead of trying to expand all the content to through the entire screen at all times.
The Galaxy Fold has a thickness of 15.5mm to 17mm (closed in cellular mode), which makes it thick. Despite this, it does not have a traditional headphone jack, nor a microSD card slot.
Sarah Tew / CNET
Two integrated batteries
The Samsung Galaxy Fold phone integrates two 2,190mAh batteries to offer a total of 4,380mAh. The two batteries are separated so that the device can bend and not present any problems.
This represents more battery than the Galaxy Note 9 (4,000mAh) has. However, it must be taken into account that the Galaxy Fold has two screens and one of them is larger, so it requires more energy to illuminate the screens.
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Galaxy Fold: a close look at the flexible cell phone …
2:29
Galaxy Fold vs. Huawei Mate X
Although I have not been able to have both phones in my hand at the same time, based on my experience, the Galaxy Fold surpasses the Huawei Mate X with a better finish and an appearance more than one phone premium.
Apart from this, Samsung's foldable cell phone It has the ability to run up to three active apps (on the same screen) at the same time, while Huawei's only allows two.
Also, the Galaxy Fold is cheaper (US $ 1980 vs. US $ 2,600), arrive in the United States and be available before the other.
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Huawei Mate X vs. Galaxy Fold: What is better?
4:00
For its part, the Huawei Mate X has a design that seems to me works best as a cell phone to tablet. In mobile mode it has more screen (the smallest is 6.38 inches, instead of 4.58 inches), in tablet mode it has smaller bezels and since there is no camera, the experience is better, in addition to it is compatible with 5G, the new generation of cellular networks that promises higher speeds and promises to open new doors to augmented reality experiences and more.
This is good because it means that you can achieve higher speeds than most cell phones in the market, but this works as long as you have a network and signal to connect with this kind of technology.
Also, although there will be other 5G cell phones such as Galaxy S10 5G and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, Huawei says the Mate X achieves higher speeds than those devices thanks to the Kirin 980 processor and Balong 5000 modem.
According to Huawei, that processor achieves maximum speeds of 4.6Gbps, which will represent twice the maximum speed offered by the Snapdragon X50, which is integrated into a cell phone with the Snapdragon 855 processor, like the two mentioned above.
In general, both devices are the first in their class of important companies and we have to look more closely at the benefits of each of them to do our analysis.
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Huawei Mate X: Huawei's first folding phone …
1:54
Galaxy Fold: Features and Specifications
- Large screen: 7.3 inches (Infinity Flex Display)
- Aspect Ratio: 4.2: 3
- Resolution: 2,151×1,536 pixels
- Pixel Density: 362ppp
- Small screen: 4.58 inches (AMOLED)
- Aspect Ratio: 21.9
- Resolution: 1,680×720 pixels
- Pixel Density: 399ppp
- Operating system: Android Pie with the One UI interface
- 5G: At the moment there are only 4G LTE versions
- Battery: 4,380mah
- RAM: 12GB
- Storage: 512GB
- MicroSD slot: No
- Traditional headphone jack: No
- Fingerprint reader: Side
- Rear cameras: Four: 12 megapixels (variable of f / 1.5 and f / 2.4) with optical stabilization (77 degrees) + wide angle of 16 megapixels (f / 2.2 of 123 degrees) + 12 megapixel telephoto (f / 2.4 of 45 degrees ) with optical stabilization + (on deck) 10 megapixels (f / 2.2)
- Front cameras: Double: 10 megapixels (f / 1.9) + 8 megapixels (to detect depth and with f / 2.2)
- Size: 160.9×117.9×6.9mm (unfolded) or 160.9×62.9×15.5-17mm (folded)
- Weight: 263 grams
First impressions
The Galaxy Fold is positioned as a revolutionary cell phone that will change the way we use a phone or at least that is what Samsung wants.
However, the Samsung cell phone is much thicker than a traditional cell phone (closed) and its screen seems a bit ridiculous because of how small it is in such a large space. For example, the Galaxy Fold is taller than the Galaxy S10 Plus (10.9 vs. 157.6mm), but instead of having a 6.4-inch screen it has a 4.58-inch screen.
In addition, the screen is centered, so it makes this change the way we use a cell phone, where we know that the Android navigation bar is towards the bottom edge, not in the middle.
On the other hand, in tablet mode your screen looks beautiful, but it has one of the eyebrows (notches) larger than we have seen in a device and you can perceive the undulation in the middle of the screen, where it bends. We still have to try to see if with the weeks and months that remains intact or worse.
In general, I consider that the Galaxy Fold is postulated more as a folding tablet than as a folding phone because I think there is much more utility there, especially when you can carry it almost to and everywhere (in your pocket, purse, etc.) .
In addition, multitasking features take a step beyond the Galaxy Note line to offer more apps that you can effectively run on the screen.
At the moment, I do not consider that these improvements or developments make it worth buying the Galaxy Fold instead of a Galaxy S10 Plus, unless you simply want to have the first generation of this device.
