Fondling The Folds Of Samsung

So yesterday started out ok but then the day took a turn and folded in on itself. In the neighborhood of the Airbnb we’re staying in on this trip, the city is replacing the sidewalks. Inconvenient, but hey, infrastructure. That party started two days ago and ended just short of our digs and kicked off again yesterday morning.  

I stepped outside to take a picture and noticed workers all running away from the torn up hunks of sidewalk and then one frantically waving me back inside screaming “Gas! Gas!” 

I jumped back in the house thinking this was bad. And that it could get worse. I assumed I would need to evacuate, so I began frantically packing a few things in a backpack when there was a knock on the door. It was a firefighter instructing me to shelter in place. That surprised me. Two minutes later he knocked again and said to evacuate. 

I grabbed my backpack and headed out for the day, calling the owners of the Airbnb on the way out the door. The good news on that part of the day’s unfolding events is that all turned out well, the gas company fixed the line, the sidewalk crew will have to wait until Monday to move on with their job. And in the end I met quite a few of the neighbors as we watched the gas company wrap up their piece of the action.

After evacuating, I had no idea how long I’d be out. I figured I’d run some errands then park myself at a Starbucks until I got the all clear. There’s a Best Buy across the street so I wandered over to see if they had any of the new folding phones from Samsung on display. They did. 

I picked them up, folded and unfolded them, checked out a few things, and took the photos in the galleries below. 

To be honest, I’m not that interested in a foldable smartphone from Samsung, Apple, or anyone. I’m certainly not that interested in one that costs close to $2000 or more. But given that the smart folks who make smartphones think this is worth spending tons of money on, I thought I’d check them out. 

My limited impressions are pretty straightforward. The foldables from Samsung open and close. The action to do either required more oomph than I was prepared for. The store manager tells me that will change with ongoing usage. Somehow that doesn’t seem like an encouraging selling point. They are pretty devices to look at and all three feel surprisingly nicer in the hand than I thought they would. The construction feels solid and I dare say, premium.

There is a sort of Goldilocks and The Three Bears thing going on with the different sizes.

The larger Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is too tall in much the same way its name is too long. There’s no way it’s a one-handed device when closed. 

The mid-sized squat rectangular Galaxy Z Fold 8 felt the nicest in my hand, surprisingly so. When opened it felt the most inviting.  Given that what’s rumored to death about Apple’s upcoming foldable appears very similar, it will be interesting to see how this mid-size plays out in the marketplace. 

The smallest of the bunch, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 feels like it could work if you’re looking for a flip phone, or the smallest smartphone of the bunch, but it’s not something that interests me.

Much has been made about Samsung’s process to flatten out the crease. In both Fold models it certainly looks and feels less obtrusive than it has on earlier models I’ve taken similar cursory looks at. Time will tell how that works out in the real world of opening and closing.

That said, storeroom lighting isn’t going to help Samsung because the crease picks up light from most angles as you can see from the photos. Given that Apple is supposedly using Samsung’s foldable screen technology for its foldable I’m sure Apple will have the same store display lighting issues as well.

Of course software will also tell the tale. I didn’t really have the time to check out much in the way of software on the device and contrary to the WiFi symbol saying they were connected I wasn’t able to get on the Internet to check things out.

We’re heading into an interesting era with smartphones. As I said, I’m not that interested in a folding phone of any make, but it’s nice to have different size and shape options available. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

That said, with prices rising across the entire tech landscape, introducing or continuing to iterate on previous versions featuring expensive price points seems like a risky bet to me, even if the devices have a premium feel to them.

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