SAMSUNG GALAXY FOLD $1,980
New phone/tablet will create buzz
Yes, you can see the crease. But the Samsung Galaxy Fold's weight — three-quarters of a can of soup — and its astronomical price are bigger issues for most of us.
Still, the Fold is worth your attention as a potential new branch on the evolutionary tree of the most-important gadget in our lives. Our desire to do more, more, more with our phones — working, gaming, watching TV — has outgrown our hands and pockets. To keep giving us more screen, Samsung had to figure out how to break beyond the rectangular slab and into a new world of origami shapes.
It's going to take more time to understand whether the Fold is the future or just a Frankenphone. It could be very convenient to have both phone and tablet, but how many of us travel around with both right now?
Here are some notes on the device:
• Think of the Fold as a taco. Now lay the folded tortilla on its side. That's the front, or the "phone" part. It's a smidgen taller (6.3 inches) than a "plus"-size iPhone or Galaxy but only three-quarters as wide. It's enough screen to make calls and look at very skinny versions of apps.
• On the Fold, that's where the "tablet" part is on a separate interior screen that's a little smaller than an iPad Mini. It's also the most functional part of the Fold, the screen you will return to. It's awkward to type on, though.
• There's a very nicely executed experience that links the exterior phone screen and interior tablet screen. Launch an app on the front, and open up to find it on the full screen.
• The Fold is about as thick as a stack of two smartphones, or two-thirds of an inch. It is not as bulky as you might imagine, but might not be practical for skinny jeans.
• The crease is definitely there and a little surprising, at first. The crease is more visible when you look at the phone from the side than head-on. But it doesn't get in the way of reading a story or watching a video, and mostly disappears when the screen is lit up. Our consensus: People will talk about the crease so long as folding screens seem new, but you won't notice after a while.
• The hinge on the back makes the phone stay at exactly 180 degrees. But when it phone closes up, there's a slight interior gap, which could be a lint magnet (and gives the potential for some water to get in).
• There are six cameras: one for selfies on the front, three on the back for zoom, regular and wide shots, and two cut out from the screen on the inside for even more selfies.
WASHINGTON POST
