Galaxy Fold Details Spilled By Early Adopter

The Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X are arguably very interesting phones but very few will have the courage to spend $2,000 or more on a first gen prototype. There are indeed those that do have the resources and the opportunity to make such a risky investment and, fortunately, one of them was willing to answer questions regarding the Galaxy Fold, the first foldable phone that will hit the mass market.

XDA Editor-in-Chief Mishaal Rahman was able to get in touch with one such early owner of a European unit. Acting as a liaison, he took to Twitter to gather and answer some of the burning questions that interested buyers have. Suffice it to say, it's a mixed bag that should probably give them pause.

The crease is there, no escaping that fact. It's too early in the game for Samsung to develop a new crease-proof material and too late for it to change the Galaxy Fold before it hits markets in May. The consolation is that the owner says that it's not really that visible, especially with brightness at 70% or higher. Sadly, your finger will definitely feel when you swipe over the spine.

Those imagining they will be able to use the Galaxy Fold as a makeshift laptop might want to skip this one. While the phone can indeed stay folded at a 90-degree angle, the screen is said to be "off" at that position and is barely usable. The owner also noted that switching between screens when opening and closing the device isn't as smooth as some might expect. In addition to the delay, there are cases where apps like Chrome won't even re-render their screens immediately.

It's not all bad news, though. Benchmarks report that the UFS 3.0 storage is definitely as fast as advertised and that battery life, at least on Wi-Fi is noted to be comparable to the Galaxy S10+. Even better, the EU version is said to have an unlockable bootloader, though the same can't yet be said of the US versions.

Most of these are more or less expected for such a first gen device, though one would hope that Samsung has ironed out some software kinks before it launches to the public in two months. It's definitely something that very few will be able to rely on for everyday use, presuming they can even afford it. Hopefully, though, it won't discourage Samsung from making improved, and hopefully more affordable, versions in the future.