My biggest question here is if the screen still retains that fragile plastic foil on the outside. I could not imagine myself buying a folder that has a plastic-surfaced screen, because it will start looking like crab immediately. Even pocket lint when crushed between the screens is going to put wear into that plastic layer, whereas a grain of sand would devastate it.
The tech just isn't sufficiently mature yet I'd say.
You're a crab! And of course it will still be a fragile inside screen, don't get a device like this if you can't keep it in clean environments at all times.
Yes, but now there's a layer of ultra-thin glass underneath the plastic top layer, just like on the Galaxy Z Flip. While UTG IS indisputably stronger than the fully plastic displays as used on the OG fold, it does FAR more for feel than it does for durability (it mostly feels like a normal glass display instead of a mushy plastic one). The plastic layer on top of the ultra thing sheet of glass is still super soft (can be permanently scratched with one's finger nails) & non-replaceable though. Thankfully the foldable screen is on the inside of the device, & not on the outside like the idiotic Huawel Mate X, so it should be reasonably easy to keep protected.
I'm sure there are use cases for that much screen real estate on a phone, but folding a fragile display panel in a device that costs around $2K USD seems like an inelegant answer to getting more screen. It may have been better to improve wireless technologies like miracast/widi or wired means of docking a phone like MHL in order to permit easy, universally standardized ways to put a phone's image onto any sized screen the owner desires even if the handset is inexpensive. This ensures the phone does not lose durability and the price out of pocket can be much lower.
What a complete trash Aspect ratio, a damned Square screen. Or a Remote. Completely useless, a phone's primary aspect of interaction is screen and this one has a weak plastic screen, two that horrible aspect ratio. Why hiding those ugly holes ? Shame that Samsung couldn't make a foldable that even CCP's Huawei got without bullshit notch or hole.
$2000 disposable toy for the uber rich, battery impossible to DIY with this fragile design, Screen will be subjected to wear and tear, No 3.5mm jack, no SD slot as well probably, what about IP rating, Qi charging, guess none of them as well.
So what you get is a brick which can be used for social media and bragging, with Android 11 the Scoped Storage fucks up the whole Filesystem so it's complete trash. I hope this fold-able fad fails and instead they make the batteries use Graphene instead of this dispostable planned obsolescence devices.
Trying to figure out if you don't properly understand Scoped Storage or are an Android malware writer, because nobody needs to be so buttmad about this that they rant about it several times on every single article related to Android that came out this week.
If you know that scoped storage is mandatory to Android 11 I'm not sure why you're acting like it's an it's an issue with the phone. And most of those other things are common to most phones now. Just stick to a S5 or something.
Nah. It's much too narrow for the aspect ratios of all common camera sensors, meaning it'll have to either be letterboxed making the video even smaller on an already small display, or have parts of the video content cropped out. The front display is now VASTLY more capable for that use case than before, but the internal display camera DEFINITELY still has a purpose there. And the hole punch is relatively tiny & unobtrusive on such a large display, IMO. Absolutely EONS better than the disgusting giant of a notch on the OG fold, that's for damn sure.
'how hard it is to make a device runing both Android on the outside and Windows ARM on the inside?'
Pretty hard. Step 1 when booting any OS is to grab all the hardware and claim sole ownership of it. You could get around this with virtualisation but the hypervisor will have to be custom to handle hardware-initiated stuff like the radio coming out of sleep to tell the OS there's a new SMS.
Not hard at all. Most Windows ARM tablets are basically just reskinned Android tablets with a different OS installed. The hardware required to run both OS' is essentially identical.
I don't mean running at the same time though. That would be next to impossible. A reboot to switch OS' would be a required step unless you went the virtualization route (aka run an Android VM from inside Windows 10 ARM, or vice-versa), which would absolutely just ANNIHILATE performance on a mobile tier ARM device.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
17 Comments
Back to Article
nandnandnand - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
This could be the best device ever made for watching old 4:3 film and TV content.PeachNCream - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
Typo in "allowing fore more different use-cases" - Should not be the word "fore"FaaR - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
My biggest question here is if the screen still retains that fragile plastic foil on the outside. I could not imagine myself buying a folder that has a plastic-surfaced screen, because it will start looking like crab immediately. Even pocket lint when crushed between the screens is going to put wear into that plastic layer, whereas a grain of sand would devastate it.The tech just isn't sufficiently mature yet I'd say.