Comparison: Galaxy Fold vs. Huawei Mate X vs. Galaxy S10 5G vs. Galaxy S10 Plus
|
Galaxy Fold |
Huawei Mate X |
Galaxy S10 5G |
Galaxy S10 Plus |
| Two: 7.3 inches flexible + 4.6 inches outside |
8 inches (could be divided into 6.6 and 6.38 inches) |
6.7 inches |
6.4 inches |
| 2,152×1,536 pixels and 1,950×840 pixels |
2,480×2,200 (2,480×1,148 and 2,480×892) pixels |
3,040×1,440 pixels |
3,040×1,440 pixels |
| 402ppp / 320ppp |
414pp |
502ppp |
522ppp |
| Android Pie (One UI) |
Android Foot EMUI |
Android Pie (One UI) |
Android Pie (One UI) |
| Snapdragon 855 |
2.8GHz Kirin 980 (8 cores) |
Snapdragon 855 / Exynos 9820 |
Snapdragon 855 / Exynos 9820 |
| 512GB |
512GB |
256GB |
128GB, 512GB (ceramic edition) or 1TB (ceramic edition) |
| Do not |
Only with NM Card |
Do not |
S, up to 512GB |
| Four: 12 megapixels (variable of f / 1.5 and f / 2.4) with optical stabilization (77 degrees) + wide angle of 16 megapixels (f / 2.2 of 123 degrees) + 12 megapixel telephoto (f / 2.4 of 45 degrees) with stabilization Optics + (on deck) 10 megapixels (f / 2.2) |
Four: 40 megapixels + 16 MP + 8MP + ToF |
Cudruple: 12 megapixels (variable of f / 1.5 and f / 2.4) with optical stabilization (77 degrees) + wide angle of 16 megapixels (f / 2.2 of 12 degrees) + 12 megapixel telephoto (f / 2.4 of 45 degrees) with stabilization Optics + 3D ToF (HQVGA) |
Triple: 12 megapixels (variable of f / 1.5 and f / 2.4) with optical stabilization (77 degrees) + wide angle of 16 megapixels (f / 2.2 of 12 degrees) + 12 megapixel telephoto (f / 2.4 of 45 degrees) with stabilization optical |
| N / A |
N / A |
960fps in Full HD, 240fps in Full HD, 60fps in 4K |
960fps in Full HD, 240fps in Full HD, 60fps in 4K |
| Double: 10 megapixels (f / 1.9) + 8 megapixels (to detect depth and with f / 2.2) |
The backs can be used as front depending on how you use the phone |
10 megapixels (f / 1.9) + 3D ToF (HQVGA) |
Double: 10 megapixels (f / 1.9) + 8 megapixels (to detect depth and with f / 2.2) |
| 12GB |
8GB |
8GB |
8GB or 12GB (ceramic only) |
| 4,380mAh |
4,500mAh |
4,500mAh |
4,100mAh |
| 4G LTE, USB-C |
Up to 5G, USB-C |
5G |
4G LTE, Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi 6 |
| S |
S |
S |
S |
| N / A |
N / A |
IP68 (up to two meters deep for up to 30 minutes) |
IP68 (up to two meters deep for up to 30 minutes) |
| Power button side |
Power button side |
S, on the screen (peak) |
S, on the screen (peak) |
| Do not |
Do not |
Do not |
Do not |
| N / A |
N / A |
Basic |
Basic |
| S and reversible |
Do not |
S (Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and reversible charging (Wireless PowerShare) to charge other devices |
S (Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and reversible charging (Wireless PowerShare) to charge other devices |
| It has six cameras (including front cameras) that are like those of the Galaxy S10; it can be charged wirelessly and it can charge other devices in the same way; be available in four colors |
Only one screen that fulfills the functions of three screens; You can run up to 2 apps at once (active); You can expand the storage, but with a specialized card; be compatible with 5G networks; it has cameras like those of the P30; be available only in one color (for now) |
Curved screen, the S10 ms advanced without 5G; fingerprint reader on screen; ToF cameras to detect more 3D information (one front and one rear) and to achieve four rear cameras and two front cameras; without microSD slot and heart rate sensor; It is waterproof and can charge other devices wirelessly (needs more than 30 percent charge) |
Curved screen, the S10 ms advanced without 5G; fingerprint reader on screen; Option of 1TB of storage and 12GB of RAM; three rear cameras and two front cameras for better photos with blurred background; It has microSD slot and heart rate sensor; It is waterproof and can charge other devices wirelessly (needs more than 30 percent charge) |
| 160.9×117.9×6.9mm (unfolded) or 160.9×62.9×15.5-17mm (folded) |
161.3×78.3x11mm (phone) 161.3×146.2×5.4-11mm (tablet) |
162.6×77.1×7.94 mm |
157.6×74.1×7.8mm |
| 263 grams |
295 grams |
198 grams |
175 grams |
|
$ 1,980 |
About US $ 2,600 (2,299 euros) |
More than US $ 1,000 |
$ 999 |
A Samsung infographic with some of the features of the Galaxy Fold.
Samsung
