When the talk of the town is folding phones, you need to bring your a-game, and that’s certainly what Samsung has done with the Galaxy Fold. Unveiled at the Galaxy Unpacked event, this is what we found out about this powerful smartphone/tablet combo.
How does the Galaxy Fold look?
For a phone hiding a complicated hinge system down the middle, it looks surprisingly sleek. At the event, Samsung showed off a device which seemed to fit nicely in the hand as a phone, and not as bulky as you might expect.
When folded out from the standard 4.6-inch front screen, you see all its glory. It transforms from a normal sized phone to a huge 7.6-inch infinity-flex display seamlessly, so when you fire up the latest viral video you don’t need to settle for landscape mode to get the best view.
Personalisation is important too, so it’s being launched in a range of four ‘galactic’ colours; Space Silver, Martian Green, Cosmos Black and Astro Blue. Supposedly you’ll be able to customise the hinge colour for when it’s folded as well, so you can really make it your own.
How will it perform?
Until we get our hands on one, we can’t definitively say how it performs, but the specs sure are impressive. And from what was on show at the event, it looked like it will live up to expectations. The switch between screens is natural thanks to a clever bit of tech called ‘App continuity’, and the way it folds out looks effortless and smooth – that’s all down to the sophisticated hinge system. It’s said to be able to withstand 1000s of folds and unfolds because of the multiple interlocking-gear design, all hidden for an elegant finish.
When it’s open, three app multi-tasking will reportedly let you use three apps at the same time, flawlessly. And it worked well in the demo too. So, next time you’re mid-video and a message comes through, you won’t need to pause it to reply, and you can even browse for more info on the web at the same time. And those text messages won’t go ignored when you find yourself lost in that seemingly endless loop of YouTube suggestions.
But, with all that packed in will it struggle for speed? Not a chance. Thanks to 12GB RAM and 512GB of onboard memory, it’s responsive and fast. And, for the first time in a phone, there is Universal flash storage 3.0, which means it can read data twice as fast as other phones on the market. Whether it’s unlocking it, launching your favourite apps, or looking for directions, just tap and it’s done instantly.
But won’t two screens drain the battery?
We know what you’re thinking, your phone only has one screen and needs charging almost every night – this thing won’t last half a day! Well, Samsung figured out a way to deliver incredible power to the Galaxy Fold, by giving it two batteries = one on each side of the hinge. Engineers then used special technology to combine them into one 4,380mAh power source, so it’s got plenty of juice for both of those screens.
What about the camera?
We’ve seen lots of manufacturers packing lenses into phones to recreate the fancy DSLR look, but all those bumps can start to look a bit unsightly. Although Samsung has packed a huge six-camera system into the Fold, there’s three on the back, two inside and a selfie cam, so it’s still looks nice and sleek. With this much camera tech, you’ll be able to take amazing pictures from any angle, folded or unfolded.
What are your thoughts on this flexible tech from Samsung? Will you be getting your hands on this next-gen device in April? Let us know in the comments below.