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Why We Think Galaxy Folds Are Failing
- pault 7y agoWho else clicked through expecting a research paper on dark matter?
- httpsterio 7y agoNot me, you generally can assume that an ifixit link is related to laptops or mobile devices.
- fetus8 7y agoEspecially with the controversy surrounding the Galaxy Fold this week... Outside that context, the name "Galaxy Fold" wouldn't register as a phone with me either.
- jfbaro 7y ago+1
- _bxg1 7y agoNot this time, but I've had similar experiences as a result of cute programming language naming conventions
- starpilot 7y agoSomething about Calabi–Yau manifolds.
- pure-awesome 7y agoThe title gave me pause, and I sat thinking about what it possibly mean. How can a galactic entity "fail"? Does this affect us? Surely not since such things would be on the timespans of millions to billions of years. What is a "Galaxy Fold"? After a few seconds considering such questions, I realized what it was actually about.
- tempodox 7y agoI expected it to be a case of dark matter obliquely caught in a black hole. If the galaxy in question were spherical it would fold in on itself much more symmetrically, making it improbable that the fold would fail.
- wil421 7y agoA research paper from ifixit.com?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- stupidcar 7y agoI'm more interested in how Samsung ever got so far down the road with a such an apparently flawed design. Samsung's engineers must have known it had big problems. Was this a classic case of dysfunctional corporate culture meaning nobody wanted to give the bosses bad news? I'm guessing so.
- xfitm3 7y agoI am sure it’s very simple. Maybe someone had a financial incentive to push it through.
- hinkley 7y agoAnd you get what you measure.
- tooltalk 7y agonot sure how Samsung would profit from selling a limited early adopter edition (by reservation) of experimental product? This isn't a mass consumer product. Samsung had explained that their customers would receive different kind of support and services, which means more cost to Samsung.
- ehnto 7y agoI think they were referring to management performance bonuses and things of that nature.
- lemoncucumber 7y agoSamsung has a history of shipping crappy products just for the sake of being the first to do it. Their product line has always been a sprawling mess of overly-specialized niche products. It seems like they have a strategy of throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.
- vinay427 7y agoWell, thankfully they do also ship many products that are the first to do something useful, so as a normal consumer that isn't a first-adopter for most things I appreciate that they create a market for many random innovations.
- rdm_blackhole 7y agoI admire Samsung for creating one of the first foldable phones. It is not the prettiest or the slickest design and I personally can't say that I would be interested in buying one. However, I don't quite understand the bad press that Samsung is getting with this phone. I mean, sure it has some issues but it is the first generation of this new type of phone. If you are going to buy this product, then you must be aware that you are going to be one of the Beta testers. There is no way around it. You just have to accept it and then when the Galaxy fold 2 comes out in a year or so, hopefully, they would have sorted out all those issues.
- _bxg1 7y agoPeople expected the early-adopter compromises to be things like the price, the lack of waterproofing, the thickness, and the small screen on the front. For $2k, even an early-adopter device should not simply break.
- JakeTheAndroid 7y agoGoogle Glass cost like 1.5k and did nothing useful or barely did anything at all for that matter. Was durability the main promise of the phone? No, the hinge was promised to be strong and the screen was promised to be flexible. They got parts of that correct. No one was ever promised an unbreakable device for 2k, and no one should even expect such a thing from the first ever folding smartphone. First adopters pay a high price for testing bleeding edge technology, I can't think of many cases in which that hasn't been the case. This is technology that exists no where else. They need to recoup costs from R&D to make the improvements required to produce a real product. This is how things used to be kickstarted before we had micro-fundraising. This is why everyone talks about how tech reaches the rich first, they have the funds to test this tech before us plebs, because it costs money to develop bleeding edge stuff. What bleeding edge, physical technology comes in at a low price point comparatively to the market rate? I can't think of any off the top of my head.
- throwaway2048 7y agoA device that breaks within days from completely normal use is completely unacceptable for anything that costs $2k. Nobody was asking for an unbreakable device.
- maxaf 7y agoAlright, I’ll take the heat for asking the obvious question: Who would ever need a folding phone? This sounds like a silly idea. Apart from the obvious party trick (“hold my drink - ima fold this phone in half”) I don’t see any reason for a phone to fold halfway down the middle into a ridiculously thick package that can’t be comfortable carried inside any reasonably sized pants pocket.