Dexter101 - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
You're a crab! And of course it will still be a fragile inside screen, don't get a device like this if you can't keep it in clean environments at all times.Cooe - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
Yes, but now there's a layer of ultra-thin glass underneath the plastic top layer, just like on the Galaxy Z Flip. While UTG IS indisputably stronger than the fully plastic displays as used on the OG fold, it does FAR more for feel than it does for durability (it mostly feels like a normal glass display instead of a mushy plastic one). The plastic layer on top of the ultra thing sheet of glass is still super soft (can be permanently scratched with one's finger nails) & non-replaceable though. Thankfully the foldable screen is on the inside of the device, & not on the outside like the idiotic Huawel Mate X, so it should be reasonably easy to keep protected.PeachNCream - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
I'm sure there are use cases for that much screen real estate on a phone, but folding a fragile display panel in a device that costs around $2K USD seems like an inelegant answer to getting more screen. It may have been better to improve wireless technologies like miracast/widi or wired means of docking a phone like MHL in order to permit easy, universally standardized ways to put a phone's image onto any sized screen the owner desires even if the handset is inexpensive. This ensures the phone does not lose durability and the price out of pocket can be much lower.Quantumz0d - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
What a complete trash Aspect ratio, a damned Square screen. Or a Remote. Completely useless, a phone's primary aspect of interaction is screen and this one has a weak plastic screen, two that horrible aspect ratio. Why hiding those ugly holes ? Shame that Samsung couldn't make a foldable that even CCP's Huawei got without bullshit notch or hole.$2000 disposable toy for the uber rich, battery impossible to DIY with this fragile design, Screen will be subjected to wear and tear, No 3.5mm jack, no SD slot as well probably, what about IP rating, Qi charging, guess none of them as well.
So what you get is a brick which can be used for social media and bragging, with Android 11 the Scoped Storage fucks up the whole Filesystem so it's complete trash. I hope this fold-able fad fails and instead they make the batteries use Graphene instead of this dispostable planned obsolescence devices.
Spunjji - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
Trying to figure out if you don't properly understand Scoped Storage or are an Android malware writer, because nobody needs to be so buttmad about this that they rant about it several times on every single article related to Android that came out this week.Zanor - Sunday, August 9, 2020 - link
If you know that scoped storage is mandatory to Android 11 I'm not sure why you're acting like it's an it's an issue with the phone. And most of those other things are common to most phones now. Just stick to a S5 or something.mercucu1111 - Tuesday, August 11, 2020 - link
And if Apple releases a foldable phone, you'll praise it as innovation, right?BillyONeal - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
I wish the inside screen had no hole punch camera; the front screen would have been plenty for video calls and selfies.Cooe - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
Nah. It's much too narrow for the aspect ratios of all common camera sensors, meaning it'll have to either be letterboxed making the video even smaller on an already small display, or have parts of the video content cropped out. The front display is now VASTLY more capable for that use case than before, but the internal display camera DEFINITELY still has a purpose there. And the hole punch is relatively tiny & unobtrusive on such a large display, IMO. Absolutely EONS better than the disgusting giant of a notch on the OG fold, that's for damn sure.wr3zzz - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
I would pay the premium for a device that runs Android on the outer screen and x86 Windows on the inside foldout screen.wr3zzz - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
Come think of it, how hard it is to make a device using mostly identical HW to run both Android on the outside and Windows ARM (ugh) on the inside?CampGareth - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
'how hard it is to make a device runing both Android on the outside and Windows ARM on the inside?'Pretty hard. Step 1 when booting any OS is to grab all the hardware and claim sole ownership of it. You could get around this with virtualisation but the hypervisor will have to be custom to handle hardware-initiated stuff like the radio coming out of sleep to tell the OS there's a new SMS.
Cooe - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
Not hard at all. Most Windows ARM tablets are basically just reskinned Android tablets with a different OS installed. The hardware required to run both OS' is essentially identical.Cooe - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
I don't mean running at the same time though. That would be next to impossible. A reboot to switch OS' would be a required step unless you went the virtualization route (aka run an Android VM from inside Windows 10 ARM, or vice-versa), which would absolutely just ANNIHILATE performance on a mobile tier ARM device.