- function_seven 7y agoTablets are too big to carry around, and phones are too small to use for non-trivial purposes. A folding display solves that issue. Small when it needs to be, large when you want it to be. Yeah, it's thicker than a typical phone, but that's usually not the limiting dimension when determining pocketablity.
- dexterdog 7y agoAnd most phones are already insanely thin. Older phones were substantially thicker than this and I never had a problem putting them in my pocket.
- hopler 7y agoAre you a woman who wears USA women's pants that are nearly always skin tight and have pockets 40% the size of men's pockets?
- tobyhinloopen 7y agoWomen usually put their phones in a purse.
- aurailious 7y agoAnd there is the assumption that this will improve greatly over future iterations.
- delecti 7y ago> and phones are too small to use for non-trivial purposes I think this is probably the sticking point for people who don't see the point of this. At least for me, there's no unserved gulf between my phone and a computer. I've had a tablet in the past, but there was really just no use case where the tablet was the top choice over both my phone and computer; I always preferred one of those over the tablet.
- TazeTSchnitzel 7y agoThe contrast with the Huawei Mate X is stark. The latter has the folding screen on the outside of the phone, which means 1) a wider, and thus safer, bend radius while simultaneously being able to properly close (no lingering gap) and 2) (seemingly?) no ability for space to develop under the screen for debris to get in. Huawei having just the one screen also makes for an overall cleaner design. It makes me wonder why Samsung chose the more problematic inside-fold route.
- tynpeddler 7y agoI think it's because Samsung is trying to protect the screen. I'm curious to see how the Mate X will perform. I won't be surprised if the screen wrapping around the outside turns out to be really fragile. People are notoriously hard on their phones (especially on the edges) and the Mate X is a phone that has an exposed screen that can't be covered in glass and can't be hidden in a screen case. Samsung's approach has a better chance of succeeding in the long run simply because it protects the screen, but they clearly need to refine their approach. Without some serious materials wizardry, Huawei's design seems hopelessly flawed. According to this article, uneven pressure may be responsible for breaking the Samsung, think of what could happen with the exposed screen on the Huawei.
- thih9 7y agoCustomers might be willing to use Mate X with sleeves / folio cases.
- colordrops 7y agoThe point is that it's as convenient as a phone. A sleeve would nullify this. Might as well get a tablet.
- thih9 7y ago> A sleeve would nullify this 'nullify' here is subjective. Others might say 'reduce' instead. For some, especially current sleeve or folio users, this could be acceptable.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- kaestmqfhc 7y agoWe have been designing space vessels and spacesuits for the better part of a century with moving or flexible or rotating hinges that can protect every thing and everyone inside from the vacuum of space and transfer of moisture and debris. This article from iFixit and the included photo from The Verge clearly explain and display how Samsung Galaxy designers missed the mark of creating a simple inexpensive hinge mechanism that would have prevented the OLED from being exposed to any external material or uneven pressure.
- SerLava 7y agoThis comment furthered my confusion that the title was referring to some kind of astrophysical phenomenon.
- tempodox 7y agoIt's probably a case of black matter caught in a dark hole. If the galaxy in question were sperical, it would fold in on itself much more symmetrically.
- gsich 7y agoIs there even a need for such a device? Or are those desperate attempts to sell new features? From what I have experienced, the smartphone market is basically saturated. My peers and I no longer have a need for buying new devices. Basic stuff won't get any faster and 5 cameras are not worth a new device.
- lordnacho 7y agoWhat's interesting is they ran the folding machines and even showed everyone to create confidence, but they don't seem to have dogfooded. Wouldn't it make sense for a company like Samsung to hand out some of the devices to their own staff to use? I'm sure you can find realistic use cases among the staff of such a large company. If you're afraid of leaks give it to the family or upper management. By the looks of it even a handful of phones would have revealed the issues.
- JohnFen 7y ago> If you're afraid of leaks give it to the family or upper management. If you're afraid of leaks, those might be the worst people to give it to.
- HocusLocus 7y agoWho will fund my startup to manufacture clothes with bigger pockets.